Cars in Hagley Park

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25945, 27 October 1949, Page 4

Cars in Hagley Park

The City Council will find it hard to convince the citizens of Christchurch that its decision to grant a parking area' in Hagley Park to the Returned Services’ Association Bowling Club is justified. Two years ago the council granted a similar request by the club, but changed its mind when it was advised that the Returned Services’ Association did not wish to be associated with a scheme against which there was strong public feeling. There is no reason to believe the feeling against encroachment on the park by motorists is any less strong to-day. The president of the club (Mr B. O. Priddis) told the council that many returned men with disabilities would welcome the opportunity of driving up to the bowling green. For these men the public will share the council’s sympathy. But it is one thing to allow a few disabled men to drive their cars through the park to the green; it is something else to extend the privilege to all members and to others visiting the club for matches and tournaments. A small number of permits issued to individual members should meet the club’s reasonable—and stated—needs. Mr Priddis’s suggestion that a parking area would improve the club’s chances of being selected as headquarters for the next Dominion bowling tournament is irrelevant to the main argument. It will not impress the public and it should not weigh with the council—except as a warning of what the dispensation may lead to. The club should have thought of this before choosing the site of its new green.