PUKEKURA PARK.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 August 1920, Page 6

PUKEKURA PARK.

HOW TO SPEND THE £ISO(J. INTERVIEW WITH MRS. BURGESS. Now that £ISOO lias been raised by the public for Pukekura Park, what is going to be done with the money? A Daily News reporter yesterday put this question to Mrs. C. 11, Burgess, organiser of the fund, and a member of the Park Board. Mrs. Burgeas expressed the opinion that the money should be held ■in reserve to pay ordinary expenses, and make any small improvements that appear most necessary. Anything in the way of large expenditure was out of the question, unless substantially larger funds came to hand.

"Pew people realise the expense involved in maintaining th"e Park," said Mrs. Burgess. "For instance, there is the item of £l6 per week for wages alone, and even with the staff at present employed, the conditions within the Pari are becoming desperate. There is hardly a seat in the Park th<* woodwork of which is not decayed, and they cannot be repaired because of the expense. In every direction there are signs of neglect and decay, for the want of funds to carry out the necessary work of maintenance ; " Mrs. Burgess deplores the wanton destruction wrought in the Park by' a band of larrikins who systematically destroy, and disfigure what they cannot destroy, from sheer mischief. Some time ago Mrs. Burgess had donated a boiler to the park, to be used by the public for the purpose of boiling water for making tea. This had only been once used by the ladies' committee, when it was broken by these vandals, who fail to recognise the generosity of the donors and the value of such conveniences to the jiublic in general.

It was the intention of the committee to build a tea kiosk on a site selected in the park, but on enquiries as to the cost, it was found that even a shell of a kiosk, without even a window, and open on all sides in the form of a verandah. with a small kitchen in the centre, would post £750. This expenditure, considering the state of the finances, Mrs. Burgess considered too high. A far better plan, she thought, would be to carefull}' conserve the funds on hand to prevent the decay that is so generally becoming apparent all over the park.

"This is the first occasion on which the park banking account has been in credit," remarked Mrs. Burgess. The strain of the carnival week was not enviable, Mrs. Burgess said, and she wishes to stress the necessity of the park administration being taken over by a body such as the Borough Council, as the stremfius work entailed in maintaining.the funds of the Park are beyond her and her committee.