USING THE TOWN BELT

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 57, 8 March 1923, Page 6

USING THE TOWN BELT

Very many people are anxious to see the Town Belt used and beau- j tified; but the use to which some would put it would be a misuse. These are the people who say: "Why leave all this land lying J idle ? Why not parcel it out for schools and workers' homes and recreation clubs, so that someone may benefit?" Such a policy would possibly confer considerable benefit on the few for ten years or so, but it would entail great deprivation for the many in the future. The Belt was reserved as a recreation area for all:—not for some; and the City Council, as a trustee for all the people, must safeguard the rights of all That, however, does not imply that the Town Belt should be given over permanently to cattle and gorse. The Belt afford? great possibilities for develr opment, and it must be acknowledged that considerable impetus has been given in recent years to the development movement. The tour which the Reserves Committee made this week enabled members to see some of the fruits of their efforts-ra promising growth of trees in one part, a playing area hewn out of hills in another. Beautifying, planting, and levelling is costly work, and it yields little return in direct revenue; but who would say that what has been wellplanned in the past has not been worth while 1 It is only where the planning has been ill-done that the money has been wasted. The Reserves Committee should be enr couraged by its survey of the work recently performed to continue methodically with a definite and well-considered scheme of development. Alienation cf the reserves would be an admission by the council of jts own incapacity to perform the tank entrusted to it.