Beautifying project near completion

Press, 1 October 1983, Page 24

Beautifying project near completion

The first project under the Beautiful New Zealand scheme in Canterbury will be completed on October 4. The Malvern County Council has planted a mixture of exotic trees along 9%km of railway and reserve land on State highway 73, between Deans Road and the junction with State highway 72. The council has employed about eight workers under the Project Employment Programme to do the planting. .

The last of the trees will be planted on October 4 by local schoolchildren, and the council will celebrate with a function that evening. The senior landscape architect in the Ministry of Works and Development in Christchurch, Mr A. Wilson, said the council has further projects planned under the scheme.

Mr Wilson, who is in charge of the scheme for the Canterbury region, said yesterday that the council would plant more trees on the highway from Aylesbury corner to Kirwee, in the Kirwee township and from Sheffield to Springfield.

The council had started a planting project two years ago, but abandoned it when other matters had to take precedence. Other schemes are planned for the rest of Can-, terbury. The Akaroa County Council has started a three-year scheme, with horticultural training for unemployed people. The preparatory work for a major planting project along State highway 1, from the Rakaia River to the Waitaki River, has begun. Planting would begin next winter, Mr Wilson said.