BEAUTIFYING STATIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 4, 5 July 1926, Page 8

BEAUTIFYING STATIONS

PLEA FOR GARDENS

MAKING RAILWAYS ATTRACTIVE.

Comment is made in the "New Zealand Railways Magazine" on tho need for horticultural improvements to portions of tho railway property at the entrance to big towns. _ "The interest displayed by tho public in the appearance of railway stations is gratifying," states tho writer of the article, "and at. those places up and down New Zealand where tho railway staff have realised the opportunities which the precincts of their station ...offered for tho effective cultivation of flowers and shrubs, and have put that realisation into practical effect, the general improvement in the appearance of the premises has been most marked. "A well laid out station garden with abundance of flowers abloom is particularly pleasing to the eyes of train travellers on some of the longer runs, but everywhere it attracts attention and elicits favourable comments. • "People are influenced by their surroundings, and a place that is made pleasant and picturesque by an artistically conceived and well tended garden 'with borders, beds, and shrubberies, and lawns and avenue' is more likely to attract their custom and hold their interest than one at which there is nothing to relieve the intolerable drabness of bare utility. "The effect of orderliness combined with beauty, which decorative efforts of this kind have on members of the staff, must also be taken into account when . considering tho matter even from a purely utilitarian standpoint. "Prido in tho appearance of one's station is a reinforcement to pride in tho quality of one's work. It tends towards a natural harmony, a unity of action and outlook likely to result in better regulated attention to busi ness, a brighter view of duties to be undertaken, a greater kindliness and courtesy towards the public and fellowmembers, and the rendering of more efficient all-round service."