ROXBURGH GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26354, 8 January 1947, Page 3

ROXBURGH GARDEN

ATTRACTION FOR VISITORS PUBLIC-SPIRITED ACTION Few visitors to Roxburgh during the holidays have not paid at least one visit to the beautiful gardens and aviary just past the Presbyterian Church. At almost every season of the year these gardens, the work of one man, are full of beauty, and they form an ideal setting for the large aviary, with its scores of healthy, contented birds. Over the holidays this delightful corner of the main street has attracted hundreds of visitors and has come in for much favourable comment. But few people, perhaps, realise how it came into being. Always a keen gardener and a resident with a strong sense of public duty, Mr J. H. Waigth many years ago made up his mind to make his garden beautiful, not only for his own sake, but for that of the public. Later he conceived the idea of including an adjoining lane in his landscape garden. The lane was not used by the public, and Mr Waigth obtained the permission of the Borough Council to convert it into a garden. He dispensed with a front fence and put in a wide drive leading to his aviary. He planted hundreds of bulbs, which make a beautiful show in the spring, and turned the whole area into lawns and gardens. Mr Waigth is not a bird fancier* in the accepted sense of the term; nor has he made a _ collection of various breeds. But the birds thrive and are contented in the well-kept aviary. _ , , This attractive corner of Roxburgh reflects the desire of a man possessing a keen civic pride to give something of beauty and interest to his fellowmen.