"ROSE LAND"

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2929, 15 November 1916, Page 12

"ROSE LAND"

A NEW NAME FOR WANGANUI

WHEN TIRED OF THE OLD

(By "Sylvius.")

"List and learn, ye dainty roses, lteses white and roses red, Why wo bind you, into posies lire your morning bloom has fied." These lines must occur to any lover of the Gilbert-Sullivan operas on visiting Wanganui in early November; and if, by any chance, Wanganui should tire of its present name there is always another euphonious and appropriate ready-to-hand—Rose-land. As soon, nay, even before, ono loaves tho train tho sccnt ; of a million roses comes drifting to say that summer is hero and all is well. . Their soft yet penetrating fragrance is the most beautiful aroma that old Mother Earth gives us, and blessings on her brown green breast for the medium she has chosen of remitting something of the sweet essences of her universal perfumery. To the sensitive every town and city has its own peculiar nostalgia, something native to itself, and unlike anything else. To the writer; Wanganui's nostalgia is the scent of the roses, from a thousand gardens, each of which, I am'sure, could produce blooms that would take prizes at a Wellington Rose Show. There is something in. the soil of Wanganui peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of the rose. I intended consulting ...the local Omar (Mr. Louis Cohen), who is well versed on the subjeot, as to what the element is, but the ■ thought passed out of my bead. , The homes of those who are well settled in beautiful homes "aoross the river" are veritable Persian gardens in their loveliness, and to eyes tired with the drab activity of Larabton Quay and Willis Street, the glowing masses of colour that smothered each rose bush was as iced sherbert after a desert march. Mr. Hopo .Gibbons has a very beautiful place on the hill."over the river," where there. are roses softly blooming, tended ever so gently, cvery-

one known by name, and loved as though they were their caretaker's own children. Mr. Hope-Gibbons''is keenly interested in the beautifying of Wanganui, and is planting belts of hill-side with flowering gums and wattle, which will in a year or two. be something of beauty, and a joy for ever. Mr. Louis Cohen also rejoices in the possession of a lovely home overlooking the whole of Wanganui. Ho describes the style of architecture ho "> has adopted as "Cohenesque." It is sufficiently beautiful and comfortable to become popular' under any name. And there, too, the scent of the roses is over all, reminding us over 60 sweetly of romances that only show up ghostlike in the mists of memory under some such earthy begnilement. Over the other side of the town is Mr. A. Hatrick's palatial home and rosary, aglow with a wealth of velvety blooms. Mr. Bignell's home, on the Gonvillo Road, is another treasurable property, where there are roses, roses, all the way. But it is the same everywhere—in back street,' or front street, every garden has its'roses, and the soft breeze from the river', gathers the perfumo of each as it passes to pleasure the nostrils of the delicatelysensed.

To mention roses without the Wanganui Beautifying Association would be an injustice. They • have accomplished grand work along the river bank, and made what once was a rank wilderness a favourite walk for flower-lovers, and lovers in ordinary. The association's programme for tho future includes the beautification of all those bank lands that lie between the town and Aramoho bridges, which strip of land presents a wide field for arborial decoration. If Wanganui would'only show a little more enthusiasm towards the work of a few onthusists, its natural beauty could be greatly enhanced in a year or two. The local Borough Council should heir) all it knows i so should the Harbour Board i the River Board, and tho Chamber of Commerce. Some members of these bodies feel comfortable enough with what has been and is, and never.give a thought to what might bo.