The Daily News. SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1913. PARK SATURDAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 281, 19 April 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1913. PARK SATURDAY.

To-day is "Park Saturday." To the ordinary individual outside New Plymouth the expression, of course, conveys nothing. Butr to'every resident and every visitor in our midst it ought to convey a great deal. Once a year a committee of energetic and enthusiastic people canvass the town for contributions towards the maintenance and upkeep of what is admittedly one of the beauty spots of New Zealand. The fame of our beautiful park, with its sylvan glades, its placid waters, and the" silent magnificence of the ferns and bush crowding down to peep at themselves, like Narcissus, in the mirror of its shimmering lakes, is not a local fame. It has gone abroad practically to all quarters of the globe, and it is no exaggeration to say that, south of the Line, there is not a public reserve comparable to it. There is no need to descant to a New Plymouth or Taranaki audience upon its beauties, neither is it the moment to. suggest that this lordly heritage ought to be a matter for purely municipal or Governmental control. That "is another' story." -Xo town or city, be they large or small, is properly equipped without its lungs, and it should be a privilege, jealously guarded, to see that those lungs arc not

consumptive. We are afraid that in the case of our own charming Park there are indications of atrophy. Its proper care and upkeep depend, rightly or wrongly, almost solely, upon the Voluntary support of the general public. The last year lias not been financially satisfactory, and the Board is sadly in need of funds to further "paint the lily" and "gild the refined gold" of a glorious municipal asset. Some day in the future "-not too far distant, we hope —New Plymouth will be a huge city, and we could leave jio better heritage to our children than the wide and well-kept breathing spaces of our spacious Park. There are people who contend that posterity should be allowed to look after itself, but if this selfish attitude had been adopted by our hard-working pioneers we ourselves would still be living in sod huts in the heart of the wilderness It is a domestic privilege to dn all that is possible for the sanctity of our homes and the comfort of our children. It should surely be a general one to do some little thing for the benefit of future generations. We cannot all leave our great-great-grandchildren fortunes in money, but we can leave them the Park in a state of decent preservation as an evidence of the fact that in our day and generation we were not wholly inconsiderate of the fact that others were to come after us, as we came after others. To-day the town will be vigorously canvassed by a number of enthusiastic ladies with view to raising funds for the further bcautilieation of the Park. We hope that the response will be correspondingly liberal, and that those who can give a pound will give a pound, and that those who can only afford a penny will give that penny in the same spirit.

THE TERRITORIALS. It will not be very long before the Defence Department will be able to dispense with a camp for "slackers." This year those of the Territorials who had not attended the requisite number 'of drills dining the year had to go into camp for four days prior to the others. This arrangement the 'slackers" perhaps do not mind, for it gives them an extra four days awav from their ordinary civilian duties, and, to them no doubt, is prei fumble to attending drills in the evening and parades on holiday occasions, j Hut just hero the employers are going j to have something to say. They are prepared to undergo some inconvenience and make sacrifices where it is necessary, as in giving their men leave for the ordinary camp, but they are not going to be further inconvenienced through the laziness or waywardness of their employees in regard to drill attendance. During the last few clays we have keard several employers protesting against being "let in" for the extra four days by their employees in this fashion, and vowing that they will insist on their employees in future putting in the requisite number of drills, or else look round for others to take their places. Regular attendance at drills will thus become a matter of as much concern to employers as the Territorials officers, and probably it will not be necessary to hold many more "slackers'" camps in future.