THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1882. THE CITY SQUARES.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2649, 3 October 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1882. THE CITY SQUARES.

The question of dealing with our squares seems a particularly difficult one, as it I has exercised the faculties of more than one Council, and the matter is ate present still unsettled. The problem of what we shall do with our girls and boys seems bad enough, but its solution is apparently not so knotty as the one we are alluding to. Councillor Thomson at last night's meeting of the City Council, drew attention to the manner in which Latimer Square is being utilized by cricketers and other lovers of athletic sports, to the danger of the citizens at large. It will be remembered how, under the consulship of Mr. Ick, the Council considered the matter, and disposed of it, as they thought, for good and all. The square was levelled and laid down, and the present" paths were made through it. A theory was then entertained that the place would be principally used by nurse maids, children, and young lovers. Th6y were to parade the square up and down, round and round, dressed in the gayest of garments to t e infinite delight of the residents at large. At times a band was to play there, and Councillor Thomson from his upper windows was to smile . benignly on the trifiers, diffusing a mild ; politico-municipal radiance over the scene, and toning down what would other- '• wise have been too utterly festive. But . the best calculations do not always evenr tuat e. The paths wore laid out, the most skilful geometricians in the Council being 1 employed in giving them that grace- ' ful curve which is the admiration j of the just and the unjust; and the grass - was made smooth and close. But the 5 nursemaids did not come. "With the fickleness proverbial in their sex they re- ■ fused to congregate there. In the old fc country a few policemen judiciously disj posed over the square would have lured . them. But the preservers of our peace . are too staid and proper to be utilised ia t that manner. Here it is the exception, » not the rule, to find a nursemaid and a • policeman foregathering. This may be [ partly because almost every nursemaid has her eye on some wealthy equatter.. ' No rotunda was erected in the square, 3 and consequently the band did not play j there. Indeed the plans of the Council i did not tell in the slightest, and Couni cillor Thomson, from his upper window, " gazed down en a blank. But Nature ' abhors a vacuum. Although the paths to a , certain extent destroyed the adaptability , of the square as a cricket ground, yet the " youth of the city cast envious eyes on the | space. Presently some boys from a neighboring factory pitched their stumps there, \ and, being undisturbed, others followed ! their example, and soon the square in \ summer presented the same aspect as it ' did before Mayor Ick and his colleagues , had moved in the matter. Practically the £l5O that had been spent on the ■ ground was thrown away. From the very first we argued against the expenditure cf the money. We held, as did many others, that all that was then wanted was to make the square tidy, and that all attempts at rowdyism there should he put down. And we still hold to the same view. As for the boys that play cricket, we cannot see that they do much harm. The traffic across the square i ia not so large that their playing causes any serious inconvenience. They mostly belong to a class that cannot afford to join a regular club, or they are working 1 in factories close at hand, and utilise the hour or half-hour they have in the middle of the day by exercising themselves, when, if they could not do so, they would , probably be looting about the streets. We have heard ef no accidents occuring through their being there, and we cannot see why they should be disturbed, although, as we have already said, cot the slightest approach to rowdyism should be permitted. The fact cf the matter is that the Council, when thay last took the matter in hand imagined an impossibility. People were going to congregate in the equare, but it was left as bare as a board. There were no seats put there, and the children were, we imagine, supposed to sit on the grass. The Council, wo tske it, should " go the whole hog or nous." The square should either be made a place of pleasure for the paople, properly and prettily laid out, or people should be allowed to crjoy themselves there, unhampered by regulations. The first course is evidently beyond the means of the Council. To keep the square iu first-class order as a flower garden, with seats, &c, would cost annually a large sum of money. As the square is at present it is not a pleasant place to stroll in—not because a little cricket is played there, but because it is naturally unattractive. Numerous children otjoy the gardens at the west end of the town, hut these are intrinsically pretiy aud seats are provided there. Playing cricket ia Latimer square does good to a large number of boys and does not seem to hurt anybody in particular. Even if the Council wish to stop them, we do not see that it would be eapy to do so, unless a policeman was told off to look after the place, and we do not fancy that the police would care to take the matter iu hrnd. The subject has been shelved for the present, and we cannot eee that any great harm has been dona by its having been so treated.