NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY Registered for transmission through the post as a newspaper. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27. 1924. LESSONS FROM THE SOUTH.

Northern Advocate, 27 February 1924, Page 4

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY Registered for transmission through the post as a newspaper. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27. 1924. LESSONS FROM THE SOUTH.

The representative of tlu* ''Northern Advocate" who ha? been visiting the South Island has been impressed with •other things besides the industrial enterprises which were described yesterday. He reports, for instance, that towns that he has visited seem to be U Konoiionly well endowed with public reserves and recreation grounds, and thc.y seem to make very good use of them. The endowments of very many of the South Island communities tire certainty on a generous scale. For the most part, of course, they date back to the earliest years of settlement, before the General Government took over the administration from the Provincial Cou:iciin. The pioneers of the South were men of far-scelng vision, who

looked beyond their uvvn small day to the time when flourishing towns and even large cities would be built up anti their thousands of inhabitants would require -playgrounds and breathing spaces. They also set aside great areas of land, much of it now very valuable, for the endowment of education; but that is another matter. It is rather of beauty spots and recreation grounds that we are thinking now, and a few instances may be cited. The Christchurch City Council controls nearly 800 acres of recreation reserves, the bulk of this being comprised in the beautiful Hagley Park, which finds room for almost innumerable sports grounds. Ashburton, which is a town of about the same size as Whangarei, has its well-known domain of 90 acres, with its attractive gardens, its swimming pool and its sports and picnic grounds'. Temuka, a town of perhaps 2000 people, has a domain of about 130 acres, in which are to be found a cricket ground, a cycling track, tennis courts, bowling greens and a swimming bath. Timaru has, in addition to its famous Caroline Bay and smaller reserves, a beautiful park with flowor beds. Oamaru's principal reserves are its public gardens, of some 25 acres, and a fine sport® ground overlooking the town and harbour. Oamaru *is not a very much larger' town than Whangarei. Dunedin, a city that is noted for its municipal activities and its educational institutions, is especially well off. Its Town Belt, of 500 acres, granted by the Crown to the Superintendent of the Province of Otago for the purposes of public recreation and instruction, is partly cleared and beautified and partly in native bush. The famous Botanic Gardens, of which the winter garden is an especially noteworthy feature, form part of this reserve. Lastly we must mention Gore, •whose industrial activities were the subject of comment yesterday. In addition to an endowment of some 1800 acres at Croydon Bush, some four or five miles from the town, Gore has an about 40 acres within the borough that serves as a pleasure ground. Towns such as those we have enumerated have, of course, been fortunate in the inheritance, of fine reserves, and they have shown appreciation of these gifts by putting them to the best possible use. Their gardens and playgrounds afford a striking contrast to the recreation grounds of Whangarei, which unfortunately has not been blessed in the way many of the southern towns have been. While* they have had their reserves since the earliest days, when they were obtained practically without cost, Whangarei in comparatively recent years has had to buy grounds or to depend upon the goodwill of public-spirited citizens, several of whom happily have bestowed valuable gifts upon the community. Whangarei has been labouring under a «erious handicap, and even now is by no means well off for public spoTts grounds; but if we envy the Southerners their good fortune, we may at least endeavour to profit by their example. The town of Gore, which cannot'.claim quite as large a population as Whangarei boasts, has beautiful gardens and recreation grounds, which have been improved and are maintained at the expense of the municipality. Whangarei certainly has made a beginning with similar enterprise in the Triangle and at Kensington Park, Mander Park and Mair Park, but the best that has been done falls considerably below the standard attained at Gore. If Gore can have in its municipal reserve beautiful gardens, bowling greens, tennis courts, croquet lawns, and ample grounds "for cricket, hockey, and football, surely Whangarei can do better than it has done. The towns of the South, of course, developed more quieklv than many of those in the North did, for the South enjoyed such advantages, for instance, as the unlimited supplies of shingle for road-maki»g carried by the rivers to the places where it was wanted. But if the South was particularly favoured there is all the more reason why we in the North sliouid worlc hard to overcome the handicap. We are by no means lacking in advantages in Whangarei, and we possess reserves that many towns might well envy. What we ought to do is to learn a lesson from the South and malic the most of our assets.