IMPROVING ROTORUA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20991, 30 September 1931, Page 9

IMPROVING ROTORUA.

t ' VALUABLE WORK DONE. - ■■ ■ • ■ • • . "'• 1 USE OF RELIEF LABOUR. ; < ; i * f <? 'v—" BETTER ROADS AND FOOTPATHS. [FROM our own correspondent.] ROTORTJA, Tuesday. . Many improvements have been effected in the Kotorua Borough since February last under the Unemployment Board's No. 5 scheme. A definite policy was adopted from the start eight months ago. Nearly six miles of new road formation and over five miles of new footpaths have been formed in the borough, large areas of reserves have been cleared and improved, and a vast amount of general improvement has been carried out in various parts of the town area. Altogether, about 2200 men have Been given relief work, and approximately £SBOO has been drawn in wages by these workers and spent to a large extent in the town. J The street improvement work has undoubtedly improved values in many areas of the borough. Excellent full-width roads. have been constructed where previously there were, in some cases, only tracks through the scrub, and fully-formed footpaths have boen mad* on ground which was previously grass covered and" very roughly levelled. In several cases these new roads and footpaths provide access to comparatively new residential areas, and lay the foundation for further extension of the building district. Activities on Reserves.

This is particularly the case on the Horahora and the Otonga Roads, where roads which were previously little more than scrub tracks have been fully formed and surfaced to provide access to the outer areas of the borough. These roads will eventually become of considerable value to the town, as they link up with the Waiariki Land Board in the Tihiotonga Block, where extensive land development work is being carried out.

In addition to these two main roads, a large number of streets have been formed, widened and levelled. This street widening and the formation of level foot-' paths has greatly improved residential sections which previously were very indifferently roaded. Another important section of the work has been in the improvement and development of the borough reserves. Most extensive of these works has been the clearing, fencing and draining of the Kuirau reserve area, where over 50 acres of what was previously little better than a wilderness has been brought into order. The greater part of the reserve has been cleared in preparation for the lay-out scheme wfiich is at present being drawn up, and trees have already been planted right round the boundary fence. Extensive Areas Cleared. Other extensive clearing work has been r carried out on the area of Crown lands between Ranolf Street and the High School, where 40 sections have been grubbed of gorse and noxious weeds and the streets giving access to them have been widened and improved. On the Cemetery reserve a considerable area hits , been cleared of blackberry and weeds aMa number of large tree stumps have been removed to open up tfhe area. Ifc is on this reserve that the larger of the two community gardens which have been commenced by the unemployed has been established. Already apprbximately three acres have been cleared and are being prepared for the formation of the garden plots. The second garden is/in Araohau Street and here also preparation , work is well forward. Considerable clearing, planting apd fencing has been done on the camp site, where the area of tangled weeds and underbrush which fronted Old Taupo Road and Sophia Street has been cleared. On the Town Belt at Peririka Street acres of scrub and weeds have been cleared and planted in oats. - - Ohlnemutu and Whakarewarewa.

Another direction in which excellent work has been accomplished has been in improving the native villages at Ohinemutu and Whakarewarewa. This is particularly noticeable at Ohinemutu, where the residents have co-operated with tha borough authorities to give the village a most effective spring-cleaning. By means of relief labour and payments from the queen carnival funds all the fences and main buildings have been repainted, rubbish and collections of weeds have been cleared away, neat rockery feiice3 have been placed round all the hot poola and springs, streets have b6£n widened and levelled and a general tidying-up has been carried out. The old Drain bath is. being replaced with a new structure o!t concrete blocks, the Tunuhopa _ meeting house has been improved by fencing, with a wide lawn'in front bounded by. trim concrete paths. The Xaera bath has been rebuilt and the Waikite bath building; renewed. At Whakarewarewa general tidying-up has been carried out and workmen aro at present constructing ornamental flowerbeds, which are being laid down at tho entrance to the pall. Union and Herewini Streets have been improved by tree-planting and the cultivation of neat plots in front of tho houses. Under the supervision of Mr. Georgo Steele, who organised the residents of these two streets, .the plots aro being kept in order by the householders. In preparation for the laying-down of a footpath 011 the Wairoa Road side of Whakarewarewa Road many heavy gumtree stumps have been dug out and re-, moved from the frontage as far as Parle Street, while in Wairoa Road itself 41} chains of footpath have been constructed,