THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1881. HAGLEY PARK.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2159, 26 January 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1881. HAGLEY PARK.

When the first colonists came out to Canterbury, they found the present site of Christchurch covered with flax, tussock grass, tutu, and fern. Even in the following year, 1852, a picture of the Cathedral City is beautiful in its simple arrangement of something less than two dozen houses, among which the Land Office, with its Union Jack, was the most conspicuous feature. When the town was laid out, ample space was"given for a people’s park, for, with praiseworthy foresight, the founders of the colony recognised the fact that, when the hamlet had grown into a considerable town, a place of recreation and a space, where workers in the human hive might air and exercise themselves would be very necessary. Whether the site chosen was a judicious one is open to question, but everything cannot be expected from men working partially [in the dark. Had Hagley Park been laid out much lower down the river, the town would now have probably spread up in the direction of Riccarton, and, the land being higher there, the Christchurch of the present day would certainly have been healthier than it now is. The park, lying as it does, cuts off the body of the town from the high ground. But in those days railway communication with Lyttelton was never dreamt of. The Avon was looked upon as a navigable river capable ef being utilised to some considerable extent, and the “ Bricks ” was a place where many a small craft unloaded goods for the infant settlement. However, Hagley Park was laid off, and its very name would have seemed to imply that in course of time a park would have sprung up reminding one, to some extent, of those famous parks, which render English scenery so famous. The difficulties in the way of the transition of the bare plain into such a state were certainly not overpowering. All that was wanted was the planting of trees in clusters and singly, and their natural growth would, in due course of time, have done the remainder. To fill the scene there were natural advantages of no mean order to be utilised by any individual with an eye for the picturesque. For every perfect sylvan scene three things are necessary, namely, water, hills, and trees. Water was there, for the Avon ran through the future Park. The Port hills and the Southern Alps were visible, although only in the distance, and as time wont on, trees would grow—the third necessary concomitant to complete the picture. Nearly thirty years have passed since Messrs. Cass, Jollie, Torlesse, and Boys were at work laying out the future town in the wilderness of flax and raupo, but has the ideal pictured in the mind of the early immigrant been at all realised ? We say most unhesitatingly —No. The present park is no more like an English park than it is like a South American forest. It bears but the faintest resemblance to any of the celebrated English parks that many of us remember to have strolled through with ever increasing delight, and, if things are not mended, it never will. Not one of the natural features found on the original site have been in any way utilised. The water has been carefully planted out from the general view, and the mountains have been treated in the same way. No use whatever has been made of the effect to be produced by single trees standing boldly out, and by clumps of trees with their relieving shadows. The Park, as at present laid out, is nothing more or less than what is known as a “ paddock.” A formal belt of trees encircles it, and on the knoll close to the running ground there is a plantation or coppice, in shape apparently something like a large cheese. The only attempt at ornamental planting is the avenue leading straight from the river towards Riccarton, a feature which has the additional advantage of possessing some sort of a raison d'etre. Let us put this question—Has any individual ever been found walking in Hagley Park with a view of satisfying his taste for the beautiful ? We fancy if such a person were found, he would he instantly conveyed by two strong policemen to Sunnyside Asylum. Forlorn creatures are occasionally seen meandering through the waste, but they are invariably extremely glad to get out of it, and they leave it with a sense of having done a somewhat heroic action, and with a certainty that it was not worth their while to go through so much to gain so little. But it may be objected—the cost of laying out the site as an English park was beyond the means of the authorities in charge. To this assertion we entirely demur. Trees can just as easily be planted in clumps and singly, as in belts, the only extra expense being the fencing that has to bo placed round them in the early stages of their growth. With a very small expenditure beyond that already incurred, Hagley Park might now easily give a very fair idea of what a park should be. Trees grow fast in this country, and many years hare elapsed since the first planting was started. The sole misfortune lies in the fact that the idea in the minds of the gentlemen who first undertook the work was not a correct one. A talent for landscape planting is a gift, and can be no more acquired than can the talent necessary to paint a firstclass picture; and, therefore, it is more or less impossible to censure authorities who are not in possession of the necessary faculty. But, nevertheless, the effect is no less evident. The city has been deprived of being able to take full advantage of a valuable heritage left it by the first founders. Let us examine the correct principles of the science of landscape gardening and planting. It is, as we suggested above, to utilise to the utmost the natural features of a scone, and to add to those advantages with a pre-determined object. A celebrated continental landscape artist, who laid out some of the finest parks and grounds in the small Gorman States, has declared that he never put in a tree without a clearly developed idea as to the effect it would have when it was grown up. It would bo absurd to ask if the planters of our park had the present aspect of the place clearly before them when they first undertook their labours. The place is so confirmedly hideous that they cannot possibly have foreseen the effect of a bird’s-eye view at the present time. It may bo asked—is it too late to remedy the existing state of affairs ? We think not. Of course much valuable time has been lost, but much might bo

done with a comparatively email expenditure, and a vast change would be observable in a few years. Trees might be planted in clumps singly, and -if: the present authorities.. way towards scrapiffg togetljep '"! t'hp necessary sum, we rfopl Confident:'!^at numbers of citizens would: gladly, dbine forward to raise what was wanted. .. Competitive designs migtyfcibei inviibd, what would be the general effect , pfi thb park when the plmatipg suggespsd rfwi each competitor w'as carried" out, and the trees were in a fair state of growth. Such designs would deal with the question of opening out the river to view, and of destroying the formality that is caused by the long lines of fencing now in existence. There must be in Christchurch talent capable of making a vast improvement in the park without ruining the Park and Domain Board. The alterations might be made as the funds for the time being would allow. We are not in any way suggesting that money should be freely lavished, but we are advocating that some principle should be adopted based on a sound knowledge of the picturesque and beautiful, and that the people of Christchurch should be entitled to take a just pride in the condition of their valuable estate.