AN AQUATIC PARK.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 538, 8 June 1920, Page 2

AN AQUATIC PARK.

Sir,—The suggestion embodied in your able leader of Tuesday last is one with which I entirely concur. The natural beauty spots of our profusely endoweil land aie worthy of preservation; in fact, it becomes the duty of the civic authorities and public-spirited men of this generation to see that sufficient of the natural glories of our native tfora and fauna, together with the original configuration of the country, are pieserved, so that the unborn generations shall have ocular demonstr?. tions of the original appearance of the country in the days of the hard, but glorious, battles of the pioneers. Pukekohe, while perhaps lacking in many of the essential conditions necessary to the establishment of a large inland town, possesses more than its share of the natural endowments which make it second to none as a rendezvous for the tired, brain-weary, city-fagged business man. Within easy distance of the northern metropolis by motorcar, and still nearer by what in the \ery near future will be the recognized means of 'transit for passengers—the airplane—it offers that valiety of scenery that must appeal to those who are on the lookout for building sites that command more than a view of the next-door neighbour's backyard. Where in any other part of New Zealand can be found so many good villa sites as are contained in the few miles of country adjacent to Pukekohe Hill. Stand, on a clear day, on the Drury road, by the Cape on Mr. Joe Adams' property. What a vista of hill and valley. In the far distance Kangitoto, Mount Eden, One-tree Hill, Manukau heads, with a si'.ver strip of the Harbour, leading the eye to the rugged hills, blue in the distance, at Waikato Heads, to the right-a-bout, the valley to the east, with the high lands of Bombay; or, again, from the main road, East Pukekohe, near the old church, what glorious pictuiesqueness Mature has mouldeu; and from Pukekohe Hill—but there, my limited vocabulary is dearth of words sufficient to set forth the beauties of the changing panorama that entrances the eye, fills us with reverence for the works of the Almighty. But, putting aside all flights of lancy, and coming to the object of my letter. You have suggested the acquisition by the council for recreation purposes of what would make a very acceptable beauty spot. I would go further, and emphasize the necessity of obtaining for all time some of the few existing areas of natural bush that are within easy distance from our post olf.ee. They f>re not many, and are fast disappearing, for within the past two or three years more than one has entirely disappeared, and others have been seered by lire or scarred by the axe of man. That choice lot of native bush at the rear of tho Paerata railway station has lost its beauty by careless hands; the waterfal' with rugged wealth of rock, and native foliage is losing its pristine beauty at the hands of the council itself; an exquisite gully of niKau, and punga and native bush, on the Drury Road near Mr. Quinlan's property has heen devastated by axe and fire, but there are stiil one or two areas that might be secured: The native bush on the bluff near Mr. Davis' farm, Drury road, one or two small areas on the main road in Pui.ekohe East, and perhaps .in acre or two near Buckland are still in good preservation. I know that to obtain these would mean money, which we can little afford, but once destroyed and the native bush can never be replaced. It rests with us, then, of the present generation, to stay the hand of the destroyer and pass on to those that come after these glimpses of an old New Zealand for their pleasure and their enlightenment. Let us realize that while there are beauties in architecture and in the scenery and landscape made by the hand of man, there can be no beauty to compare with The natural, God-made beauty of the primeval forest of New Zealand—

Where giant trees o'erchadow rippling

brook. And fern and punga fill each moss

clad nook. Where nikau palms a crackling laughter make, As passing zephyrs waft from off the

lake. Where titree rears its bushy hydra head, And featherj ioi-tois freelj spread. And song birds hover in the trees above, Proclaiming to mankind, Almighty love.

E. Eph. WRIGHT.