OUR RECREATION GROUNDS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 97, 2 August 1910, Page 3

OUR RECREATION GROUNDS

A POLICY OF DTUFT. 'For years past the strongest feature of the New Plymouth Recreation Grounds, or Pukekura Park, as it is now designated, 'has been the naturalness of the place. There has been no suggestion of stiff, set pieces with which "gardens" are apparently inseparably associated; no mathematically correct crescents cut out of prim and neat lawns; no spick and span borders, and the inevitable consequence, little notice-boards requesting visitors to "keep off the grass." Paths formed along the banks of an irregularly shaped lake, flanked and overhung by majestic fern palms; or winding through the valleys, amidst hidden dells of fernery, ascending the steep slopes, and open-

ing out to the vision charming sylvan views; the many tints and shades ol green in the foliage of native and imported trees which clothe the hill sides;

fthe soft, tread of slopes carpeted with that native grass which alone seems If to defy the poisoning pines; the Poet's Bridge, spanning the lake and forming a central figure in the picture. These are some of the most lasting memories of a day spent in the most charmingly natural grounds in the Dominion, the j most restful recreation grounds in the Southern Hemisphere. Intermingled come recollections of the luxuriance of the growth of the native bush, and the wealth of the tree ferns; the quaintnes3 of the few buildings; the smooth, rain-bow-hued cascade near the always inter-' esting fish-ponds; the plashing paddles of the pleasure boats, the feeding of the graceful swans and the more precipitate and hungry grey duck; the water-lilies iu the "lily pond," and delicious shade. These were thy grounds, New Plymouth; but now? | Mature at her best is loveliness itself, j But Natme in places of this kind should be controlled. It is possible to be tooj natural. The work of man, allowed to go to ruin as the result of wind and| weather and man's neglect is not lovely, nor is it Nature. Paths once well form- j ed and safe, now neglected, worn, slippery and unsafe as footways are not conducive to the. comfort of pedestrians, nor likely to enhance the pleasure of the visitor. Yet here they exist. In many parts of our Recreation Grounds the paths cut only a few years ago have been given over to Nature, and she has cast over them her mossy coat which signifies man's neglect; or she has almost succeeded in obliterating them by throwing up a strong growth of grass and weeds, by.strewing them with twigs, and placing branches of trees across them. Or,! hollowed out by the traffic of years and the all too frequent brush, they have become like small watercourses in wet weather. As instances of slippery paths which should not be slippery, there are the most frequently used walks in the whole domain, those skirting the big pond, and running past the glow-worm caves towards the Carrington road; whilst that beautiful walk skirting the head of the valley in which the attempted swimming bath still laughs as it leaks away the water that the Central Scvoui boys should have, and the path through the plantation ou the upper level behind the racecourse grandstand, and commanding one of the. finest viewsi in the grounds, can he .cited as places where j the paths are fine weather paths only, covered with grass and weeds. Such is the state of the paths which were the pride of the workmen a few short years ago. It is alleged Dy several regular visitors and old residents that the grounds as a whole have mot worn such- a neglected look for many years past. There is certainly good "ground for the statin—•••. The paths, the growth of lightwoods, the litter which has in places' stamped out the grass, the debris from the recent gales' (and from the gales of last winter) all ibear silent testimony in its support. What is the reason? Lack of funds! Funds are low. The Board is working on overdraft, and. has been overdrawn j for a considerable time. Revenue is I small, and expenditure is claimed to be) at the irreducible minimum. A care- j taker and a youth comprise the staff. The caretaker is a man of vast expert ence, a naturalist, a landscape gardener, a man to whom every tree and every plant is an open book. In the great*, portion of the park, where maintenance work comprises the rounding up of paths, the grubbing of gorse, cutting black-1 ! berries, etc., there is little scope for the i landscape gardener. 80 he recommend-, ed, quite rightly, and the Board decided, I quite wrongly, that a garden should hej made at the Gilbert street entrance. For many weeks there has been little else] done, except the removal of a quantity 1 of the debris from the Easter gales. The Gilbert street entrance has a long flowerbed and a plantation. The effect is good, but it isn't what people visit the Recreation Grounds for. A 9 a matter of fact, probably only five per cent, of the visitors see it at all. Scores of people in New Plymouth, perhaps hundreds, don't know that there is such a place. It's a spare entrance, made because the Liardet street gates are allowed to ibe closed on certain days in the year, when the sports ground is in use, and a charge is made for admission. The person who wishes to see the grounds but not to attend the athletic gathering in progress in the sports ground uses the Gilbert street gate. It's off the straight road to the grounds, and comparatively little used.° For the digging, and raking, and planting, and hoeing and weeding of this piece of ground the" ratepayers' and subscribers' monev luis been used for months past, whilst tie rest is allowed to go back. Is it good finance for a board in impecunious circumstances to go on adding to flower beds and plots, thus vastly increasing the cost of maintenance of the .grounds, whilst a-t the same time allowing previously executed work to fall into disrepair? ' No one in Taranaki needs telling what a dreadful thing the blackberry is. Private landowners have been prosecuted in order to compel them to eradicate blackberry from their farms, or at least to keep it in cheek. No one ' has suffered for the spreading of blackberry in the Eecreation Grounds, nor for the gorse along its boundary fences. ' There is need ,for some hard thinking and some hard working in our beautiful «rounds if they are to be prevented from falling, into utter disrepair, and if they are to remain a magnet for people far and wide. Commonsense dictates the necessity for preserving what we have, rather than for incurring expenditure in work which, whilst admirable in its way, means saddling the Board with heavier liabilities. Planting has been carried out to excess in some parts. What is more needed still is a very severe thinning out of the trees already there, and for lopping off unsightly branches. Some of the' imported trees are so high and so thick that they completely shut out from people on the upper paths the slightest «limpse of the lake, bridge, and boatsclosing out, in fact, the finest panoramic view* of the grounds. Pines have grown to such a tremendous altitude that they can hardly hope to withstand the southerly "ales, and offer very little shelter to the ferns and shrubs which clothe the lower slopes. . To remedy this state of affairs money is required.' For a little while past the support of the public has been withheld, la it because others have seen what we have seen and written about?