FERTILE IMAGINATIONS

Evening Star, Issue 25068, 8 January 1944, Page 6

FERTILE IMAGINATIONS

SCHEMES FOR CENTENNIAL MEMORIAL MANY PROPOSALS RECEIVED A welter of schemes to provide a permanent centennial memorial for the province, some being fabulous &] conception (and in cost) and others providing thoughtful material for consideration by the Otago Centennial Committee have been pouring in to the authorities charged with the heavy responsibility of making a choice which will meet with the general approval of the people of Otago. . A centennial highway stretching from Normanby to the junction of the Main North highway with the by-road lead ing to Port Chalmers is among the latest propositions received hy the Mayor (Mr A. H. Allen). The suggested scheme embodies the purchase of all land procurable, say 100 yards, wide each side of the roadway, leaving provision in the general lay-out _ for the widening of the r-oad and keeping the

curves mainly as at present.- The proposal is made to construct a wide footpath on the lower side, but slightly higher than the present level of the road, leaving a narrow strip of grass separating the road from the path, with room at appropriate* places "for small flower beds on the outside of the footpath. The advocate of the scheme envisages the planting of native trees, large and small, on both sides of road, but taking care on the lower side not to blot out views here and there of the city, the hillside towards Mount Cargill, and the harbour. It could be intended to construct small waterfalls and ponds and rockeries where there was any running water in the gullies above the road and reserve dams'to keep the quantity of water-constant. If there were not sufficient water, mud ponds for semiaquatic plants, with a concrete base and byways in case of flood water could be constructed. " It doesn't take much imagination to visualise our rhododendron glen transplanted to this roadway, with the little falls and ponds in the upper side gullies," states the letter covering the scheme..- " What a. magnificent-north-ern drive into the city! There would be beauty along the whole road, especially when the, shrubs are flowering; the occasional views of the city hillside and the harbour would be hard to beat. It is doubtful if any other city in the Southern Hemisphere could' beat the combination. " Would we give up our Town Belt for any money?" asks the sponsor of the scheme. , " Then why not get hold of this while it is still practically farm land? Even if we cannot fully develop it, let us buy it and call it Centennial Highway or anything else. The cost of "trees and planting would not be excessive, and high expenditure could be left until the city could afford it, in just the same way as with our valuable Town Belt."