THE TARANAKI PROVINCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20760, 31 December 1930, Page 13

THE TARANAKI PROVINCE

EARLY DAIRYING DAYS^

NEW PLYMOUTH'S BEAUTY.

THE PARKS AND RESERVES.

GROWTH IN THE LAST 50 YEARS.

PY OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONER No. 111.

New Plymouth can claim to be one of the great dairying towns e. f New Zealand, and, in fact, not so long ago was the preatest Much of its prosperity depends upon the price of butter and cheese, and it is quite evident that these exports have paid her well, for the town bears every evidence of wealth "and continued success.

Even under the present low prices for dairy products there is no visible sign of depression, nor is there likely to be, for most of the citizens are solid folk, and, moreover, belong to a class who can keep a stiff upper lip even under more trying times than those we are experiencing

now. It may be interesting to those who are so depressed at the prospect of butter remaining for awhile-'tEt a 'shilling a pound to recall that when' 0 !' fitst 'vitirited New Plymouth its merchants told me that they had thousands of kegs of this product in their cellars which they could not dispose of even at fourpence a pound. Livestock was almost unsaleable then. I remember attending a sale with the manager of the Waitara meat preserving works, and I saw 400 prime steers sold for 75s per head, and the owner was glad to get this price-

Former Days ol Depression^

It is just as well to recall' siich fact* as these, for we are apt to believe that we are now passing through the hardest times ever known. It is also good for us to remember that men faced those days hardily and cheerfully, getting through them somehow, and prospering mightily when butter rose to sixpence and sevenpence a pound.

I think the citizens of New Plymouth can be very proud of the work they have done in beautifying their town and adding to its attractions. Nature provided them with some fine material, but other towris have had fine features spoiled for lack of care. Pukekura Park is now famous throughout the Dominion for its exotics and its fine collection of native flora. So artistically has it been adorned that all its features seem perfectly natural, yet when I first saw it, the old native growth was its chief feature.

I can quote from an old article of mine to give some idea of its appearance-m the middle 'eighties. It was then known as Egmont Park, or sometimes the' Recreation Grounds. Here is what I wrote:—

A Former Description.

"I visited this beautiful recreation ground one autumn afternoon. It is only a short and''very pleasant work from the centre of the town, and when you arrive there you can fancy yourself in the centre of a delightful wilderness. The road by which I entered followed the various windings of a shady gully. At the bottom of this gully waved the graceful raupo reed, over which the brightpluniaged kingfisher, the gorgeous pheasant, and the sober-hue'.l quail fowl flew as I disturbed them. The sinuous windings of the road at last brought me in view of the spot where man's handiwork lias enhanced the delightfulness of the grounds. Close by is a pretty, reedfringed pool, at the head of which a fountain plays, throwing its light spray on the rich green lawn around it. "This little lawn rises up in banks covered with wide-ispreading, graceful tree ferns, which seem to have grown ther® on purpose to show off the coolness of the gleaming waterfall that adds its rippling music to the fountain, and its store of clear water to the reed-fringed pool. The sloping green bank, with its masses of tre<3 ferns, is but part of a great dam ths.t goes right across the gully and forms above it a miniature lake—the lake itself a glittering sheet of water, banked by dank slopes, stretches toward the poets' bridge, not named from any romantic association, but because a sporting and generous citizen happened to win a big dividend by backing the Poet, and part of it» winnings bridged the lake."'

Other Beautiies of the Town. I find also that X sat on a seat by th# lake and rested my feet on a rusty old cannon, the very eld ordnance with which Dicky Barrett and his fellows shattered the attack of the Waikato warriors on the Ngamotis pa, which stood near the present breakwater. Kawaroa Park, on the town's waterfront, is another charming reserve mad® for the adornment of New Plymouth, and the delight of its citizens and visitors. Then there is Marsland Domain, with its old military history and its splendid views, and many a nook and comer made beautiful by municipal ~ enterprise or private generosity. , We New Zealanders are apt to become rather perturbed when we hear financiers declaim on the enormous indebtedness of our municipal and county authorities, but when one realises that most of our towns have been built up from the wilderness in the ordinary span of a man's life, the bonder is that we have been able to accomplish so much with so little outsido aid. It is only a little more than 50 years ago sinco New Plymouth attained the dignity of a borough, and it was a somewhat primitive borough, too. Since that date, it may be said that the whole building of a substantial town lias had to be accomplished. Water supply, drainage, roads, bridges, tramlines, public buildings and the thousand other necessities of civilisation have been provided, and provided on such a scale that they are capable of serving twice or thrice the present population. Eemarkable Development.

It is only when wo. realise that practically every town in New Zealand has been built from its very first foundations on the labour and capital of its citizens, plus borrowed money,, that we can form a true ostimate of the remarkable development of New Plymouth, and can fully appreciate the. civic pride of its people, who, in spite of hard times in the past, have succeeded in giving it not only all the conveniences and luxuries of a modern city, but also have developed its artistic side. The more I travel about New /loniand tlie more impressed I am with the extraordinary high standard of its urban life, and I think it would ho a groat inducement for.men and women in overseas countries to settlo in New Zealand if they knew that even in comparatively remota districts, the local towns, even if small, were particularly well equipped with all that makes for the benefit and pleasure of human existence.