GROUNDS-ONE OTHER.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1149, 9 June 1911, Page 6

GROUNDS-ONE OTHER.

OUT AT KILBIRNIE. WHAT THE RESIDENTS ASK. A brisk agitation is being conducted in Kilbirnic at the present [time, with tho object of inducing the City Council to substantially recognise in a financial way the Kilbirnic Recreation Ground a city reserve which, up to the present time, has suffered a great deal of unmerited neglpct. Describing the position to a Dominion reporter yesterday, Mr. J. A. Heginbotham (president of the Kilbirnic Electors' Association) stated that the ground, which consists .it present of four acres of green sward, lying in an inward curve of the Evans Bay foreshore, was set aside originally thirty-six years ago, when the old Kilbirnic property was sold by the late Mr. Jas. Coutts Crawford. A ested at first in trustees, the reserve was handed over to the city authorities about seven years ago. For a time the City Council used it as a dumping-area for all sorts of material, and even now one corner is used as a pipe-testing yard. The city has done practically nothing to improve the ground. In 190G the Harbour Board conceded to the Citv Council the right to reclaim 22 acres of the foreshore, adjacent to the Kilbirnie Recreation Ground. An Empowering Bill was passed, which, among other things, entitles the City Council to lease one-fourth of the area reclaimed. Under the Bill the council was given seven ye?rs in which to complete the reclamation work. It. was stipulated that Ii G(i-foot road should he formed along the sea front of the reclamation, and that llio work should be faced with a concrete wall. Up to the present, althodgh four and a half vears of the time allowed in the. Bill have passed, and only two and a half years remain, the reclamation has not even started. Mr. Heginbothani considers that an unwillingness to hear the great cost of a concrete wall (about .£1000) explains the delay and neglect of tho City Council. This particular difficulty is likely to disappear. The Harbour Board has projected a reclamation which will curve round the. harhour side from t.he Miramav sea wall to a point on the Evans Bay Road, about eight chains north of the recreation ground. Under these circumstances it is held that a rubble wall facing tho recreation, ground reclamation would suffice. Kilbirnie's Share Diverted. Mr. Heginbothani yesterday recalled the fact that the City Council, five years ago, raised a loan to be expended in forming and completing its reserves. At tho time Mr. Hislop (then Mayor) stated that of the ,£27,0(10, a sum of .£2OOO would he allocated to Kilbirnie. Subsequently Mr. Hislop introduced a special Bill in Parliament, which provided for raising a loan of .£23,000, to be expended in carrying out the reclamation of 22 acres conceded hy the Harbour Board. The Bill was rejected on the score that it mao'o no'provision for taking a poll upon hio loan proposal. From that time until the present, the ,£2OOO promised to Kilbirnie has not been forthcoming. Tho whole of the _J227,000 raised as a loan was spent, which absorbed, in addition, some <£4000 out of revenue. Not only has Kilbirnie been deprived of this sum of .£2OOO, Mr. Heginbothani stated, hut the suburb lias been most unfairly bereft of an additional ,£2C(Kt or .£3OOO which, under ordinary circumstances, would have been spent upon the ground out of revenue. Proving this point, he remarked that during the past five".years the City Council has expended the following sums upon its reserves (excluding cemeteries):— '.£ 1906-7 400S 1907-8 6531 1008-0 6135 1909-10 9629 1910-11 6370 Total .£33,273 During this period only a paltry .£250 (spent last year in levelling and topdressing) had been spent on Kilbirnie recreation ground out of a total sum of ■£•33,273, expended on reserves. . Best Ground in the City. Describing the position at the present time, Mr. Heginbothani claimed that the Kilbirnio recreation ground might easily l>B extended into th» valuable playing areas in the cily. Completed the reserve would contain approximately 20 acres. On the' foreshore to bo reclaimed there is an average depth of only from two to four feot of water. Spoil, sufficient to reclaim 27 acres, can be obtained free of cost from a bluff lying immediately north of the reserve. The city engineer (Mr. W. H.. Morton) told Mr. Heginbotliam yesterday that tho actual work of reclaiming the land,' apart from top-dress-ing, would amount to about .£4OO per acre. If the public only knew, concluded Mr. Heginbothani, that tho best recreation ground in tho city of Wellington could bo obtained at slight cost, and was in danger of being lost, they would instantly settlo the matter. Kilbirnic recreation ground is considerably nearer to the General Tost Office than the Athletic Tark. Allowing two acres for each ground, it would provide space for ten first-class football grounds on a perfectly level site. If necessary, special grounds could be set aside on, such an area for cricket and other games. Moreover, if the ground were once reclaimed it would be self-supporting. The. portion of about five acres available for leasing would return the interest oil any loan expended in reclaiming the foreshore. , Organising a Protest. At a meeting of the Kilbirnie Municipal Electors' Association last evening, arrangements were made in connection with the deputation which is to press the claims of the Kilbirnie reserve upon the City Council at its next meeting,. Mr. Heginbothani reported that lie had received promises of support from the Hataitai Ratepayers' Association, from the various sports bodies of the cily, from a number of friendly societies, and other bodies: . Many of these organisations will be represented upon the coming deputation. Summarising the proposals to bo laid before the City Council, Mr. Heginbothani remarked that that body, if it could not immediately start to reclaim the foreshore, should seek to have the period of seven years, originally allowed for the work, extended. Ultimately it would rest with the people of Wellington to say whether they wanted the ground or not. There was "no doubt as to what the people would say when the facts became known. A committee of seven members was appointed to select spokesmen for the deputation and marshal'the facts to bo advanced.