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Hokitika Guardian, 13 July 1926, Page 2

We are hoping, in fact we feel, that most of our readers will he regretting very seriously the proposal of tho Hokitika. Borough Council to ravish the plantation of trees surrounding Cass Square. The proposal as adopted at the Council meeting is crude in the extreme, and if given effect to will create an eyesore in the heart of tho town. A centre of interest and attraction will bo converted into a disfigurement, and will be a regret for a long time to come. The proposal is to cut down and remove, the trees along Brittan St., and portion only of Stafford Street. A inwraent’s reflection will bring to mind what a. lop-sided disfigurement such an act of vandalism will be. Tho whole hacking to the war memorial will he gone, to he replaced by an array of gaunt stumps. The whole symmetry of the plantation will be destroyed, and an asset where welcome shelter is to be found will be gone. The trees about the children’s swings will be gone, and the playground left open and unsheltered. The portion of the grounds where children of tender years will be free from the part usually occupied, by older children, will bo without shelter from the winds or the sun. Indeed, the part most sacred to the community is going to he devastated, and the whole charm of tho grounds destroyed l>y the offence to the sight of the hare places which will result from the proposed ruthless dost ruction of tho plantations. We are surprised that such destruction can bo so calmly contemplated by those immediately responsible'for tho carrying of the offending motion We would at this juncturo put in the strongest plea possible for tho retention of the trees, and in the meantime seek for some considered scheme wherehv the position caii he met hv a. course which will not he an affront to so many of the people. Public opinion is slow to express itself openly in Hokitika, but liere is an occasion when something should be heard in protest, and local views made, known before a great and irreparable injury to the town is perpetrated. The matter is of such moment that all who l’eol interested should not fail to express an opinion so that wholesale vandalism will not be permitted without knowledge of the real feelings of tire public on this master affecting both the present and the future.