EVANS BAY SCHEME.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 62, 6 December 1907, Page 9

EVANS BAY SCHEME.

'the proposed reclamation. DISCUSSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL. ■ ENGINEERS' REPORT APPROVED. •. Theu Evans Bay reclamation scheme was advanced a further step at last night's mooting of .the City Council, when the report of the-engineers of'the'Council and the Harbour. Board was 'fidopttjcL Portions of thp report .wero treated , as. strictly confidential, and ; the, remainder? has alrpady been summarised! at some length in The Dominion. The Mayor, in moving the adoption of the report, said the question of the rating of the land to bo reclaimed was a , debatable ono. Tho..; opinion had '"been expressed that the Harbour Board should not' be!'called upon to pay rates to the Council oh.'iny of the land befbre/it was occupied. Hβ' suggested that thei.rntes should bo allowed' to accumulate until, tho! land was producing 'revenue. o\'MR. j. P. LUKE'S-VIEWS. ' Liike expressed satisfaction witjhtho manner in which f the project had been taken,up by the Mayor and by the Harbour Board's chairman" (Hon. T. K. Macdonald). : He thought , the matter' had been long enough before the public to enable the'ratepayers to'understand the facts. Ho was. inclined to think |haV the .adoption of the views in regard to charging the reclaimed land with accumulated rates at a. later date would tend to/discourago the location'of. manufacturers fin the /site. This would', be regrettable, ds the' full develop-' ment'of the scheme; Would, bo for the benelit of'jthe 'citizens generally.' 'It ■ had been thought: that the city should undertake operations instead of Jho Board, but they should.Toalise that the citizens would'benefit just, as much as if theTCouncil did the work. The Board was in a , ' -, position to reclaim, a considerable"ares'atf "a mihimuni; cost, and the 1 -control of the"-foreshore ■" was already vested in the Board. , ' , He was'not putting in a plea if or any partictilar industry.' One might be advocating- : a thing from a public ' point of' view, when "he knew it would do trim,''harm as_an eiftdividual. Reforming to the-Patent Slip, Councillor Luke said this was a matter that entered. into municipal politics. Toj-place.a boat.-.of 150' tons (gross) on the 6lip-;,for,'three u days now cost £15, while a TOfcton.boat could be put-up for repairs at Jjyttelton for five days at a cost of £6; Tf 'the Council could in any way assist the harbour," ;Bpard. in its efforts in regard to the.'.slip/'.iif/wpiild be quite right in doing so. Thef.:;;engi,rjf.ei;iJ\g industries were hampered thrbugh^einj^cut/off from the .'foreshore, biit; StbJSre many', other industries, that. •. could:be;tbcated on the reclamation. It was difficult-for-peoplo to realise 'the great possibilities | of the. scheme. He seconded the BdopWon-bf-tlie "report.' ■■_■!-■• • ,r /^^^pNEMEN^V^bvoCATEp/': Councillors' l Ballinger : and Fisher' ; soughtto' ?V-€s}fM a^ 'postponed untir.ne'xt meet-' ing"J;'onHhft ground that - Councillors had not yeV.ffad: uiho to consider"the' details of the scKm^.^";... , ' : /"•■ v<: .■■■ , ■ ■■■■ •■JKifaciijpr .Biss : asked "if the proposed afireeraent'with the. Board implied that the Council,could' onjy. take* over 'such parts of Iho.'-'reclamation as the Board informed it (could,.bo available " , .!T)ie v *MSyor''explained that the.Board would .nbtiWiho Council when any of the land was fully;;'Wclaimed;;atid the Council would-then bo, free;to i select- any portions except that to"be/ r.c&erved for a slip, and the chain-wide ."eserve.all round the foreshore. Councillor M'Laren said that the project' Woujdgjffect all the people of the vicinity, and.ijjgr-thought, the electors, should be consultoflf<jbefore any action was takon. ■Cfljincillor, Godber sajd' tho matter had bebßjp prepared by- some of-,the. brightest mindgrTin.the city,.and it was now time to . further hesitation; > Councillor Smith said the,reclamation was aj?ainst, his-personal interests, but ho .would Binlihthat aspect of the affair",for,,the sake ofs|ho'city's advancement. ',He''.held-tjbat. the-;jGouncil should,not charge 'the Board the . rates, on-land before revenue wa.3 ..obtainable, from;]it.