BEAUTIFYING THE CITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18206, 27 September 1922, Page 11

BEAUTIFYING THE CITY.

STIMULATION OF INTEREST. SCOPE FOR A SOCIETY. THE COUNCIL'S ACTIVITY. The development of Auckland has now reached a point at which civic interest in keeping progress on uniform lines of attractiveness should be both stimulated and practised'. This is the view favoured and followed by the Mayor, Mr. J. H. Gunson, and it is reasonable to assume that it -will have very general support Much has already been done by the administrative authorities to improve the natural beauty of Auckland, but a great deal more has yet to be done. Nowhere in the world has the perfect city been evolved, and the surest way toward the ideal is to keep on improving as a whole. It will be admitted that there is still a great, deal of scope in Auckland for community service in securing essential improvement and that beauty which attracts the stranger, as it increases the contentment rather than the complacency of the resident. A far-travelled tourist remarked the other day, for example that the flowers in the public gardens here were so beautiful and apparently so easily grown that it was a surprise to see that Auckland was not a city of beautiful private gardens. In the opinion of Mr. Gunson the time has come for the organisation of a beautifying society in Auckland, for the purpose of stimulating the interests of the citizens in the future progress of the city. Cooperation with enthusiasm can achieve a great deal. Meanwhile the council is con tinuing its policy of beautifying the reserves, and many old corners, so to speak, about the city. Consideration is alsr being given to the pn>gramme of street tree-planting during autumn, and th* prospects promise excellent results.