The Dominion MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1925. VANDALISM THAT MUST CEASE

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 151, 23 March 1925, Page 8

The Dominion MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1925. VANDALISM THAT MUST CEASE

The Minister of Railways dealt rather lightly with the representations of a city deputation which interviewed him on Friday to protest against the erection of advertisement hoardings on railway property along the Hutt Road. Obviously, however, Mi. Coates had given very little thought to the questions raised except from the financial standpoint. . . . . As evervone knows, the Minister is keenly intent on increasing the earning power of his Department, and apparently he had considered the hoarding scheme only from this point of view. In actual fact, the representations made with regard to the Hutt Road open up a big national question that needs and should receive the early attention of Parliament. It is certainly not right that a fine marine drive fronting a beautiful harbour should be disfigured, and to some extent shut in,--with hoardings. The -full importance of the matter appears, however, when it is considered that the case of the Hutt Road must be regarded as typical. If the disfigurement of this particular highway were tolerated, there would be nothing to prevent the process of disfigurement being extended far and wide throughout the Dominion. If the erection of advertisement hoardings along the Hutt Load is to be permitted, what valid reason can be adduced for excluding them from the National Park, or for denying enterprising souls the right to make, use of any or every vantage point amidst our glorious lake and mountain scenery in proclaiming the merits of somebody s 1 Other countries have had sad experience of the lengths to which this kind of vandalism is capable of being carried. In Britain and America great public campaigns have been organised to put an end to the perverted activities which destroy the charm and beauty of the countryside in the interests of lurid commercial display. Tn New Zealand there is still time to nip the evil almost m the bud and Parliament should lose no time in passing such legislation as will safeguard the natural beauties of the countryside. Local bodies, also, should be given adequate powers to prohibit any misuse of the permissible rights of commercial display. Action by Parliament in this direction undoubtedly will be hailed with general public approval. This is an age of beautification. Ever-increasing attention is being given to the preservation of beauty spots and there is a pronounced tendency to set higher aesthetic standards in the development and improvement of our towns and cities ' • Whole-hearted co-operation in these enlightened efforts might be expected from a great State organisation like the Railways Department. On Friday, Mr. Coates sought to excuse the readiness of his Department to destroy natural beauties for the sake of a little revenue by instancing the hoarding displays in Wellington city. The gtate of affairs in the city in this respect admittedly is bad enough, but this does not justify the extension of the disfigurement over the countryside. , . . Anyone who has travelled in the Old Vv orld and in America knows that railway stations and their approaches need not be as ugly and unrelieved as they are usually, though with some honourable exceptions, in New Zealand. Apart from the palatial buildings.at terminii, many rural stations and approaches in Britain and America are charmingly adorned with garden plots and shrubbeiies. It is in emulating the standards thus set, and not in disfiguring the countryside for the sake of a little additional revenue that the Railways Department will find a policy worthy of its. own standing as a great State enterprise and creditable to the Dominion. . ', . . The real merits of the case stated by the deputation which interviewed him on Friday no doubt will speedily appeal to the Minister of Railways. This country is world-famous for. its beauty and it is the part of good citizenship to preserve its beauties unspoiled. Every member of the Government may be expected to sympathise unreservedly with this, aspiration. Concerned, as he is to popularise travel throughout the Dominion, not only, by its own people but by tourists from overseas, the Minister of Railways has perhaps an even plainer duty in this matter than his colleagues.