- He hoped _tho matter would be carried/.that night without further delay. . :^ : :!;;:the'c6UNciL!s-rights. -•';,■...■ Mayor herb explained the matter of Hiq.'-'rpadways giving accpss " to the beach v hr6ugh;the property of Mr. Crawford. These pieces :.'6f l land were given'by that gontloman for.i.the; express purpose of giving the resiJents'.at'Evans Bay an outlet to' the sea. They would necessarily bb useless when the foreshore, was destroyed by the reclamation. .rhese : rights wero of.no monetary value, and would acquire, .on the other hand, :the proposed rights: over the reclamation!'"""The Council would pass over absolutely nothing by adopting the scheme. It ■ would , say to the Board, "If you like to ' . carry.', out .tlip reclamation we, will take, tho land-tinto the pity.-!' You-hand, it ov,er,as, would, . .'do,-, streeted . and draihod/with the exception of. sewerage:" The} whole, of the ..responsibility for the' reclamation works necessarily , rested with tho Board, as the Council .had no right below mghWjit*r,.mark., .The 'Bill would- simply give 'the .'Boardl power" tp do the work. Ho hoped , :the area': to bo reclaimed would reach; lOfV.acresj,and this'wpu,ld, afford sites for a great" variety ,of industries; Cbun-., cillflrs'.wpuld n treat the '.repor£!'as. confidential in{ttie ■meantime," principally because.it.contained .figures whicli.it,was not oxpeclient to f make';' public. No.'doub't',the Board would ere)long.make a.por.tion of the report, pub-, lic..'vln his, opinion .tho irbpbrti.bf the ongi-: neors:,only required to.be read to be., understood./- The Council sta suggested by. the Board. .It .would, be. .better,; if or ; the Council not to interfere with/^the. Board's business. (Hear, hear.) , Thb reclamation would bo carried out in the besti. interests of all concerned. Ultimately, aVnumbor'of industries—including that of building , !bf fair "size—would arko in that locality. The Council.would be able to .acquire'" on most ' faVburablo terms, for reasonablp municipal; purposes, tho land it . required.' It would not want'.to erect worknieii's homes there, , but it might requiro a site for,' say, a destructor. , ;. He would not like to hurry."thp Council'to a conclueibn, if thoro. were' any'point which required to be elucidat«d, but in this instirico promptness was edvi'sable, and, as faras' ho knew, there was nothing.which required /to be gone into. Ho hbp'cid tho motion would p 0 carried. In conclusion, .ho councillors that the scheme had boon beforb'tho public for a'considerable period. Twenty, years ago it' Was Mr:; Crawford's favourite scheme. In his opinion', , the Council-'should congratulate the BoSrd '.on its enterprise and determination to carry out such important works.' , ' : -AN OBJECTOR. ' ' ; . '; Councillor Biss pointed' out that if ■ corimdoratipn of the ,matter 'were delayed tho Boardmiight bo projudicea.: , ' l ,; Councillor HindmarshY-T'can't see that Mayor: There is a great deal in,what Councillor Bisa-has said;' " ; r ' . Councillor Hindmarsh: The owners know nothing about tho matter now, and they aro buto to, stick out for as much" as o they can ■ get.- : . -■ , ■ ■-■■:..: u . r ' 1n MayOr: No * h | n e will'be 'gained by de- ' ; Councillor Hindmai-sh, continuing, referred to:jthe..fact tnat it had been stated that some .of. the keenest intellects in Wollington had been engaged in conncqtion with the scheme.' In hifopimoiv; some of these por?9?- s . , I '?