TREES MADE UGLY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21247, 29 July 1932, Page 10

TREES MADE UGLY

DRASTIC PRUNING EVILS OVERHEAD WIRES THE CAUSE BAN ON NEW ZEALAND FLORA CIVIC BEAUTIFYING RESTRICTED The drastic pruning to which whole streets of trees are being subjected in Auckland at present is being very unfavourably commented upon by Nature lovers, Tho purpose of this, an ngly example of which is to be seen in Lower Grafton Road, in the city, and King Edward Avenue, Epsom, is to protect tho overhead network of telegraph wires, whose insulation is otherwise liable to become frayed by constant contact with spreading branches. It is well, known that the city authorities view with considerable sorrow the severe lopping which the Post and Telegraph Department and the Auckland Elec-tric-Power Board insist shall be carried out, for the protection of their telephone and power lines. As a matter of fact, most of tho pruning at present going on is being done by telegraph employees, with City Council gardeners watching the work in tho role of official observers and advisers. These men do their best to save as much of tho trees as possible, but in view of the necessity for considering tho city's telephonic and lighting facilities before the city's amenities, the effect is frequently disastrous for the trees.

Laying Wires Underground " Our streets will never look beautiful until all the overhead wires are put underground," said a City Council official yesterday. " That is done in many overseas cities of Auckland's size and will have to' be done in Auckland before many years are passed. There is hardly a street in Auckland in which the trees can bo allowed to grow in a normal way. The piano trees in Lower Grafton Road, Lower Symonds Street and in Jervois Road, Ponsonby, which you will see cut right back to the vory trunks, have been mutilated in that way solely on account of the wires. In other cities they would bo allowed to grow naturally, with only a very occasional pruning or none at all. But until the. wires come down it will be impossible for us to mako Auckland as beautiful as it should be." Many people have wondered why the City Council still continues to. plant exotics, such as planes, elms, oaks and poplars, which shed their leaves in winter, when scores of beautiful native trees, which are green all the year round, are eminently suited for street tree-planting.-The reason was supplied by a City Council gardener. Why Native Trees are Banned "As long as rows of telegraph and electric-power poles run down both sides of every street we cannol conscientiously recommend the planting of native treeii," he said. "You can prune back an exotic, like a plane, but annual pruning has a ruinous effect on an indigenous tree, like a puriri or a pohutukawa. What would be finer than rows of magnificent pohutukawas in our residential streets, a blaze of scarlet every Christmas ? But what would they look like when We started to cut them down at the top so that they would not interfere with the wires ? ;jX, • " Look at the puriri trees in King Edward Avenue. Every one has been scooped out in the middle to let the wires run unmolested, with the result that they look like nothing on earth. It is sacrilege to treat a native tree like that. That, is the only reason why we are not planting any more native trees where there are telephone and electric light wires." This inability to exploit New Zealand flora in making Auckland beahtiful is one of the most unfortunate aspects of Auckland's town-planiiing. Compared with the numbers of exotics, native trees in our streets aro insignificant. Of the 10,000 trees now growing in Auckland's streets, about 8500 are foreign to these shores. There are, for instance, no fewer than 3719 plane trees, 3414 elms, 419 limes and 300 poplars. The puriri, indeed, is the only New Zealand tree planted in any numbers. There are 312 of them. And there are only 67 karaka trees. Prejudices of tShe Public

Tree-planting at present has been discontinued in accordance with the City Council's economy policy, operations being confined to pruning and replacing trees which have died or been destroyed. But last year 500 pohutukawas were planted along tho waterfront road from the city to St. Ileliers. There are no wires there to restrict the healthy growth of the trees and in a few years they should grow into one of the finest avenues in New Zealand. Unfortunately, not everyone appreciates the value of trees as an important adjunct to civic improvement. When an avenue was planted in one of the suburbs some years ago a number of the residents actually dug up the trees in front of their houses, and only recently residents in Coronation Road, Epsom, requested the cutting back of the puriris in that street, one of tho finest avenues in the Auckland province. The objection, in this case, was that the trees had spread to such an extent that the street lamps failed to penetrate their foliage, with the result that tho street was undesirably dark at night. A Lesson From America Other residents consider that the correct AVa'y 1 of dealing \Vith' the'problem is that carried out in Grey's Avenue, where the street lamps have been suspended over the middle of the road. This system, which is largely adopted in America, allows the trees to grow to their natural size and at the same time effectively illuminates tho carriage-way. ''The drastic pruning which is being done to the planes in Auckland does the trees no good," declared a horticulturist yesterday. " It prevents the sap flowing freely, and the trees will die, some of them, I should say, within ten years. What is more, it is an expense that other cities, which do not prune, are saved. It is timo steps were taken to prevent' this annual labour." CHRISTCHUROH COMPLAINTS • BEAUTfFUL TREES SPOILED The pruning of trees in city streets in order to jceep them clear of qverhead wires has in many cases spoiled their beauty, remarked the Reserves Commit tee in a report which was presented to tile Christchurch City Council this week. "Unfortunately it is compulsory for local bodies responsible for the care and maintenance of street' trees to keep the trees clear from all overhead electric light, telegraph, and telephone wires," stated the committee. "This means that rigorous pruning has, to be resorted to in order to restrict the growth and keep it within due bounds, with a result that only too of.teh tho true character and beauty of the trees are completely spoiled. For example, in' Mansfield Avenue there was a very fitie avenue of silver birches. Tho residents complained of insufficient street lighting, and the Municipal Electricity Department stated that the cause of the trouble was street trees shading the lights. The Post and Telegraph De* partment. also complained of the branches interfering with its ovorhead wires. The result was, of course, that trees which were just .beginning to attain thoir true beauty and character had to be cut back."-