AT LYALL BAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1054, 18 February 1911, Page 7

AT LYALL BAY.

U Corporation enterprise,

Details^ of the recent"iaiid transaction under which the City Council.has nurehascd,an- additional ten acres of. laud at Lvall Day, for tho sum of i.'lCflo, and the intentions of-.the: council in regard to the disposal,of the land were cxplainii 0, reporter yesterdav by the Mayor (Mr. T. M. Wilford, M.P.). The position is that thc;coulicil, prior to its latest purchase, owned ,20 nercs at Hay adjacent to the.newlj-.acouircd block. Of this area a block' of eight acres fronts the Lyall Bay. beach to tho eastward of Onepir Road. In connection with the ( Sydney Street exchange the council obtained from the Government a rectangular block of 12 acres, whicli lies partly in the rear of the eight-acre section, but with the bijgejt part of its area nearer Onepu is held i by the council for recreation purposes, subject to tho right of tho Government to use it as a parade ground on the occasion of defencc displays. . Tho ten-acro section now acquired lies in rear, of.tho-eight-aere section, and eastward of tho twelve-acre ..block. Tho eastern boundary of tho new property is on tho samo lino as tho eastern boundary of the eight-acrq block", while inland tlio boundaries of tho twelve-nere-block and the new ten-acre block nlso form a continuous line. The council now has a compact block containing thirty acres of land.. A rectangle o{ twenty acres fronting tho beach is to bo sst aside as a recreation ground. It will bo used for a time as a dump, and gradually filled in and levelled. ' Ten acres, of the property," portion of the twelve acres obtained from tho Government, aro to bo utilised as space for building carsheds rind corporation yards. A short length of road already runs from Onopu Road to the western boundary of the corporation property. This, will be continued through tho centre of the ten-acre eccticn to tho boundary of the recreation reserve, and a car track will l>o laid,. That portionof the ten acres lying inland from, "tho projected track will be used. for car* sheds, while tho space lying seaward of the track will be utilised for corporation yards. '

■ Explaining the considerations that had led the council to augment, its estato.at, Lyall Bay, the Mayor stated that it was faco to faco with tho position that it had not sufficient land at Newtown for carsheds. Tho volume of repair work was increasing, and there wore ten new cars to lie built. Jlr. Hichardson had asked the council to find him somo land, and tho city engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton) had also stated that he required land for corporation yards. At the preKiit time, Jlr. Wilfoid remarked, some of tho. corporation plant is kept in the backyards of corporation employe#s who reside at Kilbirnie. Somo of it is dumped on tho Kilbirnio Recreation Ground, and soma of it is left on tho public streets and lighted every night. It was, therefore, necessary . to find sufficient land for carsheds near the tramline, and also space for yards. The city owns a small piece of land in Kilbirnie, bought some time ago for a carshed, but it is not largo enough for .this purpose, and will probably bo sold. The council tried to buy four and n half acres adjoining, but wcto asked to pay . a price of JC2500. An 'alternative scheme being suggested and acted upon tho city has now bought ten acres at I.yall Bay for .€IOOO, instead of paying 4.-500 for four ncres and n half a little nearsr to the city. Another ndvantago gained by the purchase is that tlio city now has a rectangular block for recreation purposes, whereas tho . two blocks comprising _ the twenty acres hitherto held wcro joined only for a portion of their length, so that in effect tiicy wero joined only, by a narrow heck. It is not intended to reduce tho Iraniway establishment at Newtown, save by tho' removal of a few machines (o the new sheds at Ly.ill Bay when they are, erected. Minor (repairs will still be carried out at Newtown, but tho annual ovorhaul of cars will be carried out at Lyall Bay, and the sheds at the Bay will bo tlio fceno of future car-building operations. f?paca will also be provided for tlio storago of cars overnight. • .