Garden Streets.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 940, 9 December 1933, Page 8

Garden Streets.

Homes that Give Their Beauty. By IT. TILLMAN, (Hon. Sec. Christchurch Beautifying Association.) ■JJEXT MONTH the Christchurch Beautifying Association will undertake a search of the whole city to find out which garden adds the most beauty to any city or suburban street. That garden will have little or no fence. The idea of low, open-front fences is not new. There is a town in America with not a front, back or dividing fence. It is Pasadena, with a population about the same as Timaru. Nearer home is a short street in Riccarton with, on one side of the street, r.c front or dividing fences. It is Rata Street. Why Have Front Fences? Why do we have front fences? Because at one time cattle grazed along our streets. The cattle have gone, but the fence remains. That the fence is not needed can be seen by a trip along Papanui Road. Here we have every house securely fenced, and always the double gates wide open day and night. The fence is certainly not to keep burglars out. In any case, burglars prefer a high fence in front of the house to be sacked. It enables a thorough scrutiny of the dwelling and effective entrance ■without fear of being seen by passers-by. The man without fences can go away on a holiday and leave his home in safety. Everyone who goes by is his policeman. Charles Ulm flew the Tasman in the “ Faith in Australia.” The name gives a c'ue to the type of man. The man with & low fence could call his home “ Faith in New Zealanders.” Faith that his fellow citizens would not steal his roses, walk on his flower-beds, or in any way take advantage of the lack of protection. And as he gives the glory of his garden to the passerby so he receives the kindly gleam from every heart in response. We get out of life only what we put into it. As a Business Proposition.

The Christchurch Beautifying Association has enthusiasm, but its savings bank account reveals a credit balance of two shillings and threepence. Such things should not be. As a business proposition our City Council and each citizen should see that the Beautifying Association is rich enough to do all it desires—to put stone weirs in the Avon and the Heathcote, act as guardians to all the beauty spots, secure the reforms in our street lighting, and bring pressure to bear on the Post and Telegraph Department, the M.E.D. and the Tramway Board to remove poles and wires that disfigure the streets. Christchurch could in a few years become a garden city in more than name. We could sell Christchurch to the world. Calling it the Garden City will not do. Those who have already given their gardens to acid to the beauty of the street are the pioneers of a great movement for the future grandeur of our city.