THE RECREATION GROUND.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 165, 3 May 1872, Page 3

THE RECREATION GROUND.

The sale or non-sale of the recreation ground has been the prevailing topic of : conversation for the last days. The following memorial showing the outs /ancj. ins of the question, and putting .the matter fully and fairly before the Government, has been, and still is being, extensively signed. In the meantime a telegram has, we understand, been forwarded to his Honor the Superintendent requesting that action should be suspended until the receipt of the memorial. ¥e hear further that the .Warden has been called upon to report upon the subject. Opinions upon the question run high, and we might, we think, be justified in using an old and well-accepted Latin axiom " quot homines, tot sententicß ": The Memorial op the undersigned Miners, Residents, and Others oe Naseby, . Mount Ida, That for the last six years a ceitain portion of ground in the vicinity of the town, of about three acres in extent has been, with the consent of the Grovernment, set apart for the purposes of recreation. That a sum of fully £3OO has been expended by the public in fencing and rendering available the said area. That on this Groldfield the workings are in the very midst, as it were, of the town. That the buildings possess no back premises, and that consequently the only playground for the young, with the exception of the recreation ground, are the public streets. That, in addition to the grbund being re- ■ quired for public recreation, it serves at the same time as a playground for the school children, being in the immediate pi'qxunity of the school house.

That an open area'in the vicinity of a town has been proved by "experience to be conducive to the-public health, and that great efforts are at present being made at Home to acquire, at large expense, areas in suitable localities, "with that object. That your memorialists have heard with surprise and indignation that a so-called deputation, consisting of two gentlemen totally unaccredited by the residents of this place, and one of whom possesses no interest in the district, has lately waited upon your Honor, representing to your Honor the desire of this community that the present recreatiou ground should be sold by public auction. V . That your memorialists, be the ground auriferous .or not, are desirous that it should remain as at present—a place of recreation for manhood and a playground for the young. For these reasons your memorialists humbly pray that the Government will refrain from offering the said ground for sale, or otherwise alienating it from its present uses.