SHADED STREETS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13672, 13 February 1908, Page 8

SHADED STREETS.

THE NECESSITY FOR TREE- ■ PLANTING. ■ AVENUES AND DRIVES AND BOULEVARDS. ; A NOBLE WATER FRONT. ' 1 Dracio the present "real" Auckland sum- . ; several summers previously lave only "-■been weak imitations—how much oversea ' visitors have missed the long lines of beautiful trees which' many other cities have "had, tho foresight to plant! However - " patriotic an Auckknder, may be, he cannot escape the fact that man has not beau- ' - tified Auckland city as he ought to lave \'-, done, and lias been too content to allow the Queen City's -reputation Tor beauty to rest Upon the glorious natural*! surround- . ings. Had Auckland not possessed such unrivalled situation, it is quite safe to con- ,-',. elude that tho actual city itself would have ..., been infinitely more beautiful. When one '' sees what tho low of beauty has led tho •"French people to do for Paris; tho Spani- *'■'■. ards for nearly all their cities, when one exC : : periences the feast for,tho eyes provided . at such places as Monte Carlo, or notes . what the Australian peoplo are doing, it becomes a: matter for very great regrefr that Auckland, clustered on the shore of one of "" : the most beautiful waterways in the world, '*.■' has not oven a treo shaded drive around •"■' tho'water front. Were Custom-street and • ' Quay-street frontage in some of the Con- .' -.'-. tinental cities, noble trees would make the thoroughfares beautiful, and from Pon- ; ', sonby to Orakei there would be a broad fsplanado with a splendid avenue of sub- ■ ' \ tropical trees, and garden seats would bo •' placed' in the cOol, inviting shade, where

: . the people.might rest and watch the ships and tho white-winged yachts passing up ; and down on ;' the beautiful Waitemata. ; One has only to imagine a broad carriage V'. drive fringed on either side with trees, 1 with hero and there a piece of ground laid out in flowers and shrubs or growing sjome •; : of tho lovely native trees and ferns, to . ; realise how-this one feature alone would ;.■■ ,'; immeasurably enhance the beauty of Auck- . land. Lower 'Symonds-street, portion of - Grafton Road, Princes-street, and Alfred'street are the prettiest ■. streets in • tho city ':■..'■• because of their trees, and the, pity is that .'■/there are not many mora like thorn. In Park Avenue, there stood a line of fine . oaks; as well grown trees as any in Auck- ; land, but the Newmarket Borough Council could not see its way to, form a street chan- ' nel, and consequently the ground in the \\ • vicinity of the 'trees wan damp in winter, and so the trees' were cut right back, to the . . bare trunks, a few feet from the ground; naturally itho appearance of tho whole street was spoiled. , Those who have visited Adelaide will . - remember tho splendid appearance of King William-street, the main thoroughfare. A broad roadway was provided, and trees , were planted along either side, and their *'' 'main street is now the pride of Adelaide people. All the water front :is similarly planted. The. authorities in Perth have embarked upon a tree-planting scheme, and ; are laying out a_noble park. In Melbourne ■ •the top of Collins-street is noted for its :; trees, and since the visit of the Prince of ■\ Wales Melbourne has 'gone in for planting on .an extensive ■ scale, and is making the , • Yarra front a delightful resort. The mistake teijiarfow thoroughfares in Sydney, a ■i"" fault which Auckland is also feeling keenly, is being rectified in the suburban districts, : and there tree-planting is going on, while in the city itself, Macquarie-street, in which Parliament House and Government House stand, is to be transformed into a broad and noble thoroughfare, made beautiful by trees. and flowers. Bat hurst, again, is ' always a place to be treasured in memory because of its broad streets and lines of trees and its fine Machattie Park. Then, how beautiful are . Chicago's boulevards, ■ the principal one with its three fines of .roadway all tree-shaded and with plots of flowers at intervals. How beautiful the Germans have made some of the Berlin V ', streets with trees, and how could a visitor ■'. to the' Continent ever forgot the glories of ' the Parisian boulevards. , Y ! The New Zealand cities ibave been singularly lacking in . this respect. How ■' much-the ugliness of the business area of Wellington might be relieved by tree- ■ planting, how much more beautiful Dune- . din might be, and there is even room in \ Christchurch for more planting, although Christchnrch, in this respect, has taken the lead of, the four centres, and mado

many streets beautiful. '■"'.. ' Unfortunately, Auckland was either laid out in a hurry, or, like Topsy, it just grew, and it is already costing large sums of money to. rectify some of the evils ../;'■ that would have been obviated had the city ever been properly planned out. Still, j;. there are many roadways which could be made bright and pretty by the planting ,-.,'- out di suitable-trees, particularly the water front. Apart from tho water front, _..V however, tho mai.a opportunity now rests ~-' with the. suburban areas. Unfortunately there is'such a multiplicity of local bodies i that- funds are strictly limited, and it is doubtful if ■ many of the borough councils a and road boards could afford to do much.- • Still there is splendid opportunity before'i ■';■ such districts as Grey Newmarket, j Bemuera, and Mount Eden. Every tree I ' planted means an additional asset. The I - outer districts and the marine suburbs have ■) jV': the best' chance of all. . Devonport, Northcote, and Birkenhead might be made infinitely more attractive as residential areas • by tho establishment of avenues of trees, while in the caee of such places, as St. Heliers Ray 'the wonder is that, failing a 'local authority action, the residents themselves do not form working bees or commit- ' ' tees, because a comprehensive scheme of planting at St. Ileliera Bay water front ,;. would make it ten times more popular as a resort. ■ ' The gulf islands, too, have good opportunity.' What would -Hawaii be with- . . out these splendid groves the great pro- <" Consul'planted? Stately plantations and r> shady avenues are more than welcome " wherever, planted. As year by year, tho volume of tourist : traffic- increases and doubles arid quadruples, r ■ Auckland will-see more and more how great an opportunity it has missed of making it- " pelf a real garden city, an attraction to

visitors from all parts of the world, but it is not too late to do a very great deal, and I .there'is* a. point in the offering of prizes \ for the prettiest private gardens fronting un thoroughfares.