BEAUTIFYING ROADS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 197, 23 August 1935, Page 6

BEAUTIFYING ROADS

WORK IN WANGANUI AREA N.I. MOTOR UNION PLEASED. EXTRACT FROM ANNUAL REPOR •Complimentary references to tl work of the Waitotara and AA’angan Counties, assisted by tho City of \\a gauui and the AVanganui Beautifyir Society, in the beautification of hig ways are contained in the annual r port of the North Island (N.Z.) Alot( Union, which is being presented to tl 4Thnual meeting at New Plymouth t< day. “Since the dealruction of the nativ forest very little has been done in th direction of tree planting along oi main highways, and, until recentb nothing on organised lines has bee attempted, ’’ states the president, Al W. A. O’Callaghan, of Hawera, in h; report. Hundreds of miles ol oi roads are monotonously drub and lac the beauty of the roads of, for ii stance, rural England. Perhaps th reason for the neglect of the aetheti fride of roadmg has been that, hithertt it has been nobody’s business. Thes things being so, it is pleasing to se that at last some real effort is bein made to beautify the national higl ways. Tho work is progressing on th Great South Road from Auckland, aw 1 noticed recently that pohutukawa are being planted on the hills facin the Hutt Road from Wellington as fa as Petone. South of Auckland a con siderable amount of work has bee carried out, particularly in the im provement and planting of reserve along the Great North Road, and las year a start was made by plantin l an avenue of 100 totaras at Taka nini. But perhaps the most coir prehensive work of this kind is tha which has been carried out luring th past few years along the 53| miles o road from Patea to Turakina. lu th Waitotara County 2} miles of th> main road have been planted with re< gums, ash and beeches. Along anothe 3j miles many hundreds of cherrie. and flowering shrubs are showing sign of healthy growth and careful atten tion. In the . Wanganui Count; avenues of poplars have been plantcc in wet localities, and, olsewhen wattles, cherries, rhododendrons an< flowering shrubs. The movement ha now spread to the Patea snd Rangiti kei Counties with gratifying results Throughout the whole area many od' corners and hillsides have been plantet with a great variety of trees am shrubs, including, in addition to thos» mentioned, tree ferns, pohutukawas am oaks. 1 am informed that, tho countie; concerned propose to establish a nurs cry from which to draw supplies foi further plantings and to make gooc wastage in the young plantations Valuable help has been given by the City of AVanganui and the AVangauu Beautifying Bcciety. Not long ag< His Excellency, the Governor-General Lord Galway, planted on the roadside in the Waitotara County an Englisl oak described a< 'the first of a lon£ lane of trees which \s to form a mu morial avenue on the main highway from Auckland to Wellington. “I make no excuse for referring a; such length to this matter because I feel that wo motorists should let tin good people responsible for this mag nificcnt work know how we who us( the roads appreciate their practica public spiritedness,'’ Air. O’Callaghai concludes.