THE TOWN BELT.

Evening Star, Issue 7448, 17 February 1888, Page 4

THE TOWN BELT.

TO THE EDITOII. Sir,—That our Town Belt is very beautiful, and that it adds much to the attractiveness of the City, no one will, I think, venture to deny; but that it is an "unmixed blessing" to the inhabitants of Dunedin is, I think, a very doubtful question, To lovers of the picturesque it is, no doubt, " a thing of beauty and a joy for ever," and to worshippers of " Cupid's mamrr a a perfect paradise; but to the prosaic citizen and taxpayer it frequently is merely the covert which conceals the thief who rifles his garden or larder, or the blackguard who frightens his children, his sisters, cousins, or aunts into " fits," as the sajing is,

The existence of such a place of concealment in the immediate vicinity of a large city is distinctly a danger to the peaceful inhabitants of that city, and sooner or later the committal of some hideous crime in the hush of the Belt will open the eyes of the people of Dunedin to a danger they ignore now. Even at the present time it is undoubtedly a fact that inhabitants of Maoii Hill, Newington, Nevada, and Littlebourne suffer very great inconvenience from the vicinity of the Brit; and that females residing in those suburbs are, with reason, somewhat chary of venturing alone through the bush at night. Even in the daytime objectionable characters linger about the bush : and there are many people who would be very sorry to let children of theirs play about unprotected on one of the many roads through the bush. Surely this is a thing that wants looking to. If we must have a belt covered with native bush, why not have wider roads made through it, and have these roads lighted by means of gas-lamps, so that our women and children may go their ways unmolested at all events. In the matter of rendering the Belt less useful to criminals as a place of concealment, nothing will be efficacious but thorough opening up of the bush by walks and drives; in fact, the conversion of the Belt into a park. In the meantime I would suggest that roads through the Belt, such as those leading to Maori Hill, Newington, Nevada, and Littlebourne, should be widened—or. at all events, the bush cutback some distance from the roads—and a few gas lamps placed at convenient intervals along these roads.

Apart from other questions, it is unfair to the inhabitants of suburbs such as those I have mentioned that their properties should be depreciated in value just because Dunedin wishes to possess a strip of "wild, wild bush" at her doors.—l am, etc., Justitia. Dunedin, February 10.