USING THE PARKS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 152, 26 December 1923, Page 6

USING THE PARKS

To-day is known as Boxing Day, but in New Zealand custom it might be termed Picnic Day. It is -the day of all others when families and. parties troop into the country, into the bush reserves neivrer the city, or on to the beaches to spend some hours in health-giving open-air re: creation. (Wellington; offers a great variety of picnicking resorts—bush, or beach, or open fields—which may be "reached by tram, train, or b6at. But Wellington people, it is to be feared, are neither better nor worse than others in appreciating their privileges and caring for them. After any popular holiday a visitor to, the bush reserves and seaside resorts will see the-signs of a big invasion in a litter of paper,y picnic. lunch remains, and ■ sometimes bottles.' The day after such a holiday is always a busy time for the reserve caretakers, for they must work hard to remove the unsightly litter. Some,times the damage is not remediable. Bottles on a beach, for example, may break before the caretaker finds them, and small pieces of glass will then become a serious danger to bare-foot-ed children and bathers. Printed and personal warnings have gradually educated the people (or most of them) not to rob) th"c bush of ferns or threaten its destruction by lighting fires.. In time the education process may be carried further, and picnickers may be, induced to avoid all other destructive acts. If they do this they will be caring for their own property and conserving it for the use and enjoyment >of those who may come after them.