Road Through The Gardens?

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31831, 8 November 1968, Page 10

Road Through The Gardens?

Sir, —For the last five years I have accepted with regret that never again will I see the glorious trees in the Botanic Gardens. Mr Guthrey’s suggestion of a 15 m.p h. road, like the Esplanade in Palmerston North, gave me a few hours of Incredulous hope. Now I would ask the angry ones who will undoubtedly defeat the proposal to preserve their letters for rereading after they reach the age of 65.—Yours, etc..

A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE. November 7, 1968.

Sir, —Please leave our Botanic Gardens alone, a place of greenness, refuge and peace, with the smell of turf and flowers unpolluted. There are already two roads dividing Hagley Park and one skirting the edge. Could we not have our flower plots along them raised and one lane of slow-moving traffic at certain hours and days? Would this cost any more than highways through the gardens? The elderly and disabled have *ny sympathy. Perhaps they could pull into the museum precincts and obtain a sticker allowing them, and them only, to be driven slowly through the gardens.— Yours, etc., PIONEER’S GREATGRANDDAUGHTER. November 7, 1968.

Sir, —It may be wondered whether Mr Guthrey would have had his large majority had his garden road plan been disclosed before the election. Many elderly persons have been driven slowly through the gardens on special permits. Will wider roads be required for traffic? Will all the scented, coloured borders be sacrificed? What does the garden curator say? Will tourist buses be the next—right from the airport for rapid glimpses of the gardens, passing through to Dunedin after a meal in the kiosk?—Yours, etc., ANXIOUS. November 7, 1968.

Sir, —On one hand our new Mayor suggests providing a pedestrian area in the business section, while on the other he suggests introducing motor traffic to one of the few quiet zones where one may wander with one’s family with one major worry—traffic—less. There are three points of access to the gardens from which almost the whole gardens may be visited by comparatively short walks. People with aged dependants should have no more difficulty than those of us with young dependants: put them on wheels and push them round. This enables appreciation to be direct and leisurely. Exposure to fresh air is not usually fatal.— Yours, etc., A PARENT. November 7, 1968.

Sir,—l do not agree with the road through the gardens. If the infirm wish to see the beauty, they may get permission to drive through once a week. Once there were invalid chairs for the aged at the curator’s house (they could be hired for a small fee), but not now. Perhaps they spoiled the look of the veranda there. I would like to see the Mayor provide a car park in the gardens near the administration block. There is room in the weather station there for the gardens staff cars instead of having to leave them round the river and roads where vandals can get at them. This, I think, would be greatly appreciated.—Yours, etc., ONE WHO KNOWS. November 7, 1968. [This correspondence is now closed. Editor, “The Press.”]