THE PLANTING OF THAMES STREET.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12283, 9 July 1914, Page 7

THE PLANTING OF THAMES STREET.

To tho Editor. Sir. —The opponent.? of tree-planting in Thames snoot have now t^iv<■ n voice to their «ri«Mii(f with no uncertain sound. :ij.'S a lew words irom the position of ilu- Beautdying -Society will be ol' some value. Tin- Beam ifyiqs Society has a membership ol' over 2-JO. including a very large section of the influential and progressive members ol the community. There may he individual members til' llie Societv opposed: to the planting ol Thames street, hut-at the animal meeting held several months ago the resolYmou to ask permission to plant Thames street was earned unanimously. The Societv has pood reason to believe that, in this matter, it has the support ol tlie great majority of the townspeople. The project has been carried through in an open manner with the utmost deliberation and care by various Committees. These, in selecting the kind of tree, method of planting, and protection. have been guided by text-books and tin,' experience of other communities more progressive than, ourselves, who: in' many parts of the civilised world, have made a nota-l.'.e success of tree-planting in their busy thoroughfares. i. The Borough Council, before granting permission to carry on the work, were cautious enough to iprjuest the Beautifying Society to make a canvass of the owners and occupiers ol Tlia-mes-street premises: This was done at a good- deal of trouble, and' 41. largo majority in favor was the result. The Beautifying Society has not thought it necessary to take round any petition on the subject. What, is tlie result? In the first place, those, of us who use the street most, found discomfqrt incidental to the work being carried out during a week of wet weather, when building operations which are. in progress were already oecuping a portion, of the thoroughfare. But one can. p'ufc up with such temporary discomfort when ft-e see improvements in buildings giving evidence of the progress of the town, and foresee a street which Will, 1 believe, be the envy of the Dominion. Already travellers passing tlirough Oamaru are commenting on the improvement to our bare street. I should have been glad to have dealtwith any good l sound arguments against the planting if these were adduced. Jiut the fact that at the recent meeting only those opposed to tree-planting were invited is not without significance. To simply assort- that no other main i horougliiares of important towns haw trees planted in them is not ,an argument. If those who say so will not believe returned travellers who quote instances, why will they not- look at photographs (of which there are plentyto be seen Ln Oamaru) ol busy (streets full of shops, and main thoroughfares planted with trees in various methods.-' Or why nob go to the. Pictures occasionally, where they will not fail to see thent'r Next, with regard to the curtailment of space for traffic. Apart from the avenue, we now have two roadways each over 30 feet- from tree-guard lo kerb. Stafford street, the main street of Timant, is 30 feet from kerb to kerb in its narrowest part. Willis street and Cuba street, Wellington, are each ;j| f,eet-; Lambton Quay is 30 feat. Some of the.se, the principal .streets of th-e capital, have double lines ol tramways. So has Hastings street, the ina'in street of Napier, with <l2 feet-; while Emerson street, the next busiest street, full ol' shops, is 30 feet. These are oflicial measurements obtained from the Town Clerks of the towns mentioned. Our traffic is not vet denser than in these streets: .surely we can learn to drive correctly in ours. S'ot much attempt has been made m this respect in the past-; but-if the tree-planting does no more than regulate our traffic it would serve a good purpose. I believe Thames strevt is safer to-day than it used to be when we all wobbled anyhow about the 10feet of width. That there, will be accidents in our streets in the future, as in the past, no reasonable man duiibis; but we do not iear up fences and pavements because t hey have been the cause of accidents, nor are tram-cars abolished though more accidents have occurred .since"their introduction. There are reasons alleged against street-planting which it seems futile to combat. How it is that busy centres where street-planting has been carried out for fifty years. g:|-t- continue to plant more ami more of recent years il it were true that the drains and pipes at# injured, wires interfered with, and the falling leaves are a constant nuisance? Cross sections of streets where trees such as ours, arc planted, shew a network of drains and pipes, with- the tree-roots amongst them causing no harm. In the position of our trees even such a risk does not apply. Where evergreen Moreton Bay .rigs in Sydney hang over the park rails and cause damn and shade thev have to be. cut down. If our ancestors had planted bluenumt or maerocarpas on Thames street we should have had to cut. them down. Bui. all this has nothin"- to do with the case in point. I do not. press the main advantages of trees in the streets, their beauty and their &hade, ill reasoning with those who say that the beauty of si-reet-trees does not appeal to them. Nor do I urge their minor advantages in -obviating dust- and providing shelter for cab-horses and taxis. But f ask the opponents of the Thames street painting to i>ause and consider 'that the advocates of the scheme have as large stakes in tha town as they;, that they have laith tlie future of Oamaru, and are not content with the old cry of I'J'oor Old Oamaru." Street-planting in Oamaru is not the whim of a- few; but tho younger and more enterprising tradespeople who, of late years, have been pushing this town ahead, see very well how everything tliat mates the town attractive will make for its prosperity, and -draw a good class of home-seekers to settle in a beautiful, healthy, and up-to-date centre. Times cures many grievances. I tie new venture is not irrevocable, and we can.trust- public opinion, five, ten or twenty years hence, and leave the rest to nosteritv. —I am, etc., ALEXANDER DOUGLAS. President Oamaru Beautifying Society. Reed street, July 8. 1914.