WINTER GARDEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 83, 4 October 1941, Page 7

WINTER GARDEN

POST-WAR PROJECT

CENTRAL SITE FAVOURED

The establishment of a winter garden in Wellington is a subject in which the Wellington Beautifying Society is very interested, and that body has already lodged its surplus money, £50, in the National Savings Account, as a nucleus of a winter garden fund. The scheme must necessarily be a post-war project, and the chairman of the society, Captain S. Holm, says that the society anticipates that Wellingtonians will make donations and bequests to the fund. Captain Holm told "The Post" that the cost depended on the class of building required. Wanganui had recently built a beautiful winter garden at a cost of about £3000, and Wellington should aim* at nothing short of that amount. It had been suggested that the garden be placed in the Botanical Gardens, but his view was against that proposal. The gardens were already very beautiful, and few visitors, or even citizens, spent sufficient time to examine what was one of the city's scenic gems, probably because the gardens were slightly removed from the stream of traffic. Wellington's last Mayor, Sir George Troup, had a scheme to improve the surroundings of the Town Hall, said Captain- Holm, and proposed an administrative building opposite, in Cuba Street. • If that scheme were carried out a winter garden could be incorporated .in the lay-out. Another site which might be available was that at present occupied by the old library building, which, in addition to the old Education Department office, would probably be demolished to make way for Town Hall extensions. v If those sites did.not meet with the authorities' approval a site could be arranged in Clyde Quay when the destructor was removed, or there was ample room near the lower part of Central' Park. The site, however, need not be a controversial subject; at present, said Captain Holm. The money had ■first'to be raised, and the society relied on the generosity of the Wellington public to build up the fund which had been started.