EXTRA EDITION. DAY'S BAY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 29, 4 February 1914, Page 8

EXTRA EDITION. DAY'S BAY

People of Wellington City and district like the bright shores of Day's Bay and the wooded hills and the green levels fringed by beautiful trees, but they do not seem eager to be owners of that landscape which is a delight to so many thousands. Ways to title deeds for the public in perpetuity have been shown— and once something important nearly happened-^-bufc always the citizens have lapsed into indifference as to the purchase, though they have continued to enjoy the scenery, The bush and flat land near the sea have been offered to the public several times, and after each failure of the negotiations the area available for any subsequent public possession has been reduced. Steadily some of the best sections have Sound private owners, and now the whole of the remaining territory, which has been a very popular picnic ground for years, is to be broken up under the auctioneer's hammer, unless something like a miracle happens. The City Council declined a few months ago to co-operate with the Eastbourne Borough Council, and therefore it seems that tho trees and their swards will not be saved by their friends, the hosts of pleasure-seekers at week-end and general holiday times. Some citizens hope that the Government at a dramatic moment Will play the part of deus ex machina, and suddenly bring the _ threatened misfortune to a happy ending. A deputation is to interview the Premier to-morrow in the hope that the agents for the general taxpayers will havea better regard for the interns ot Wellington, now and in the future, than the citizens have themselves. It is possible that the deputation may have a powerful plea ready, but, without the arguments before us, we do not see why the general taxpayers— including many who may never see Day's Bay— should be asked to do something which the ihhabitants of the city and district have deliberately or lazily neglected to do fop themselves. Wellington, which enjoys Day's Bay so heartily, is well able to buy the grounds, which have been subdivided for dwellings, fences,. and cabbage patches, with flowers, no doubt, to partially apologise for the loss of a splendid playground and beauty place.