RECREATION RESERVES TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5673, 26 April 1880, Page 3

RECREATION RESERVES TO THE EDITOR.

SlB, —The reckless misuse of our city reservaa calls for immediate and vigorous protest. When the Exhibition building of 1860 was placed on what is now known as the Hos pital Reserve, the authorities little thought of the precedent they were establishing. The ground surrounding the building remained f.;r some timo available as a playground for the children of the neighbourhood, and whan at length it was fenced in, th>j youngsters could still find room for • play in the reserve lying between Albany aud Union a'reats and tha old Bo'anical Gardens. The former has been cribbed bit by bit for the Police Camp, tha Museum, aid tha ne v school, aud more lately ha!f an acrj h-,8 betn enclosed to make a playground for the adjoining school. The reinaindar is, I hear, to ba planted with tre3B, ami we m*y shortly expect to seethe usual noti. ea stuck up warning visitors "to keap on tha path*." It is difficult to arrive at "what's what" in tha past, b-it someone can surely answer tha qu^tion, " By whose authority was t! c last bit (now bein* fouoed) takdii ?" As regwds the old B (tanicsl Reserve, the common report is that it was exchanged for a few miserable aires at the top of Rattr.\y street, absolutely adjoining the Town Belt —ie., where a raoreatiou reserve of unlimited extent already exis s. Originally laid out to resemble Edinburgh, our portion of tha city will Roon be little better than tha most densely-populated districts of-E»it Lonion, uuleaa the Reserves Committee will thoughtfully consider the crying want of play room for the young generation aroir.id us. Passing diwa any of the thoroughfares but ween St. Andrew and SU David streets after school hours, ouo cannot but be struck with the large number of children playing hop -ec itch, mirblep, und similar game 3on tae footpaths. Let the pedestrian pause in the neighbourhood of these group 3, and in nine cases out of ten the ear will be shock ;d by ths disgi'aseful language ot tha boys— aveu uf those ii tender years. Can we wonder that after dusk V>ya • } °r 13 yeara °* ag3 are *3 bo Been Proudly indulging in a" short clay " and swearing as becomes bargemen ? Can we wonder if these boys devebp into lardkins of the worst typo a few years hence ? The parents are not altogether to blame. With a large family of small children, the working m vn's wife ha« no option but to send the youngsters to play in the streets, and the mischievous seed ia sown at an age when tha difference between rijjht and wrong is unknown. Tha lower middk-c!a« people cannot afford a nuraa girl, and tuo Town Belt, whero invigorating romps might ba indulged in, is too far distant to ba reached by the little legs. I cannot but believe that the authorities only need their attention directed to this matter to ensure their devoting thj unoccupied portion °l tha. Hospital grounds and the remainder of the King street reserve to purposes of recreation. That the subject is one of vital importance cannot bs denied, whether viewed in its m->ral or physical aspect. ThatDunedio. should become overrun by larrikinism would be regretted by the moat apathetic; that in Dunedin we have as promising a crop of erowirg larrikins a3 our worst enemies could wish us_, is a fact patent to any observant mmd; and that tbe rising generation is capable of better things wero o;sporiunity afforded, has during tha pist summer been demonstrated on a certain ona eighth airo in King street, where I have watohed with pleasure a number of lads essaying cricket under the disad vantagesnf ditches, drains, hillock*. »nd swamp. BlocksXXlll, XXrX, and X3:XI, together with the two blocks now in possersion of the University, were hft as breathing-spaces for the surrounding inhabitants : seven tenths of the whole has a!ready been alienated, and I ask your valuable aid, Sir, in directing public attention to the matter ere it ba too late Ie may be «a|d that the old Caledonian ground (block XXXI) is available, and that tb.9 schools have plaj grounds. As regards the schools, not one posaesjss a recreation ground _ sufficiently large for a fourth of the children attending it, and the reserve last mentioned (block XXXI) is engrossed both in summer and winter by adults engaged in cricket or football. The unoccupied portion of block-XXrx is, therefore, specially valuable as a space wsich might at a small ccst pa put in order, and made the playground of the neighbourhood. Hoping the Reserves Oommittea will forego their intention of planting the ground with tree 3, and by adoptin? my suggestion draw down upon themselves tha blessings of some hundreds of little ones who now wear out their "copper-toes" on the asphalt,—l am, &0.~

CUMBERLAND BTBEET.