The Star. MONDAY, MAY 9, 1921. TOWN PLANNING

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 9 May 1921, Page 4

The Star.

MONDAY, MAY 9, 1921. TOWN PLANNING

Delivered tkery evening bjj 6 o'clock in Hawera, Maftaia, Normanby. ' Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, < Otekeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurley ville n Patea, Waverley.

Probably a large number of people have only a vague idea of the purposes of a town planning society, which will be associated in their minds chiefly with garden competitions. With such au organisation it is necessary in order to arouse public interest and gain support for its objects to adopt some means which will appeal as widely as possible to the public, and the prizes*] and certificates oifered for the ;best gar- I dens are an incentive to excel, and should produce much better results than the , friendly rivalry between] neighbour and neighbour and between friend and friend. If the Hawera So-! cfetg does something tov/ards making the average gardenia place of loveliness surely it will have 'done a public ser-1 vice, and this is one" of the. ends to-1 wards which it is working. A .visitor •to a town judges it and its people a« much by its private gardens as by its. streets, buildings and public pleasure! grounds, and" not a few distinguished i visitors to Hawera have expressed their admiration for the many beautiful, well-kept gardens to -be seen on every hand, Mr Black, the curator of the Palmerston North Domains, was struck when on his last visit here" with the evidence of a general desire to make a garden' of some kind. J.he qualification "some kind" may seem rather faint praise, but if Mr Black's observation was correct the first essential to making Hawera' a garden city is present. The Town Planning Society's business is to encourage aril assist that first essential. The Society has already been of real assistance to the amateur gardener with its competii tions and the dissemination of knowledge ; it has kept a -watchful eye upon the civic authorities, and is ready to exert its influence should property owners when subdividing show a disregard for tpwn planning ideals. Happily, the Society has in the Mayor and councillors men who are fully in sympathy with its objects. What is first wanted is a large active membership instead' of the work being left, as at present, to a few enthusiasts. Town planning. is something in.which all should take an interest, and which all can help, and it is-quite probable that a canvass for members and ..subscriptions would meet with excellent results.