ARBOUR DAY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVI, Issue 2274, 2 August 1894, Page 3

ARBOUR DAY.

A largo crowd of people assembled on Thorndon quay, near Davis street, yesterday afternoon to watch the proceedings in connection with the celebration of Arbour Day. Punctually at 2 o’clock His Excellency the Governor, who was accompanied by the Ladies Augusta and Alice Boyle and Mr Clayton, A.D.C., drove up to the scene of operations, and were met by His Worship the Mayor (Mr A. de B. Brandon) and Mrs Brandon, the Premier (Hon R. J. Seddon) and the Minister of Lands (Hon J. McKenzie). The proceedings opened with an address by His Worship the Mayor, who remarked that in observing Arbour Day they had followed the example of the settlers in North America, and of all the American institutions which had been wholly or in part adopted in this Colony, Arbour Day was the one about which there could be but one opinion as to its excellence. They had in this city too few places where the growth of trees and plants was encouraged either by the people or by the municipality. Trees in the public places of a town properly oared for afforded an excellent and over present object lesson for the rising generation from which they were unconsciously taught a large amount of discipline, the subjection to which rendered it easier for them to submit to the more stringent requirements of the State when they ripened into citizenship. A survey of the country round about this spot showed at a glance that the early settlors regarded the forest os a thing to be swept away root and branch; their children, like George Washington, had looked upon any tree as fair material upon which to tost their hatchets, but, unlike George Washington, those children had been commended rather than chided for their wantonness, and the result was shown when they saw nikau palms and tree ferns which had taken 50 or more years to grow, ruthlessly out down in order to make a ball-room look nice for an hour or two. Watch young people when they were pleased to governing, see how recklessly they tore up anything and everything of the nature of a fern regardless of roots or fronds : how many were carried homo ? How many ■ wore taken • homo to bo thrown aside to wither and decay ? And how much nearer were they to the total extinction of those beautiful plants which form so marked a characteristic of the New Zealand bush? Once teach the children that a tree'was a thing to be respected and they had overcome the chief difficulty in the way of the systematic adornment of their streets and public places ; each child should then bo eager to plant and eager to preserve; and successive Arbour Days should bo days .when the older people would point with pride to the trees they planted in their youth, while the younger ones, if not weighted by a passing wave of contemptuous indifference to everything beyond their own immediate concern, would ardently strive for the honour of filling such vacant spaces as might then be available. At the present time the citizens wore sluggish, but 'it-was to be hoped that before long the movement would become more general, and that the observance of Arbour Day would receive the warmhearted support it so well deserved. The proceedings on the present occasion consisted of the planting of a line of trees along Thorndon quay. T1)0 idea’had been given effect to by the zeal and energy of Mr George Woodward, who had collected contributions for the purpose, and had undertaken to supervise the scheme to its completion. Ho trusted that the tree His Excellency was about to plant might after many years serve to remind any future Earl bearing his name and who should come to New Zealand with Her Majesty’s commission that an illustrious ancestor of his

played a not unimportant part in the artistic adornment of tho City of Wellington. (Applause.) The Premier endorsed tho remarks of His Worship the Mayor, and then wont on to say that they had been very neglectful in the jiast in regard to tree planting, and that their neglect would bo visited upon those who came after them. They had vast areas of land in tho North Island which he believed were fit for nothing else but forests, and he thought a large number of the infirm and aged could be utilised in planting trees on the plains between Napier and Taupo. When Mr Woodward first inaugurated this movement he met with very little success, and he himself must plead guilty to having been one of those who looked somewhat indifferently upon the scheme. However, he thought that by publicly stating that he had committed an .error of judgment, and that he would for the future render the scheme every possible assistance, he would atone for his fault.

His Excellency said he should like to endorse all that had fallen from the Mayor and tho Premier. There was, in his opinion, nothing more necessary in a country like New Zealand than that rows of trees should be planted so as to beautify the fine city in which they lived. For his part, he thought that every man, woman or child who planted a tree in the City of Wellington was doing something which would benefit themselves and those who came after them. He was pleased to be present on that occasion and to plant a tree, and ho sincerely hoped it would spring up better than the one he planted last year, which ho believed died — (laughter)—that it would be a beautification of the town, and that many more would be planted before he left the Colony. (Applause.) Three cheers were then called by the Mayor for His Excellency, and heartily given, and “ one more for the little one"" was called for by a person in the crowd, and given with equal vigour. Trees were then planted by His Excellency, who handled the spade in a most vigorous manner. Ladies Augusta and Alice Boyle, the Premier, the Minister for Lands, and the Mayor and tho Mayoress (Mrs Brandon), all of whom were accorded ringing cheers on completing their labours. His Excellency and party then drove off, and the planting of the trees was continued under the supervision of Mr G. Woodward. The line extended right along tho strip of vacant land on Thorndon quay just beyond Davis street abutting on the Manawatu Railway Company's reclamation round on to the Esplanade, about 90 trees in all being planted. The weather was all that could bo desired, and tho work of tree planting was watched with a great deal of interest by large numbers of spectators.

By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchurch, August 1. Very little was done here in celebration of Arbour Day. The Mayor had asked shopkeepers to abserv© the weekly half-holiday to-day instead of on Thursday, but very few responded. The children of the East Christchurch School went to New Brighton and planted about 1000 trees. Trees were also planted by school children at Lyttelton and some planting was done at Rangiora. Dun'edin, August 1. To-day was not observed as a holiday by the shopkeepers. Some tree planting was done by tho pupils of nearly all the city and suburban schools.