ANDERSON PARK.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 34, 4 November 1907, Page 9

ANDERSON PARK.

'A BRIGHT AND BREEZY PLATEAU. . PROGRESS'OF THE WORK. Long-suffering Thonidoti has been municipally asleep for a long tini<\ It has no public library, it has -iio fire station worth the name, and until Anderson Park is made available for tho public, willliavp had no rocroation ground, if one excepts the ManaIwatn Railway Company's ground where Bloggs and Co. have taken the field against tho representatives of Moggs and Co. in many a hard-fought cricket and football match. Thorndon has its wind-blown o'splanado, where in former years bands used to 'play on "fine Sunday afternoons and moonlit evenings. There are, too, the baths, the suspension bridge, the Houses of Parliament, and Leyden's "smiddy" among its treasured, possessions, but with Anderson Park- going, it will know the subtle joy of thronging crowds of football spectators, of "flannelled fools" brightening its quiet ways with.their summer apparel. ' A representative of The Dominion strolled that way on Friday and saw the violontr changes that man caii make in Nature when he feels disposed to J do it and is paid for it. Where was formerly tho old csmeterycrowned hill on the Botanical Gardens side of the Glonbervie Road cutting .and the accompanying fern-filled gully is now a brown plateau swept freely by the keen ■nor'-wester. Impending summer—how long is it to impend ? —makes one think of open grass-covered spaces) of shildy dells, and it is Anderson Park that promises these luxuricei in the not' far-distant future. The hill on'the Tinakpri side of the ground has had its crest knocked off and tumbled.down into the deep depression to the'east, arid there is now a good eight /acres of,, flat land .'that will b« doar to the;heartof the sports-loving male, end of immeasurable value to the children of thereabouts.", w- : V:.: • , .'"■'■'■ '■:■.'

A Wet ■'■;.' ; >v '-■:'•/■■■ Had it not been ; for-ithe very;. wet.'spring the excavating work -would have been completed _by nqw.-.but, the;darnp'shirt-that , clings is not the' correct' garment in these influenza-stricken Bays, and the New Zealand navvy, is particular. It rained yesterday morning and cleared up. in the, afternoon, but the navvy did not show up all daynothing matters after dinner. There is, as. a matter of fact, about another month's work for the pick yet. There are the remains of.i.the big hill.to clear away in "the centre of the solid," and there is a lot of shoot work, for the gangs before sufficient is shifted from the new bluff created. A start has been made-with the spreading of the topdressing'over tho "solid, "as the decapitated hill is called, and. thoro, as the ground, is iwell graded there, is no reason; why it should not be sown in. a week or two, and thus make provision for a playground for the children'right away. It is useless doing anything with the filledin port at present as it must subside three or four feet as the new earth settles. Tho leyelling-up will bo attended to next year with spoil from the hillside on. the southwest of the ground. '■'.'■ The Cost of the.Ground. '■ So far the ground has cost between £2000 and £3000 more than was estimated, and much' yet remains to be done before the place takes on the dignity of Anderson Park. Though almost a freakish .work in the realm of,-earth-shifting''-undertakings;' the park should be a credit to'the city/: If is beautifully .situated. From the flat is obtained a fine view of tho harbour stretching away up to tho Petono beach, while on the other side is a most picturesque fern'.gully. -■'■■■ ,', : A Road Through the Crouncl; 1 ■" The original plans of Wellington, as drafted by the surveyors of the New Zealand Land Company, provide for. a traverse road through 'the Botanical gardens from east to west—from the butt end of Wesley Road to a point in-Tiiiabori : Eoad about opposite Karori Crescent. With a reckless disregard for physical disabilities the line of this road dipped directly into the gullynow partially filled up—and climbed the big ridge that runs parallel to Tinakori Road. Such a road would need to be traversed by cable traction, as nothing else could-tackle' a grade of 1 in L The matter now has a different bearing altogether, and the provision of a picturesque road traversing the Park' along easy gradients Us' within tho bounds of possibility. So, much'so, indeed, that Sir James Prendergast has written to the Council asking .that the matter of the formation of this road he given some consideration, and an estimate (£1500) has been got' out as to its cost. This road is more important than one would think at first sight. Ihere is no road having a 'reasonably easy gradient connecting the city with such elevations as Salamanca Road, Talavera Terrace Aelburne, and Wesley Road—they' are variously led tq. by Woolcombe Street;. Bolion street, and Evcrton Terrace, but carters will tell'anyone that the pull is. a cruel one in any of .these, streets. ■ Hero, however is the chance of. getting to the places mentioned by way of Tmakori Road, and a nicely-graded curving road through Anderson Park to the heights above.. The old surveyors looked 3 long way ahead. • (