30 J. H. MAIDEN. 



" Yet the old idea that any person ignorant of art but possessing a 

 " feeling for nature " is competent to decide any question with regard to 

 a naturalistic pleasure-ground has not yet died out, and, on the other 

 hand, those who are expert in artistic questions of some different kind do 

 not yet understand that, nevertheless, they may be incompetent to deal 

 with problems of naturalistic landscape-gardening. 



" Vast formal pleasure-grounds such as were created around the palaces 

 of the Old World, for the delectation of the frequenters of luxurious 

 courts, are inappropriate to the needs of modern times ; and this is 

 especially true in our democratic country. Our parks, large and small, 

 exist for the greatest good of the greatest number; and this good can 

 best be secured by making them, within the bounds laid down by art, as 

 much like Nature's landscape as possible. Only in this way can they 

 fulfil the need of the populace for rest and refreshment, and bring Nature's 

 peaceful, soothing, inspiring influences to bear upon the minds and bodies 

 of those who live and toil amid the noise and stress of modern civic con- 

 ditions ; and only thus can they be genuine and characteristic works of 

 American art, expressing the ideals and the temper of American civiliza- 

 tion."— (p. 499.) 



b. Wharves.— The " Sydney Harbour Trust Act, 1900," 

 gives power to the Harbour Trust Commissioners to deal 

 with frontages below high-water mark. The value of the 

 numerous water-side parks as pleasure resorts, and of 

 which the Botanic Gardens and Outer Domain are by far 

 the most important, depends largely upon aesthetic con- 

 siderations. If a portion of the water frontages are to be 

 taken for utilitarian purposes by the Harbour Trust, the 

 value of these reserves, which cannot be gauged in money, 

 may be deteriorated to an extent that it may not be 

 possible to compute. 



No wharf, jetty, etc., ought, in my opinion, to be erected 

 on any water-frontage to park lands by any authority 

 without the consent of the Minister controlling the park in 

 question. A Minister would doubtless be advised in the 

 matter by his responsible officers as to the probable effect 

 of the proposed structure on the park. 



I venture to express the opinion that it was never the 

 intention of the Legislature to place the National Recrea- 



