No city in New Zealand is so well supplied as Christchurch with vacant areas and recreation reserves. It is true that in Dunedin, Auckland, and Wellington the hilly nature of the site has made a lavish reservation impossible. But the founders of the province and the Canterbury Provincial Councils made exceptional use of their opportunities. It would be difficult to conceive of Christchurch without Hagley Park: a splendid area of over 400 acres in extent, lying within ten minutes' walk of the centre of the town; it is hard to understand what Christchurch could have done without it, or to estimate its enormous importance in page 47 view of the steady growth and extension of the city. The North Park is separated from the South Park by Riccarton Road. In the South Park is the old Haglay Park cricket ground, the scene of many glorious victories of Canterbury athletes. Though deposed by Lancaster Park from its premier position, Hagley Park is still a splendid ground, and is rivalled by the smaller Christ's College cricket ground adjoining. The portion of the South Park that fronts Lincoln Road has long been used as a football ground, and on this site were erected the buildings for Joubert and Twopeny's Exhibition in 1881. The Christchurch Polo Club has its headquarters a little to the west in the same enclosure. The North Park contains several football grounds, and till recently was the scene of operations for the Christchurch Golf Club. Round the whole of the North Park runs a drive, which is freely used as an exercise ground for those who love riding. Near the middle of the North Park is Lake Victoria, a small lake which covers a natural hollow where in the early days the athletic sports and races on Boxing Day and New Year's Day used to be held. The lake was formed to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, and it is much frequented by nautical enthusiasts, who have already founded a model yacht club, and sail their crafts gallantly in all weathers. But the special uses to which the North Park is put are of small importance compared with the general fact that it is a great and beautiful breathing space for the city. The Avon runs along its east side, and separates it from the Botanical Gardens, to which it is united by two pretty bridges. The borders of the Park are thickly planted with English trees, and there are clumps and avenues of others at irregular intervals towards the west side. In autumn, when the yellowing leaves of oak and birch and ash are golden in the setting sun—or at the close of a “nor-west” summer's day, when the pale green light is fading from the sky above the purple hills— in every season of the year there is some new picturesque aspect to be observed by those who have learned to understand the beauty of the North Park and to love it. Yet a few years ago all this great expense was tussock or swamp or sand.