BROAD ACRES MISSED

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2630, 27 November 1915, Page 14

BROAD ACRES MISSED

WELLINGTON'S BAD LUCK STORY OF LANDS LOST BY A HAIR [BT STLViua.] Wellington, with anything like reasonable luck, should be to-day a much rcalthier City than it is, despite the fact that we have had to throw hills into tho sea to mako a place to stand on "Suproma a titu" is all very well from a geographical point of view, but in all other respects it has been the most difficult task to make anything like a decent thorough-going City out of tho place, of which it was said for ten, aye, twenty, years, after it was established "would never be anything more than a fishing village." Time, howevor, is a great arbiter, and to-day our chief warehouses 'and halls of City government stand where the first settlers' ships swung at anohor. But Wollington hus had real hard luck as a municipality. Thero are many still living who will remember that in 3873 tho whole of that block of reclaimed land extending from Waring Taylor Street to Davis Street (north and south), and right out to the level of Waterloo' Quay, was offered to the City for the price it was reclaimed by Mr. William Tonks—£Bo,ooo. Mr. "Joe" Dransfield- was the' Mayor of Wellington at the time, and he was one of the shrewdest Mayors this City ever liad, as was shown by, tho bargains ho nearly made— that were only prevented being struck by perverse fortune. His term of office in. 1873 expired with the negotiations for the acquisition of this huge block of reclaimed land (which includes tho wliole of the Wellington railway station and yards, and tho rest of the laud right up to those blocks now occupied by W. and G. Turnbull and Co. aiid M'Leod, Weir, and Hopkirk's timber yards 'and the Wellosley Club) were in progress. During the following year Mr, C. H. Borlase was returned unopposed, and comparatively little was done of a momentous character in connection with the big deal. On the following election day, Mr. Dransfield > was once more in a position to offer himself as a candidate for tho Mayoralty, but on this occasion lie had 1 a rival in Mr. William Sefton Ivloorliouso (who had then hut 1 recently arrived from Christchurch). There was a hot contest, and Mr. Moorfiouso was declared tho winner with a majority of two votes. A Fatal Delay.

One of the first things put before him was the offer of the Provincial Government to sell the block of reclaimed land referred to for £80,000. He at once realised the valuo of securing the block, but with the expiry of the Provincial Government system then pending, lie thought ho saw a way of having the block vested in tho City as an endowment, without any money changing hands, and, being a member of tlio New Zealand Parliament, he offered to pilot the whole business through. When Parliament ; met Mr. Moorhouse made his proposal in' all good faith, but had reckoned without' tlio shrewd head of the then Premier, Sir Gedrge Grey. ' Ho would not hear of the land being given to the City; it was Crown land then, and Crown land it would remain' until it suited him to dispose of it otherwise in tho interest of the State. A few years later, on February 4, 1879, to be precise, itsuited the Government- to dispose cf a small - portion of the' block, five blocks, br part blooks, between Waring Taylor Street and Whitmore Street, and by the time "Dickie" Duncan laid down his hammer that day that land had been sold for £99,144 16s. ' To go a little further into that matter would roveal tlie fact that tlio auctioneer announced that the Government; would immediately road and channel the block, hut it never did, and tho whole cost of that work ultimately devolved upon the City. Oh, the luck, of it! If Mr.:Moorhouse liad not' come up from .Christchurch and contested the election, Mr. Dransfield would have been elected for certain, and so kuen was ho on'tho idea of securing the block, that ho would have paid, the price and clinched the doal bofore tlie Wise Man had any Bay in it.

i Miramar Isthmus for £200. ! "Tlie Sands", was the colloquial name for that piece of "'wasto' land" which connects the City • with Miramar, and ivhich is now knovn severally as Evans Bay, South Kilbiniie,TVlaraliui, and Lyall Bay. It was towards the end of Mr. Jce. Dransfield's 1873. term of office that some 200 acres of the sands—pretty well the lot—was offered by the Provincial Government to tho City at £1 per acre, or £200 for. the lot. One of tho. first things placed under tho notice of Mr. C. H. Borlase, when he took the ohair, was the matter of this purchase. The position was explained to him,'and as . soon as ho had grasped the dotails ho pooh-poohed tlie idea of paying a Bum like £200 "for a lot of useless sandhills." So the City _ lost splendid endowment, for it was immediately bought up by the late -Mr. H. D. Crawford, and has proved an extremely valuable property to his heirs. A'touch of irony is lent to a review of that opisode.in the fact that a few years back' the City paid the Crawford Estate something like £2000 to run a concrete sower through the block. Lost- Miramar. Last and greatest of all Wellington's misfortunes was the loss of .Miramar. Tho whole of the peninsula, with the exception of the Government and Harbour Board reserves, was offered to the City by the late; Mr. H. D. Crawford 'in 1890 for the sum of £75,000. The Hon. J. G.'W. Aitken, M.L.C., was then Mayor, and he favoured the ac■nuisition of the estate. A -Bill was promoted iu Parliament authorising ijho Citv to acquire the block on tho terms specified, but it was firmly opposed toy Mr. Seddon, as Premier, and Parliament did not see fit to argue tho point; How many times £75,000 Miramar. is worth to-day would only madden people to hear, hut : t is simply awful to think i of'the chances.Welliiii'ioii has had and I —just missed.'