Railway Gardens.

The Department gives every encouragement to the staff in the development of station gardens, but naturally success at the smaller centres is necessarily dependent upon an inherent love of beauty and orderliness amongst members of the Department themselves. Some notable results have been achieved at certain stations through the keenness of the staff and this has been substantially helped by the interest of such associations as the Gardening Circle of the Otago Women's Club and the Canterbury Horticultural Society. These associations have promoted competitions between stations and given prizes over a number of years, and have seen their reward in some remarkable beaujpgying effects and a general improvement in the appearance of station precincts. Besides being good tor business there is certainly a character-building benefit to the individuals associated with these fine efforts to apply the beaujpgul in nature to station improvement. I am pleased to see this work being carried on and I feel sure that the results already achieved must be very grajpgying, both to the members of the staff at the various stations, and to those public organisations which have interested themselves in the work.