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Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 458, 17 March 1909, Page 7

In the coiirso of a letter apologising for his inability .to bo present at , the annual meeting of the Christchurch Beautifying Association, Mr. S. Hurst Seager, the wellknown architect, referred to tho very great care taken by the British railway companies to make their wayside, stations beauty spots. In many cases, ho stated, the directors offqred substantial prizes for tho bestplanted and best-kept stations, with tho result that .there was strong emulation among tho various stationmasters and men to secure the prize. Continuing, Mr. Hurst Seager wrote:—"Could our own' Government be induced to forego tho paltry sums which it now_ secures by. tho advertisements on onr stations and convert them in the same way into beauty spots, what a grand opportunity there would be. for through travellers from tho far north to the extreme south to see, as they passed from station to station, tho various native flora common to the various districts. It would add vastly to the interest and to tho enjoyment of the journey, and would bo more calculated to induce traffic than any number of tourist bureaux. I would have liked to have moved that the Minister for Railways be requested to consider the advisableness of removing placards from our country stations, and of affording fcho railway employees every inducement to plant _native shrubs and flowers common to tho district in and around tho station. The plants would not, nf course, bo wholly th'ofe of New Zealand, but I think it would bo much more interesting if native flora wore mode tho chief feature in each case."