CENTRAL PARK

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2301, 7 November 1914, Page 4

CENTRAL PARK

PICTURESQUE SPOT TO BE TAKING SHAPE AND FORM IBt Stcvius. , ) In the first place the entrance to Central Park from Upper Willis Street should not be called Hauka Street. It is too much like Hawker Street (which is miles away), and, iu any case, conveys nothing to the imagination. This thoroughfare, which needs some townplanning attention, sliould. be called "Parkway." It leads to the Park, and is going to bo the main, arterial road to Brooklyn within a year or two, and as it skirts the Park the whole of the way to the top of the hill, Parkway is the name that fits like a glove. Hauka. Street is misleading to the ear. A stranger inquires: "Where is Central Park?" The answer is: "Straight ahead in Hauka Street." Later lie (or she) inquires: "Where is Hauka (Hawker) Street?" As Wellington people'only know one street of that -name, tho inquirer is directed to the slopes of Mt. Victoria, • and ultimately finds his way to the "zig-zag" overlooking Oriental Bay.

Central Park is going .to be a beauty spot of uncommon attributes. . 'In embryo it is one already. Look up from the main gates (the four big squtfre concrete and rough-cast posts are already in ' position) and the ; eye traverses an attractive steep-sided valley/" through which trickles , that which in the noori sunshine resembles a stream of quicksilver. The sides of the valley have been, traced with paths, with sections of white railing here and there to give ' security,. whilst fair-in tho eye halfway up the valley a!picturesque arohed bridge is to span the cleft above a dam that will one day form a miniature lake, alive with paradise ducks and frost fish. Both sides of the valley are speckled like a plum pudding—-the spaefcs are baby trees that one day are to throw a grateful shade over the winding, paths. In the middle distance is a children's playground, levelled and sown with grass, but, alas, the rainless spring has been unkind, and the result of the sowing has not been very satisfactory. Still one is able -to form a good idea of what the central section of Central Park will resemble one day. The hill at the back (or south) of the children's ground has yet to. be tumbled into the verdant depression on the eastern side of tho .park, but owing to a present lack of funds that-is not likely to'be done , until Germany pays New Zealand our share of the. war indemnity:' In . the meantime that verdant vale,where the blueguni •flourishetli is ibeing nourished as a nursery for the trees that will be needed for the future beautification of the park.

Tho new road to. Brooklyn is already well under way. It consists of an extension of the tramway track - and makes a flanking frontage to the park from the entrance at ,the lowest point to Seager's Corner at tho top. The new road will be moro evenly graded than the Ohiro Boad, and will, be minus the sharp pinches which give- so much trouble to vehicular traffic near the junction of that road and Mararua Crescent. The paths that wind up from the entrance to the park' to the levelled ground have already been edged with laurestina plants (which are hardy and quick-growing). At present a proportion of the plants look,as if they had given'up the r ghost in the attempt to live without water. To prevent such horticultural tragedies, in the future the City; Engineer is contemplating a water ■system for^the-park. That will hive ;to;be soon, as Mr. M'Pherson '(the City_ Forester), has received the City 'permission' to plant -'the fragrant "Dorothy Perkins , ' climbing rosea all along the bank immediately to, theeastof ihe children's, ground—the' bank which rises abruptly from the new road; to, Brooklyn. Central Park is full ,of promise as, a very central oasis, and with fair treatment'should, in tie course of a few years be a boon and a blessing to the community, and a delightful vantage point from which to take in the panorama of the city and harbour. •