DESTRUCTIVE MANIA

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20922, 29 September 1939, Page 4

DESTRUCTIVE MANIA

PROPERTY WRECKED FURTHER DAMAGE IN PARKS WORK OF VANDALS A mania for wanton destruction exists among some unidentified persons in Hamilton, and frem time to time the evidence of vandalism recurs. The latest case of this element was mentioned at the meeting of the Hamilton Beautifying Society last night, in reports of the work carried out to beautify the parks. While the society is continually active in improving the amenities of Hamilton, vandals apparently delight in undoing the work and causing further expense to the society. Recently, seats on the river path have been wrenched away from their foundations and thrown down the bank for no other reason, apparently, than to satisfy the desire for destruction. Appreciated by hundreds of Hamiltonians who lunch beside the river and by others who rest in the vicinity, the seats are valuable property. Not content to destroy seats, the vandals have broken some of the picturesque cabbage trees on the river path and ring-barked others in the Soldiers’ Memorial Park, which is one of the most beautiful of Hamilton’s many splendid public gardens. The chairman of the Beautifying Society, Mr W. H. Paul, stated at the meeting last night that he had been trying for some time to account for the actions of these vandals. Is It a Stranger? The suggestion that the wilful destruction which becomes apparent in Hamilton from time to time might be the work of strangers to the town is made in a report that has been to the Waikato Times, that members of a visiting football team were seen, last Sunday, tipping the bicycle stands in the mam street, and allowing them to crash heavily on the roadway. Quite frequently the pylons on the pedestrian crossings have been interfered with also.