BOTANICAL GARDEN ENTRANCE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3098, 31 May 1917, Page 3

BOTANICAL GARDEN ENTRANCE

DETAILED PROPOSAL. Councillor John Castle lias given notice that' he -will move at this evening's meeting of the City Council: — "That the entrance to the Botanical Gardens at Thorndon bo" improved immediately:— " ■ . "(1) By taking tho old iron from tlso bodies of the doors, and substituting for it boarding—tongued, grooved, itnd beaded. "(2) By painting the posts to resemble marble, granite, or serpentine, by painting, graining, and varnishing the wood of the doors to resemble polished oak, and by japanning the ironwork of the doors and posts. "(3) By placing in painted or goldgilt letters, above tho doors, the words, 'Botanical Gardens.' "That the sombre disgraco of many years may be abolished, and tho best appearance may bo given to the entrance that can be given at a small cost to last until circumstances -warrant tho council to spend a sufficient sum of money to make the appearance, of the entrance worthy of the garden." Old councillors and many of the public will remember that tho City Engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton) planned a new entrance altogether to the gardens about three years ago, and prosecution of his scheme was only postponed on account of the war. This scheme provided for a complete alteration of that corner of tho garden where the gates are now situated. Shelter trees wero to bo planted right across where tho entrance now is to break the free sweep of the nor'-westerly winds up tho main drive, and n new entrance was to have been niado somo little distanco up the Botanical Gardens Road, with double gates set back from the fence alignment, and a cnTving drive that was to junction with the main drive nt a spot that is usually aflame with blossoms from the tastefully-arranged flower beds. The council approved tho plan, •and if other work is to be done entailing expenditure on the entrance to the gardens, the now council will probably be called upon to ejnress its disapproval or otherwise of the City Engineer's plan.