Urged

Beauty Treatment Urged For Suva Town

From Our Own Correspondent

Suva, Dec. 17

FOR many years Suva —probably the most picturesquely-sited town in the tropical Pacific — has been growing progressively ug lier.

Unrestricted commercial and in dustrial building in areas which should have been planned; the spread of slum and semi-slum con ditions as property has passed into the hands of all-out exploiters (mostly, but not entirely, Asiatics); the disappearance of open spaces and the inadequacy of the frag ments of land set aside for parks, public gardens and playing fields— all these have created a muddle of, hot dreariness in what could have been a perfect Island capital.

Regrets at what might have been are frequent in the current hot season when an unusually long dry spell has produced a brilliant dis play by flowering trees throughout the Suva Peninsula.

The tragedy is that in the central town area, in the last few years, the remaining trees have been dis appearing wholesale.

Suva has learned nothing from other tropical towns with their tree shaded streets, and wealth of flowers. The only effective public garden is an excellent display along the. Victoria Parade frontage of Albert Park.

The Agriculture and Forestry De partments have recently offered to help the Town Council do some thing about the Botanical Gardens (scientifically interesting but aes thetically dreadful) and the council itself is planning a widespread beautification scheme to be carried out under a voluntary supervisor, Mr. F. E. Allen.