CORRESPONDENCE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3559, 20 September 1916, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

EMULATION NEEDED.

To th* ftnrroa " Ghabdiak."

Sir,—lt appears from the report' in your journal of the. various interviews with the Minister of Education oitoh .Friday lust, - that some eulogistic top marks wero made by some of tine members of tho Board of Education re Mr Friedlander's gift of £1000 towards the new school for Ashburton. It has occurred to tho writer that so good an example might well be followed, by other well-to-do residents of the town and county. It is a fair thing, when people have resided in a place for some years, and' have done.well out of the community amongst whom they have lived, that they should endow that community with a portion of such wealth so acquired, either as a thanksoffering or to confer some special benefit on those to follow them. This being the second wealthiest County "' in the Dominion, 1 it,,follows, that there must be a number of wealthy folk in it, and, that being so, it might be ' ex- X pected that, with our excellent climate, energy, enterprise, end devotion to ] wealth, fch\s County might bo made one of the most desirable places to live in. For instance, if some of the waters of the Rangitnta were turned into the Ashburton River,, its course straightened, contrcjtetff'and deepened to the sea, and a breakwater made, say, at the mouth of the river, so that some class of. vessels! could enter the river, and, possibly' assisted by power from Lake, Coleridge, 'find .their way up to a wharf or docks, at.the lower end of East Street, near the "bridgc^-it would be a great factor in developing our County. We shbuldf knock' the\'Railway Department out,; .and" get.our imports and exports carried as cheap ■as Timaru— perhaps cheaper. "'lt' has been stated \ by a local, man who thinks he knows* * a good deal about "engineering that 31----breakwater could be made at * the V mouth' of the' river.i and that it would not be a" very difficult, nor a very costly, matter j also, that if a .breakwater' 'was 1' made,;'in .time the .sand would ailt up and form a strip of sandy beach like .Caroline Bay, Timarn. That would be a" splendid asset for the County. ' All - these 1' ,trffl«r J«nucl ,be carried 'out" by"' 1 private enterprise, assisted by subsidies from' the Government. ~ ' There might, for instance, be the |G. H. Buchanan Library (no"need to wait for the American one), the Fernman Tepid Baths, the Lane and Walker Town Hall, the Chalmers Home for Indigent Old LadieH. the Robert 801 l Art Gallery, the Thomas Bullock Canal to the Sea, tho Galbrnith Docks, and the Wright and Nosworthy Museum. These are some of the things that would help to make our town up-to-date and a go-ahead city. However, T would fain hope tnat tlie trood example will be followed by others for practical purposes. ADVANCE.