THE RECREATION GROUNDS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 75, 24 April 1909, Page 6

THE RECREATION GROUNDS.

To tire Editor. Sir,—At tlio conclusion of a very pleas- i ant fortnight spent in your pretty town, \ I would like to say a word or two about i those lovely Recreation Grounds, in 5 which 1 spent a great deal of my holiday. And, if I may, I .would suggest to the ; governing board 'or committee the neces- j sitv for devoting a little more attention 1 to the park or botanical part, even at I the expense of the sports ground. There is sueli a thing as catering too much for I sport, even in a district like Taranaki, 1 which has such noble sporting records. It seems to me, and it must appear to 1 ninny other visitors, that there is too : great a contrast between the nicely-kept : paths and terraces of the sports ground and the paths leading to the lake and : bridge. During some damp days the paths have been very slippery. I don't want to throw a wet blanket, over the enthusiastic sporting tendencies of the members of the Board, but really f think they would do well to expend a little greater proportion of their funds in tending the grounds which appeal to the aesthetic tastes of the people, Trusting that you will not deem this an unwarranted interference,—l aid, etc.. . ■ L'F'W["Ij.F.W." is wrong in his premise. The sports ground and the Recreation ' Grounds propel- are, as most of our readers know, not under the one govern- ' ment, the former having been only recently made as the result of wholehearted action on the part of a few of j our young men. "L.F.W." has certainly placed Ins finger upon a weak spot in the administration of the Recreation Grounds, though we are loth to criticise a body whose members give their services gratuitously in supervising the maintenance and development of our recognised beauty-spot. The Board is not over-supplied with funds, and cannot keep the grounds in the apple-pie order that would be possible were its finances a little more elastic. At the same time, the staff might accomplish more good by rounding up and, where needed, re-form-ing the paths than in waging a constant, unequal, and futile warfare against those forces of Nature which persist in strewing the paths with fallen leaves. The continual swish, «wish of tlie broom has not tended to the permanent improvement of the footways. Of course, much other work has been done, in beautifying the Gilbert-street approach, cleaning . up and cultivating the swamp behind the tea-house, trimming paths, and so 011.—Ed.]