NOT CHOSEN YET

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 90, 13 October 1934, Page 10

NOT CHOSEN YET

EXHIBITION SITE

NEW ZEALAND CENTENARY

RECLAMATION IDEAS

The proposal that the New Zealand Centenary, in 1940, should bo celebrated by holding an exhibition on a big scale was first made by Mr. G. A. Troup, as Mayor of Wellington, in 1929, and his suggestion was warmly approved at a meeting held in the City Council Chamber. In accordance with general practico in launching big movements, thoso who were present were constituted the general' committee, and then, after the general rule with such committees, little more was done. At that time immediate action did not seem necessary, for everything was bright and prosperous and 1940 was still a long time ahead. Apparently tho comniitteo of 1929 never met again, and the public practically forgot about the idea altogether, until Mr. Troup and the present Mayor, Mr. Hislop, revived the proposal this year. Once the idea had been taken up again a new committee, of workable size, was appointed to proceed with the preliminary planning; the detailed work, of course, will, if the proposal is proceeded with, require close attention by a considerable number of expert committees. Tho new committee, apparently, has not been able to make a great deal of'headway and the position is much as it was months ago, •with tho planning held up by the difficulty of securing a suitable site. GOVERNMENT WILL ASSIST. One considerable step forward has been made by tho new committee in that it has received tho assurance from the Prime Minister that the Government would not refrain from taking part in tho celebration of such an important landmark in the history of New Zealand. Mr. Forbes \ assured the committee that it could rely upon the co-operation of the Government and that he would discuss with his colleagues the question of appointing a representative on the committee. Several possible sites have been suggested from time to time, but it appears that in the committee's opinion there are only two to be seriously considered, the Lyall Bay recreation area and an area which might be reclaimed at the head of Evans Bay. The Lyall Bay or Rongotai area is swept by heavjj winds from north and south, and this drawback is serious enough to rule it right out, if there is any other site". VERY TICKLISH PROBLEM. The Evans Bay site does not exist, and opinion in the Harbour Board, which would, of course, decide whether and when the reclamation should bo undertaken, is anything but unanimous that the work should be started now, or in the near future. This reclamation question is a ticklish one and the history of discussions and negotiations is largely a story of Harbour Board and City Council at cross purposes. The idea of reclaiming Evans Bay was not a Harbour Board idea in the first place, but was put forward by the City Council a good many years ago as ». scheme whereby Wellington could become possessed of a big area of land admirably suitable for industrial purposes. " The Harbour Board was not enthusiastic over the proposal, but when, later, the reclamation scheme was authorised by special legislation, the board from time to time carried out works which would comply with tho completed reclamation and also purchased properties on the foreshore and the hill lands between the bay and the Wellington Gas Company's property at Miramar. First and last, the board has spent many thousands of. pounds in work preliminary to the reclamation —some day. POINT OF VIEW CHANGES. When the scheme was first put forward by the city, Kilbirnio was sparsely populated and there were practically no homes round the foreshore, ]ior was Evans Bay much regarded as a bathing area; consequently no one raised very loud objection to the idea of an industrial area in the bay. Now the position is different, and any announcement of a decision to commence reclamation will be answered by an immediate demand that ground reclaimed for exhibition purposes shall be later useel for other purposes than for industry, light or heavy. The Harbour Board has spent so much in preliminary work with the reclamation of the future in mind and has such definite powers under a special Act that tho reclamation idea cannot be dropped, but it also knows that inevitably a reclamation for commercial purposes will raise a storm of protest from a very largo number of residents. The City Council, too, having been the originator of the reclamation proposal, is in rather an awkward position, for though it is good council law that one council cannot bind succeeding councils electors have other ideas about that. The Evans Bay reclamation is certainly troublesome.

Time is slipping past, and shortly it will be impossible to complete the reclamation of 50 acres, or however much land is necessary for an exhibition, in time- to permit the" erection of ■buildings for the opening of an exhibition in 1940.

At the time Mr. Forbes gave the assurance that the Government would assist no decision had been mado as to the form which the celebrations should take. Certainly nearly every reference had been to an exhibition, but behind each optimistic forecast of the success of an exhibition has been that hurdle of a suitable site, and others again have said also that there is no guarantee that an exhibition in Wellington, whether a New Zealand Industrial Exhibition, an Empire, or an International Exhibition, will prove an exception to the general rule that, when all the gains and losses are ■balanced up, exhibitions are costly luxuries.