UTILITY AND BEAUTY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 15 June 1932, Page 2

UTILITY AND BEAUTY

(To the Editor) Sir, —It is hard to understand the attitude taken up by your correspondent “G.E.T.” in practically condemning the erection of a tobacco factory anywhere in Nelson. Surely a certain amount of commerce is all to the good. Where does Nelson or any other town derive most of its produce and therefore its trade, if not from its rural population, and if it should be in the best interests of the tobacco growers for' the factory to be in Nelson is there any sane reason why it should be elsewhere. Can we afford to turn down a good thing? The erection of the factory in Nelson, or anything else, is a guarantee of good faith, and as such, might be extended a helping hand. We must not lose our sense of proportion and look upon it as a freezing works, or a coal yard. We have Mr Neale’s assurance that it will not be unsightly, and' if it shouM be put up in the site offered, instead of further back In the town, where no doubt quite a number of suitable areas are available, it should be quite possible to combine utility with beauty, by tree-planting alone, if in no other way. No doubt the present route to town will always be one of the- principal approaches, but what of the other, from Auckland Point to Trafalgar street North, our present objective, and later let us hope it will grow steadily from opposite the gasworks or so to Cemetery Point, following Nature’s lines, and of course with due regard to harbour interference, etc. The beautiful is a real necessity in our lives, and love of it should be encouraged where it is not inherent. For this reason it seems to the writer that any scheme that involves reclaiming practically all our mudflat would be fatal in this sense. Who has not looked down from the hills all round to the sheer beauty of the tide, land locked in the Bay; but on the other hand, who fails to see that the town looks on its northern side as if it had been cut off in the middle. This is our work to remedy. Let us put the G.P.O. in the centre of the town, where our earlier settlers evidently visioned it should one day be. It is not quite there yet, is it? Owing to the rate of natural reclamation setting in towards Tahuna it looks to the man in the street as if within less than ten years we should need a- new port. This *s a chance for all our experts to combine in making a greater Nelson, and an even more beautiful Nelson, too, besides doing away with the ever-recurring expense ( of deepening the channel where the cut now is. May we trust to their good taste to carry on this work without in any way spoiling one of our town's principal natural beauties, the same as we will trust the Premier Tobacco Company, our Council and all other good citizens to take a proper pride in keeping their town clean and beautiful. —I am, etc., J.B.M. • Nelson, 14th June.