A LAKE IN THE PARK.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 9649, 15 February 1892, Page 6

A LAKE IN THE PARK.

TO TUB EDITOR. Sib, —Since I wrote to you suggesting the formation of a lake in Hagley Park, the suggestion, I am pleased to see, has found warm snpport. I beg to thank the editor of the Star for the article advocating the carrying out of the project. He raises two questions :—The first, will the ground retain in sufficient quantity the water to form the lake? I think there is very little to fear on that score, for the percolation, if any, could ho reduced to a minimum by artificial means. Say, for instance, have the necessary ground scooped out before the winter sets in. Then have all the road scrapings caitad and spread f on, the bottom, where it would eetjika,

concrete and stop any percolation, and the cost would be trifling, as the scrapings have to be carted in any case. Now for the second question. Where is the money to come from ? 1 think he has answered that very well in the article. In my first letter I spoke of a deep well, but I think the idea of getting the water from the river is a better one; but I think it would have to ’bo brought from above Wood’s mill to get the necessary fall. I do not think there would be any engineering difficulties in the way. There has been a lot of correspondence in your columns lately about getting the young men and grown-up lads off the streets. Some of the writers think Clubs should be formed and conducted so as to attract them. But I think Clubs would be of little avail, for habits once formed are hard to break. Now, I think the cause of so many of our youths being found in the streets, is the want of some rational amusement for them while they are hoys. It is then the character is formed. Train up a child when he is young, and when he is old he will not depart from it. The lake would be one grand source to attract small boys off the streets; and cricket and football grounds could be formed alongside, and materials for the boys found for them to play with free. Then all classes could enjoy noble and healthy sport away from the contamination of the streets and public-house. That such a thing is needed there is no doubt. Lately I have counted as many as seventeen small boys standing clinging to the railings of the Victoria street water-tank, watching the progress of a tiny vessel across its dangerous waters; and I believe it is not unusual for boys to fall in, and that a hook is kept in some of the shops close by to fish them out. Tho Star asks who will move in the matter. How would it do for the Early Settlors’ Association to take the project up and carry the thing through, the public helping financially, and christen it " The Pilgrims’ Lake ?” It would keep their memory green long after they themselves had passed away. Or if our worthy Mayor could sea his way clear to take tho thing in hand ho would get the support of the people of Christchurch and suburbs I am sure, and it would be a nice memento to mark his year of office. Apologising for taking up so much of your valuable space, and thanking you in anticipation,—l am, &c,, AQUATIC. SOCIAL PEOBLEMm TO THE EDITOR. Sib, Your correspondents, Messrs Cunnington, “ Father ” and Michael Hart, have all done a certain amount of good, I dare say, by arousing public attention to the existence of an evil which must for a long time have been patent to everyone ; but being everybody's business nobody likes to interfere with it. I can heartily concur in much that has been advanced by tbe writers referred to, but I think “ Father ” must have written himself into a passion when ho rushed into comparisons with London and Melbourne, and finished up with Sodom and Gomorrah. We are hardly so bad as either of them, I think, and I think, also, that it is not altogether wise to abuse our own city. "It is a sorry bird that befouls its own nest.” Mr Hart's kind appeal to the better feelings of our youth may possibly touch one or two; but I fear that appeal will have but little, if any, effect upon the majority of the thoughtless, self-indulgent and misguided youth of both sexes who congregate at street comers stand and gossip in the middle of the footpaths, or rush impetuously along the streets without the slightest regard for the rights and convenience of others. Mr Hart says* he does not think the parents have inculcated such principles, or words to that effect; but in my opinion it is the parents who are most to blame for tbe bad habits of their children. ’Tis true they have not absolutely taught their families to be bad, but they have been too careless or indifferent to teach them to be good. The parents of more than half the youngsters in and around this city have allowed them to follow their own sweet will, so long as they did not trouble their fathers and mothers. lam stating what I know to bo true from my own personal observations. Whether the parents were engaged in the pursuit of gain or that of pleasure, tbe result has been the same. Selfishness has been tho root of it all; not one child in every six that I have been acquainted with has ever been taught to exercise self-denial, or to cultivate self-re-spect. They don’t know what it means, for, unfortunately, their elders show very little of either, for the young to imitate. I constantly hear complaints about our education system. “ The children are not taught manners,” says one. “ Ah, it’s the godless schools,” groans another. But if I was asked my opinion I should say, “ ’Tis the inhumanity of the home.” You may teach children all that is embraced between the alphabet and mathematics, with “ the sciences ” thrown in, bub if you do not teach them, both by precept and example, to respect the rights of all their fellow-creatures; to show kindness to those who are weaker or poorer than themselves, and to reverence the aged, your intellectual training is of little value. While society high and low worships wealth and power, and kneels with flunkey-like humility at the feet of socalled rank, we cannot expect our children to grow up better than their surroundings. Moral reform must begin at home, and might perhaps be finished outside by the aid of an Anti-larrikin and Hoodlumkicking Society, Unlimited.—l am, &c., A GEANDFATHEE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sißj—A letter appears in the Lyttelton Times this morning, signed Michael Hart, with reference to the abominable nuisance which now obtains iu Christchurch and suburbs. I allude to the larrikins. I thoroughly endorse all that your correspondent asserts, and cordially echo his sentiments in trusting that the question may be taken up without delay by Mr Inspector Pender and the force under his control. If that gentleman has not a sufficient number of men under his command, then I hope the Government will see its way to increase that force in order to stamp out such a terrible evil as the public of Christchurch and the immediate neighbourhood are at present experiencing. It is a matter of notoriety that peaceable citizens cannot walk along the streets, especially on a Saturday or Sunday evening without being subjected to a perfect torrent of abuse from a number of bell-bottomed-trousered larrikins of the male sex, and, I regret to have to write it, several of the female sex also. These “ efforts of manhood,” and, I am sorry to ssy, failures at that, bring a certain amount of disgrace upon our Colony, and it behoves us as fathers of families to resent this intrusion on good manners, and, so far as lies in our power, to cope with this great and crying evil. As I have suffered from the playfulness of the larrikins, I unfortunately write ifrom experience.*—l am, &c., BETA.