« a l |y , dls P la y e d''tho''most keonness arter.;.dollars. ;.' t -" . -~.-' -vCouncillor Morrah'hold that some portion of; tho water ' frontagb should be availablo to. tho general.public. " •" ' .' i.Replying^tojCouncillof M'Laren, the Mayor ■ stated that the committee did not see how it;.could frame; a '.betterment .clause which would be.fair to-Ull parties.' '. aocjaroa that, if the Council did;wdt -pass" tho resolution, the Board would.proceod'with'tho;matter just the same 'Councillor.Hindmarsh: It would bo better if tlioX'buHc'ir were'unanimous on the subject.',-/;::'' '''' -' ; v ' v , Tho':Mayj)f: Th'c Council never can be whilst lypu' are hero. ■ Cpuncillor,'" Ballinger thought councillors ehbutdj'havfi'a,week or.two in which to con-iLtler-'thri'itfifttfor fully. He would never vote # in/Jf&yOTreFof , a propbsal which ho had nol grind , mto fiilly. CorfficiHof fletchor pointed put that th< wholo matter had been gono into vorv <^t-

haustivoly by the Council's Engineer and the Board's Engineer. As a result the conclusion had boon arrived at that tho scheme be in tho mutual interests of, both bodice. He had some doubts as to whothei tho project would bo as successful as nad been prophesied, but was willing to fall in with the other councillors, seeing that the Board woro relieving tho Council of all financial responsibility. In the near future cnat portion of the city would,' ho boliovecl, bo a very busy one. The danger of clclay in such matters had, he pointed out, been made clear only a few days previously. Oil being put, tho amendment was lost. : ."NOT UNDERSTOOD." Councillor Eishor again urged p'ostponcmont of the matter. Ho wished to know if there was any provision that made it incumbont on tho Board to complete the work within a specified poriod. It was his intention to vote against tho motion, simply because he and other councillors had not had-time'to go into tho matter thoroughly. At 'this'stago sovoral councillors asked■ if Councillor Fisher, who resumed his seat, had beon in order. . Tho Mayor: I understood Councillor Fisher roso to ask a question. Councillor Fisher: What about the Council's rights? Tho Mayor: Tho rights to approaches to tho harbour in respect to the foreshorp possessed by tho Council are of "« monetary value . . Councillor Fisher reiterated that would bo better to hold the motion over. Tho Mayor: The reports aro so clear that if Councillor Fisher would only read them, ho would understand them as we]l as if he wero given a fortnight to go into the matter. Continuing, His "Worship said it would bo unreasonable to suggest that/ the works should bo completed within a specified timo. He had no doubt hut that.tho Board would proceed as oxpeditiously as possible. Ho had, he said, known'the Council deal with a much more complicated matter at much shorter notice. , A REFERENDUM ADVOCATED. Councillor M'Laren then moved as an amendment: ".That the Council ask the Wellington Harbuur Board, prior to promoting the Bill, to join with tho Council.in laying the wholo scheme before tho ratopayors." Tho Mayor: "What ratepayers?" Councillor M'Laron: "Tho ratepayers of the city." , . The Mayor: " Tlie harbour does not belong to Wollington City. Tho city only elects two membors out of fiftoon." Councillor M'Laren went on to argue that, as loans for works were submitted to the ratepayers, they should also be consulted in a scnemo of such importance as that under discussion.;.' The amendment was not seconded. Councillor Hales moved tho adjournment ■of the Council for a week, but this was not seconded. • The' motion for tho adoption of the report was then put, and carried by 8 to 7. Mevnbers voted as follows: — Ayes: The Mayor, and Councilors Biss, Cohen, Fletcher, Godbor, Luke, Murdoch, and C. Smith. Noos: Councillors Ballingor, Carmichaul, Fisher, Hales, Hindmarsh, M'Laren, and MorraH. !.-■..