THE PARK.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2586, 21 July 1882, Page 2

THE PARK.

It seoms an almost hopeless matter to call public attention to the present disgraceful condition of Hagley Park. Matters with regard to the people's " pleasaunce" have apparently ossified to such an extent that it would seem to be as useless to expect a fossil mammoth to return to life as to look for any improvement in the management of this valuable property. We have at long intervals called attention to the state of the case, and can only hope that in the course of a few hundred years the public will take it up so that our descendants—say, in the fifth generation —will be able to exploit what is now a large paddock, and a very bad one at that, with some small degree of pleasure. Oar contention all along has been that a little good taste is all that is wanted, and that a very small amount of money would be required to make a most marked difference in the appearance of the Park. A few clumps of trees planted here and there,- the destruction of the long, mono'tonous lines of fencing; a little judicious cutting down—that is all that is required As we have said before, there exists in the Park all that is required to make the place beautiful. There is water, there are distant mountains, and if the " greenery" were properly and picturesquely disposed, the effect would probably surprise even the apathetic Board. A portion of the work might well be done by the somewhat aged and infirm gentlemen who are at present employed in the Domain. If it was wanted to get on more rapidly, we feel confident that private citizens would willingly put their hands in their pockets for such a desirable end. Once let the Park be made a [thing of beauty, and we should hear much less of attempts to steal portions of it from the public. At present affairs are at a deadlock, for the Board blocks all hope of improvement. Unless some very strong pressure is put on that worthy body, things will remain as they are until the final day of reckoning.