RESERVES CONSERVATION SOCIETY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12605, 7 March 1903, Page 5

RESERVES CONSERVATION SOCIETY.

The fourteenth annual meoting of the Dunedin and Suburban Reserves Conservation Society was held in the .Town Hall yesterday afternoon. Mr A. 0. Begg presided in tho absence of Mr G. G. Ruesoll, and tho following gentleman wore present.: Messrs E. Melland, T. R. Fisher, A. S, Paterson, J. C. Thomson, Ai Thomson, R. Clark, and A. Bathgate (secretary). Apolofries were received from Messrs T. Brown, Janice Allen, M.H.R., and J. H. Morriran. Tho Chairman said ho regretted that neither Mr Russell nor Mr Brown was ablo to bo precont. Tho principal part of tlw year's work, as the report showed, had Jieen the work on the Anderson's Hay road. This work had been under way soma years, and tho first, part of it was beginning to show very favourably. Tho shrubs and plants there were growing very well, and in a. few years tho Andorson'e Bay road, instead of a bleak, wind-swept ■ road, wo\ild be to a large extent sheltered, and, with the plantations, would look much bettor' than beforo. Then, in connection with Tahuna Park and neighbourhood, sorno money liad been spent. They had co-operated with the Otago.A. and P. Societv in enclosing a piece of the Sandhills adjoining tho park and planting marram grass, lupins, and trees thero. Some 2000 treos had been planted thero, a good many of which were growing, and there was no doubt that after a while this planting would result in making the place picturesque and iD stopping tho drift of sand. There was no doubt that the Ocean Beach Domain Board were doing very good work indeed in' the matter of reclamation, planting, protective fencebuilding, etc., and the work done showed it was only a question of timo when the whole of the Sandhills would bo mado very picturesque and a useful recreation ground for tho city and suburlis. Outcry had some time ago been made when it.was proposed to utilise tho Sandhills for depositing nightsoil, but the result of what h:ul been done hud been extremely good, and tho part so treated had been immensely improved. He thought it would have been a great advantage had the samn system been applied to the whole -of the Sandhills—such would hasten tho improvement there in a marked degree. As the report stated, the cold snap in sprinsr had done a good deal of damage in killing young trees, but- their society had not been the only sufferers. However, they had no renson to expect such a bad spring again for a long time to come. As the report stated,, inquiries were made as to the summits of the hills round about Dimedin which it was proposed to secure as reserves for the public. It was found, however, that all these hilltops had been bought and were already private property, which was a pity, as in years to como they were likely to be more resorted to even than now. Of course they were not very valuable, and onvone who liked could buy them reasonably for the desired purpose. As usual. Mr Bathgate had been the mainspring of the society thin year as in the past, and to his efforts very largely tho society owed its present position, and one had only to look round Dunedin to see the beautiful reserves—the Trianglo, Market reserve, Octagon, etc..—the present position of which was attributable to a very large extent to his enthusiasm. ITe had .only now to move the adoption of the anmial report and balance sheet. • Mr ,T. O. Thomson seconded the motion. Mr E. Molland called attention to tho sky sign which an enterprising firm in Stafford.street had erected over their building. He thought it the greatest disfigurement to tho citv they had had for many years. It could be scot from a long way down, the harbour, and doubtless'this was the object for which it was crected. Several toiinVta had mentioned- the matter to him, and he would move that the committee bn'ng it under the attention of the City Council with (i view of having the practice of erectins: sky signs checked. As a matter of fact, other cities liad token measures to restrict the erection of sky signs, and ho thought it desirable similar steps should be taken in this citv.

Mr A. S. Paterson, in speaking on the nun© question, remarked that in a recent trio abroad he list) noticed a great diminution in these shy rigns in the-vicinity of Niagara Falls and other American cities. Tito motion was agreed to, and the report adnnlcd. The following office-bearers were re-elected —President. Mr (?. G. Ru.«cll; vico-i)resi-dent, Mr T. Brown: commitKc—Dr Colquhoun. iT. Robin. .T. H. Morrison, and .T. 0. Thomson. Mr W. Burnett .was elected in place of Mr Pi. Hay, who did not offer himself for re-eleet-ion. Mr R. Jf. Clark moved—"That in the opinion of this society the elder tree should !>c declared a noxious weed under the Noxious Weeds Act. and that the secretary should bo requested to communicate with the authorities asking them to have the tree so declared." He raid ho hud referred to the spread of this tree at their last annual meet,in:;, and lie noticed that it was still increasing in all directions. Mr Batliirato seconded tlio motion, which was parried. A hearty vote of thanks was pawed to Mr Bathgate for flio v.'ork he had performed in connection with the secretaryship, and the compliment was suitably acknowledged.

Anemone's, Puinuncitlus, and Lilies afo three of tho finest bulbous flowers. Nimmo and Blair are offering those Bulbs for planting now, at exceedingly low rates