BEAUTIFYING THE TOWN.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1371, 24 March 1923, Page 4

BEAUTIFYING THE TOWN.

THE matter of beautifying the town of Te Awamutu lias been taken up by a number of enthusiasts and flower lovers, most of whom are apparently handed together as members of the Beautifying Society. There are others —sceptics, probably—who are content to look on at the efforts of the enthusiasts and pass more or less sarcastic remarks anent the prospective success of the efforts. This is not as it should be, for a town beautiful is a. distinct asset to the whole community. There are many ways in which Te Awamutu can he made beautiful and more attractive, and efforts should not he confined to planting avenues of oaks, planes, and native trees along the various streets and roads. In the newer suburbs of Christchurch great attention is-being paid to the beautification of the street frontages. Only half of the footpath is laid down in asphalt, the remainder being sown with lawn grass, while the fence line is planted with bright flower borders, the favourite plants being blue or golden violas or lobelias. Te Awamutu has a considerable extent of footpatjis which, perhaps from lack of funds, the civic authority has been unable to complete in the way its members, as public-spirited townsmen, would wish. These footpaths, in many places, have a strong resemblance to “ sheep walks,” being covered for most of the width with a dense and rank growth of grass and weeds, with a beaten track some two or three feet wide for pedestrians. There is no shingle or tarred surface, the tracks being simply mud in wet weather, dust in dry weather, and at the best of times only a clay track. The efforts being made in the Christchurch suburbs call forth the suggestion that property holders would be doing a very useful service to the community in general and to themselves in particular if they undertook a campaign, perhaps by the adoption of a modified form of the community spirit, by which residents in each block devoted an hour or two each week to removing the rank grass and weeds, and even utilising a lawn mower occasionally. This work is, we know, adopted by

some individuals, hut their undertaking, commendable in the extreme as it is, only serves to show up in strong contrast the lack of public 'spirit in the breasts of adjoining property owners. Were these well-meaning folk to seek a friendly chat with (heir neighbours on the subject obviously so near their own hearts we feel that much good would result. We put forward the suggestion in the hope that it will he more generally adopted.