MOTORISTS KEEP OUT

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 122, 19 November 1926, Page 8

MOTORISTS KEEP OUT

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—Having read the article appearing in your issue, of 15th November, entitled Motorists Keep Out—Motorists Get Cold Reception," I quite understand property owners giving some motorists and picnic parties the cold shoulder and a cool welcome. As owner of Swinson Park, Akatarawa, I have granted motorists and picnickers the use of the grounds, and while many have appreciated the courtesy,.many have abused the privilege. These dayouters think nothing of leaving behind them broken trees and shrubs—shelter trees that have taken years to grow are often burnt down through campers leaving fires about. Refuse of every description, bottles, tins, old papers, and other rubbish seems to be a special week-end gift of some motorists and joy-riders to landowners for the privilege of enjoying a day in the country. I remember an incident last summer that takes a lot of beating for wanton destruction. Having given a party permission to spend the day on my property, I asked them not to interfere with the young ferns, plants, or shrubs in the private grounds, but if they wished to take a'little foliage home they were welcome to it, conditionally they took it from, the hills. Well, sir, while motoring back to the city, I noticed quite a number of ferns and native plants lying alongside the roadside, which no doubt had fallen from the car of some picnickers. Imagine my surprise and annoyance when motoring to the park a few days later I found that the ferns and plants I had seen scattered on the road to die were from my own private grounds. This is only one of the abuses suffered by the country landowners. Broken gates and fences are part of the day's fun. Gates left open for stock to do damage that cannot be replaced by money. Notices "Shut the Gate" are ignored in most cases. I am pleased to see that the AVellington Automobile Association is endeavouring to arrange camping grounds with local bodies; but local -bodies will not tolerate what some private owners have had to put up with from some motorists. There are hundreds of motorists who enjoy the fresh air and beauty spots of the country, and who can be depended upon to leave the places as they found them, clean and beautiful. The time has arrived when something should be done to educate th; careless and destructive people how to take care of other people's property. I would like to suggest to the Wellington Automobile Club that at their meeting on the 29th November they formulate some scheme whereby local bodies and private owners who throw open their grounds shall have some guarantee that their property will be treasured and not abused, and when this is done motorists can be assured of a good day in the country.—l am, etc.,

JOHN SWINSON.