CASUAL NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 87, 1 April 1908, Page 4

CASUAL NOTES.

(By "Juvenis")

The linancial year having ended, we may now consider ourselves fairly launched on the business of 1008. The year 1007-8 in the doings of the public bodies has passed over into the region of a mass of typewritten figures and recollections of many struggles. The chariot of progri*s is ready and waiting to bear onward the ideas and plans of those who are preparing for the further improvement of the town, and desirous of completing another stage on progress' road"" Much has been done in New Plymouth during the past few years to make the town more up-to-date and attractive. Hut much remains yet to lw done. We boast of our famous and lieautiful Recreation Grounds, but at the same time we have at the Gilbert street entrance an eyesore in the shape of a disused stable, or pig stye, or something of that kind. And a few yards away, probably for the sake of contrast, the peacock spreads his glistening plumage. Contrast again—a packing-case close by shelters a couple of guineafowl. Blots on one of the most beautiful landscapes in New Zealand. Yet nur Recreation grounds are famed throughout the Southern Hemisphere, and the sports ground there bids fair to eclipse all others in the Dominion.

Not on these alone do we depend for support of our statement that New Plymouth is one of the most desirabb places of residence in New Zealand. There is the natural beauty of the place, end the contour of the ground, which gives building sites for charming villas, commanding beautiful views of sea and town. And upon these place.* are erected attractive residences, h'ew towns of its size can equal New Plymouth for the beauty of residential •architecture, and for the wealth of ferns and shrubs that make the streets so fresh and clean-looking. Munificent Nature has been aided by the installation of the really excellent high-pres-sure water supply, reticulated throughout the town and principal suburbs. Congested portions of the town are served by a good system of drainage. In everystreet the electric light, niunicipalivowned, lights the wayfarer on his road, and the houses are b'ghted either by gas or electricity. One of the most important sections of the food supply is governed by the municipality, which has erected and capably staffed one of the most up-to-date abattoirs in the Dominion. Suburbs ar e regularly served by omnibuses.

from the Recreation Grounds, beautiful and papular at all seasons, flic town boasts its esplanades a liruud footway along the sea-front leading to the municipal saltwater baths. These arc well-appointed, and wcll-carcd-lor, and the hot saltwater baths are becoming very popular amongst sufferers from rheumatism, sciatica, and similar complaints. Recently the Government Balneologist expressed himself as highly pleased with the curative properties of the water, and there are numerous cases in which people have derived great lieiielit from this inexpensive treatment. Upon this esplanade or promenade is a band rotunda, situated in an open space Hanked by shrubs. This, however, is only a beauty spot in the making, and the making is very peculiar. We don't boast of the surroundings of the band rotunda, but we will do so when the esplanade is extended atong the beach to the harbor. The pre-mayoral promise? of the candidates for the Mayoralty indicate a chance that this work may shortly be carried out. Let it lie soon. Returning inland, there are the tennis courts on which the New Zealand championship* were recently decided, and said to equal any grass courts in the Dominion. The golf links, too, have a colonial reputation, and cricket and football are well-provided for. Mention should be made of the Western Park, just emerging from the beginning stages, and promising to become a very popular resort. Then there is the harbor, artilicially enclosed, it is true, but every day becoming nearer to what it should be, and making the town and country more wealthy and attractive to people outside.

Last, hilt not least, there is the magnificent sretcli of sandy beach, whereon thousands may disport themselves and not be cramped for room. This is the haunt of the holiday-maker from inland parts. Children wade and bathe, build sandhills, and run races. Adults do all these things there, too, except that they choose early morn for the bathing. And Bruno and Juno, and Top and Jip, accompanying the family to the seaside for the annual summer outing, bark loudly as they retreat from the advancing wavelets or chase the retiring waters back whence they came.

This is the natural watering-place for the whole of the province, and hundreds of visitors each summer testify to the excellence of our natural facilities, and, also, of the excellent accommodation provided by our numerous hostelrics. Hut what special effort do we make to increase the numbers of visitors? That phase of the ipiestion may be touched upon later.

An element eonspcuous by its absence —an absence not only complained of by residents, but more strikingly noticeable by our numerous visitors—is the want of modern facilities for the cheap, safe, and expeditious access to our various pleasure grounds. Those who reside in a distant part of the town complain of the time and energy absorbed during the summer months—aye, and on the short, sunny winter afternoons—in reaching the Recreation Grounds. Many, and particularly those who have young children to care for, are compelled to forego their pleasure and await the introduction of a tram system. Is it not time for our wide-awake citizens —for I feel sure there are some wideawake people in the town—to bestir themselves towards equipping the town and suburbs with electric tramways, and thus step up into the front rank, besides enabling people to undertake their pleasures in comfort and facilitating business?

Some clay we shall have electric trams. . Why not start now? Ther? are in New Plymouth plenty of pessimists. I know, who will scout the idea, but surely there is sufficient enterprise and stamina in our midst and confidence in the future of this expanding town and district to support a movement of this nature in one of the oldest towns in the Dominion! Is it not time that the people showed a determination to have these facilities, wiiicii, apart from individual convenience, will greatly enhance the value of those pleasure resorts connected with the service? It would also have a tendency to develop and expand the ideas of the rising generation, who now know of these up-to-date services only from books or from accounts of those' who visit the larger towns. The stir and activity created by the presenile of electric trams. th» desire to move about comfortably and ex|H'ditiously when on business or pleasure bent—a desire at present dormant because of the absence of stir and the power necessary to take it into energy and activity—will at once be aroused, and the change that must result will astonish the population.