MEMORIAL TO DR. LEONARD COCKAYNE

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21413, 4 March 1935, Page 9

MEMORIAL TO DR. LEONARD COCKAYNE

to ihe ELiM'im or nut Pit ess. Sir, —As I read of the proposal to set aside an area in the gardens as a memorial to Dr. L. Cockayne, it seems to me that the native section there is already overcrowded. Why not plant it over the river opposite, and lake plenty of room? The section of North Hagley Pari: between the Botanic Garden and the United Club's ' n»is courts, etc., and between the iwu bends of the river, is now cut off from the rest and is little used, so that it would not be misled, and it would be the mnkinj; of the gardens to have the river nmnine through instead of round them. There should be no trouble in stocking the other side with native plants, even if there was not enough money, to pay for them, for I am sure that many people would be pleased to collect seedlings I from the West Coast and other parts of the New Zealand bush. Small' seedlings in the bush have no chance of growing up unless something happens to their elders, so no harm would bo done, and they could be handled according to Dr. Cockayne's own book.

Tlie laying out of the special area would, of course, be entrusted to those who best understand Dr. Cockayne's work and its value: but there should be plenty of room left for the general planting of all hardy native trees and shrubs, while the loss hardy ones could be tried later on when there was some protection for them. Some olant associations could be preserved: but I think most people would like a good variety of our larger forest trees, which would grow up cventuallv into the more park-like open bush. It would be most interesting, too to see the old set of creek plants growing on a stretch of the river banks again.—Yours, etc., March 3, 1935.