STREET IMPROVEMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 216, 12 March 1914, Page 4

STREET IMPROVEMENT.

There ia nothing new, though much commendable, in the suggestion of Coun cillor J. E. Wilson that tho side-streets should not bo denuded of grass. The matter was formally reported upon and recommended to the Borough Council several years ago by Mr. E. Harvey then borough engineer, who strongly advocated the adoption of this idea in the interests of economy in street maintenance, of sightliness, and because it would tend to reduce the duat nuisance, which is often.so prevalent in residential streets of tho borough. Mr. Gibbon stressed the point, however, that the fringe of grass would act as a binding element along the outside of the metalled road centre, and prevent the outer edges being crumbled away by tho wheel traffic. A recent visitor to Hastings mentions that this idea has been adopted in the residential streets, with pleasing results, the Council employing a mower -to keep the grass down to a reasonable sward. The same is tho case with many of the streets of Tauranga, only that the mowing is done by bovines. On some of the recent works in the outer area of the borough streets have been formed to the full width. Unless the Council intends to metal them from korb to kerb the residents are likely to have a nasty mud strip between the metal and the sidewalk in winter, and much dust in summer, but these little unpleasantness can be obviated if the grassing system is adopted. We have in mind a Vogeltown street which, almost level .throughout, carries all its traffic through winter and summer upon the grassy sward, and any suggestions from the Council to replace that grass with a partly metalled road would doubtless be met with opposition from the ratepayers there. Tho Council should certainly move in the direction of planting suitable tre-'S in some of the side-streets, thereby doing much to add to the attractiveness of the town. Modern ideas of town-plan-ning do not cling as closely as of yore to straight and bare streets, and the experience of other towns in planting avenues of trees is mostly in favor of the municipality adding arboriculture to its many other enterprises.