The Evening Star. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1904.

Evening Star, Issue 12166, 9 April 1904, Page 4

The Evening Star. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1904.

TirEEi-'. are few among the many useful institutions at work in this The Cflnserrstinn City that deserve better of Sofletv. the community tlian the Dvmedin and Suburban Reserves Conservation Society (to give them their full title), who, under the wholesouled enthusiasm of Mr Alexander Bathgate and other citizens, have done much to reclaim the many eyesores in our streets and to make the waste tracks and rubbish heaps of the suburbs the most refreshing and charming of spots. The sacrifice of time, labor, and energy involved in doing this most useful yet fatiguing work though delightful as far as results are concerned—is obviously great, and we regret there is hardly that general and hearty recognition of the society's labors that we should like to see. Those ofjas who are old enough to cast our memorwg back to the condition of the many barren and offensve places that once flourished in unchecked ugliness and which are now objects cf beauty are better able to appreciate the nature and ardutrasness of the work undertaken by the society. That work has been done solely in the interests of the community, and from a desire to encourage a taste for the beautiful, as well as to cultivate the esthetic side of onr nature amid the prosaic, humdrum realities of business. Some of the young folks, however, who take all these things and 'much more as a matter of right, seldom giving a thought to what their parents and the citizens generally have done for them, have had the serious charge of wanton and wicked vandalism Laid at their doors. The annual report and Mr J. R. Sinclair, who presided at yesterday's meeting, complain not so match of the theft as of the destruction of plants—the outcome of deliberate malice. The society have no doubt about the truth of this charge, and have placed themselves on record in the following emphatic terms:—"That the "plants have been destroyed out of sheer "wanton mischief is evidenced by tho fact "that when during the summer the stronger " shoota bad "been peggetl down, some ruffian "deliberately pulled up and threw away " mast of the pegs. It is v. matter for regret that we have still inour midst base

who will endeavor to thwart "efforts made to benefit them in common "with the rest of the public." We not only endorse the society's expressions of regret in this connection, but we support v them in their request to the City Council that a number of honorary rangers should be appointed, in order, n possible, to cheek, and, we hope, to catch the culprits in tbo act. Christchurcb, it is slated, has no need to complain on this score, the shame and disgrace being peculiar to Dunedin. The society find comfort, however, in the pleasure their work affords to the vast majority of their fellow-citizens. And they may well do so. The people may not nil know what the gnzania splendens, or the •wichuriana hybrids, or the mezembrrantlienomis are, but they cm ail appreciate the difference between a dustheap and a mass of flowering blossoms banked with varying Sft.uids ui -ven. V\c are not ourselves slLogether confident in approaching the mezenibrjanthemunt lest it may turn out a pret historic monger of the megatherium species, but we have heard „f the Temple Gardens : i'n.l their annual exhibit, and can recall [ how l)u ilaurier once wrote beneath a ! characteristic little sketch of his:

'■ They went to the Temple where the choir hums.

And then in the gardens amid the chrysanthemums."

So the society's efforts down St. David strc.it way have, at least to as, a ring of familiarity. But a rose or pink or "such like"—to quote the report—smells just as sweet and looks just as nice even when called by a mime that rcqtdrcs a day's journey on a railway train to get through it. The great and all-sufficient thing is that the society ate doing admirable "and much-appreciated woik, and the City is under a sincere obligation to them. "We bope tir.it the City Council, the Drainage Beard, and private citizens will continueonly more so—that help which thev have aecoided them in the past. The society iUe really doing a public duty which, properly I'trtams to the City Council, who, however, have quite enough on their hands just nor,-.' 'lhat which i s dune is performed purely from a love' of the work itself, and from a laudable .--.p;rit of civic patriotism.