THE TOWN BELT.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1875, 8 October 1913, Page 7

THE TOWN BELT.

IAND SPORTS GROUND STRUGGLE. The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke), in replying to the toast of "The City of Wellington," at the South Wellington Methodist Literary ' and Sooiety, said that when tho city of Wellington was, laid out in London in the year 1839 by the New Zealand Company, 1100 acres were set_aside "for the city itself, but owing to the ignorance, of; the people Tesponsiblo regarding tho topography of the place, all'the high land was set aside for reserve. The reason for our narrow streets was. the fact that in the original plans no area was set aside for streets, and when the omission was discovered tho company graciously allowed 100 acres of the 1100 for streets. There had been a deal of opposition "regarding the leasing or Town Belt properties to sports bodies, and he instanced the tennis court near Constable'Strcet.'! - The people '.who 'leased that acre of land were bound to fulfil certain obligations'or the acre with all improvements would revert at once to the City Council, Was it not a better thing for 80 people to use that', acre for "■ proper Tecreation than for it to be the gracing place for horses and cows? It had been his idea to make tennis courts at Newtown, near Mount 'Albert, whore there was sufficient land for tennis players for all time, and where 'it would" be possible to hold world-wide tournaments, but the difficulty lay in. its inaccessibility for. practice purposes. The council had, however, reserved a piece of land in Pirie Street which would provide nine courts at a cost of £2000. It was essential that the. membership be 500 strong. The Tental would be £65 per annum, .and the benefit to citizens would be apparent.