ROLLESTON AVENUE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 210, 9 October 1914, Page 7

ROLLESTON AVENUE.

AND ITS TREES. THE PRUNING-KNIFE WITHHELD. Eolleston Avenue au<l its trees have been much in the public mind during the.last few days, and citizens who have feared the menace of the electrical lighting poles to the trees have been disturbed by visions of municipal vandals flourishing their profaning axes along the dual lines of foliage that make Avenue notable, and leaving a waste of bereaved stumps in their train. There is really, however, no cause for alarm. It is not proposed to cut down •. any tre.es, or even to prune them, but, «n the .contrary,, this restful sanctuary of umbrageous shade is to be as jealously guarded against saereligious .spoliation as the most devoted admirer of natural beauty, could demand. Councillor Taylor, chairman of the Electrical Committee of the City Council, told a SUN representative to-day that he felt the City Council had been most unnecessarily and-unjustly attacked in the matter. "So far,'' he said, ''from desiring to do anything which would injure sny beauty spot in the city such as Holiest on Avenue, the Electrical Department had gone out of its way on several occasions during the erection of the electric light poles to preserve outstanding features in the way of trees. The citizens' may rest assured that, whatever is done, we will not be party to anything that will cause destruction of any of the trees- in the beauty spots of Cliristehureli; THE POSITION EXPLAINED. ''l may say,'' continued Cr Taylor, "that the Electrical Committee, in giving . notice to the Domain Boai'd that the trees should be pruned, had no idea that it would .involve, the very drastic ',. cutting that It appears to necessitate. We had never heard from the Domain Board to this effect, and naturally concluded that only a very slight pruning "was necessary. The position being otherwise,- we are now going to take steps Which will obviate the trouble. "The Telegraph Department will not allow the wires to go on their posts, because of' the strong lighting wire, which is of very high voltage.' If this wire were placed on the telephone poles and the insulation became Avorn, and it .touched a telephor"? wire, it would be ' liable to cause a serious accident, if not death, to persons' at cither end of the telephone. "Personally, I think,'on consideration

of the matter, that we ought to strain every nerve not to have wires near the trees, and not to have even poles there. The only way by which we could light Uolleston Avenue to obviate the necessity of using the high-tension 3000-volt system would be to put in a special section of wire there at the ordinary 220 voltage pressure. In other words, to put in a special street-lighting section for that part. This would involve extra expense, no doubt, the Council would be to meet in xiew of the circumstances. The question of putting the wires underground lias" been raised, but even if this were dorieL it would not obviate use of poles, aiid the consequent pruning of the" trees where £he poles were situated. The wire£ would still, require to. run on-these poles for the private, services to houses; in' the neighbourhood. Another metho'd*' of getting over the difficulty Jias been suggested, which is to put arms on the posts projecting over the street, something. .like the tramway poles. This would clear the trees. We | are having that worked out to see if it could be done, but there are* certain •engineering difficulties."