SPRUCING UP CITY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 14, 16 July 1937, Page 11

SPRUCING UP CITY

USING THE SUBSIDY

CO-OPERATION WEEDED

"We arc prepared to take ouvr part in collaboration with the other bodies mentioned by Councillor Butler at Wednesday's meeting oi' the City Council," said the president of tho Wellington Beautifying Society today, referring to the Government's offer to subsidise up to £4 a week the wages oC men taken, on by local bodies to provide relief works during the winter months.

"I am sure that there are many works which, with the approach of the Centennial Exhibition, could be done to beautify the city with advantage, but we are in the position that, without full collaboration from ' other bodies, we are, powerless. We have in hand ..ome 40,000 trees and shrubs, and though some of them will not be suitable for planting until next year, there is an ample supply to carry out works which should commend themselves to citizens.

'"Many of the clay banks around the sily could well Le planted with shrubs which would relieve the present drab effect. The eastern side of the National Block site on Mt. Cook presents i very untidy appearance, and the cleaning and planting of this area j should be one of the first works undertaken. At Scorching Bay the City Council owns a domain of some 17 acres fronted by one of the best bathing beaches in Wellington. This could be made into a beautiful rest park and could contain a children's play area. The Hutt Hoad should be cleared of the piles of rubbish there, and the banks along the road should be cleared and planted. What is possible there is already shown by the work of the society, and there is no doubt that more extensive plantings would thrive as well as those already accomplished. Many bare patches on the hills round Wellington could be planted during the period in which relief will be most desired, and if suitable trees and shrubs were put there the results would be permanent. A COMBINED EFFORT. "The society is anxious that as much more work be done as possible before the Exhibition to make the city and its environs presentable, and apparently no real move has been made in this direction. The suggestion that the council's departments and the society should confer to assess the extent to which the Government's offer may be availed of is excellent, but why should not such" a conference include all the bodies interested, including the Railways and Harbour Board? Patchwork or partial attempts will not give the desired effect. "While it would have been possible for the City Council to have dons more in beautifying Wellington, it must not be overlooked that it has done something, but the same cannot be said for the Harbour Board or the Railways Department. The board could do a great deal along the waterfront to improve the outlook, by removing rubbish, and plantings at available places, but the only work it has done is the certainly neat and attractive garden and seating at the Boat Harbour. It has been asked, to clean up and plant the foreshore between Kilbirnie and the power house in Evans Bay, which, as it is on the route to the Exhibition, demands immediate planting if the results are .to show by the date of the Centenary. "A work we would gladly undertake is the improvement of the Aotea Quay area. This will be the main thoroughfare out of Wellington by the time the Exhibition is in progress, and its present state is appallingly drab. It lies between railway and board property. The society has asked the Railway Department to clean up its share of the drab Thorndon area, now more aesthetically repulsive since the erection of the fine new station. The banks on the Hutt Road near the new ramp are covered with noxious weeds, amongst which fennel seems supreme, and this the railways could attend to also. On either side of the Aotea Quay thoroughfare itself, the Railways and Harbour Board have a joint responsibility, and they could well agree, in the case of those parts of their properties which are to be leased, upon the type of fences lessees should erect. Uniformity in this respect would be much preferable to the untidy, tar-painted fences there are now in some places. Aotea Quay will be one of the show highways of Wellington. There is no real reason why an avenue of suitable seaside trees should not give it character. We do not feel that, to date, the Harbour Board ha* done all it might, with the resources at its disposal. Co-operation and unity of aim in what is done to make Wellington attractive for the 'Exhibition is essential."