THE FOURTH SCHOOL SITE SETTLED AT LAST.

Evening Star, Issue 3419, 5 February 1874, Page 2

THE FOURTH SCHOOL SITE SETTLED AT LAST.

A deputation of the Dunedin School Committee and several citizens—viz., Messrs E. B. Cargill, Stout, m.P.C., Gillies, O. R. Ray, b. James, Isaac, Bagley, Davie, M.P.C., Tewsley, Morris, Wright, A. JR Ure, Robin, and Driver, M.P.C.—waited upon the City Council last night, in reference to a site for the proposed Fourth School Stripping the conversation of all matter that has already been discussed, the proceedings were as follows : °

Cr. Reeves wanted to know the smallest area of 1 aid in the Octagon Reserve the School Committee would be satisfied with ? Hie Mayor understood that the ground asked for was the least valuable, a corner piece opposite the Royal George Hotel. If this piece was granted, the shape of the reserve would be improved for the purposes of a market. Half an acre was all that was required. Mr Cargill said half an acre would be ample as a very large site was not at all necessary. For himself he thought a quarter of auacre would be sufficient.

Cr, Barnes regretted that there had been a mistake in dealing with this matter. It was a pity that the Octagon was mentioned, because Moray place was the place that was wanted, and the ground now asked for conkl be well spared.

Cr. Walter quite recognised the necessity for granting a site of some sort for the proposed Fourth School. He had gone to the extent of offering any portion of the Corporation Reserves in Bell and Leith Wards except the Octagon. The Corporation had their functions to carry out, and must look ahead as well as the School Committee. York place was being reduced, and a large area of land would be added to the Middle District School, and he thought that perhaps the enlargement of this place might answer the purpose. Some members of the School Committee appeared to be under a wrong impression. Mr Street had said to the Superintendent that pressure had been brought to bear by a few publicans in the neighborhood. He might say that none of this pressure had been brought to bear upon him. In this matter he had acted conscientiously and according to the best of his judgment, and had he had pressure brought to bear on him by the publicans,, he might have gone in to grant the Octagon site. Mr Gillies said that in justice to Mr Street he would state that that gentleman’s remarks applied to the petition that had been put in. Mr Stout said that the question of erecting new buildings alongside the Middle District School had been discussed, and was thought undesirable and unworkable. It was not desirable to have two large schools alongside each other, with 700 or SOO pupils each. The children attending the Middle District School required all the playground they now had. So far as he could see, it the Council had a large market in the Octagon, the piece of ground required for a school would not have to be used for .ages to come. There was a large piece of ground towards the Drill-shed.

Cr. Ramsay said if the Government kept open for traffic the reserve opposite the Railway Station, he would cease to object to a small portion of the Octagon being handed over. Cr. Reeves had objected to the Octagon reserve site being handed over on the same principle as Councillor Ramsay, and he still held the same objection, which was not got over by the Government offering to hand over the Fire Brigade reserve. The Octagon was the only place where a large market could be biuls in a few years when it was wanted, and the piece the School Committee required would be required for other buddings necessary for the Corporation in one respect or other. The School Committee did not look sufficiently far ahead in this matter and in school matters. They wished to establish a large school at a spot that in a few years would be the business centre of the City. The families who lived in the vicinity now would iu a few years remove to the suburbs of Dunedin. He did not know pf a single instance in the old country where a large school was established in the centre of a City. He would oppose the granting of the Octagon Reserve oh public grounds, for he thought that if it was granted a great injury would be done to the citizen's in a few year?’lime. In his opinion it would be a great mistake to part with tjie ground upon pny consideration. ‘

Mr Stout said that the argument made use of by Mr Reeves was the strongest he had yet heard in favor of the granting of the Octagon site. He said that there would soqn be no children near the Octagon, but all the committee asked was that the site should be granted to them until this event took place. W hen the children had gone from the neighborhood, the committee would have to follow them, and it must bo remembered that a twenty-one years’ lease was all that was asked for. Cr. Barnes said tha<-, instead of the spot proposed for the Fourth School being in a business place, he was sure that it would never be a business street; for instead of the traffic increasing in this part of George street, he thought it would decrease. Cr. Walter suggested that the School Committee should compensate the Volunteers, who were liable to removal, at proper notice, from the site they now occupied. Mr Tewsley would like to see the matter settled. He confessed that wiled first he heard

the Octagon site suggested for a school he considered it a mistake, for he considered that was the proper place for a Town Hall, He now hoped that the Council would see their way to entertain the reasonable and liberal proposal of the Government. The Council should try to meet the Government and arrange this matter, without the special legislation on the subject which had been threatened.

The Mayor said that tire site asked for by the Committee was of less value than that occupied by the Volunteers at the present time. The site asked for was useless to the Corporation or to any private individual. Cr. Ramsay said that the moderate tone adopted by the Superintendent had led the Council to consider the matter in a more favorable way. Mr Tewsley said that the hall could have been filled with citizens but for the unreasonable hour at which the deputation had to wait on the Council.

Mr Gillies said that he had sympathised with those Councillors who had opposed the granting of the Octagon reserve, and he had held a very strong opinion on the subject. The thing that had converted him, was when he began to know the real position of the schools, which were crammed to the doors with children ; when he heard members of the committee refusing to take any more children into the schools, and when he saw so many children in the streets, he thought that something must be done to remedy those evils. Cr. Barnes wished to know how soon the money voted for the school must be expended’ Mr Tewsley answered by the 31st of March. Cr. Barnes said that some steps must be taken at once.

Cr. Prosser asked the deputation whether they considered the Government right in refusing to grant a site for a school in the same way as in the country districts ? Mr Stout said that in the places where the Government had granted sites they had land that was undisposed of. A great deal of unsold lana had been handed over to the Corporation in Dunedin. If the Government had sold the land in Dunedin, it would have been different, Cr. Prosser said he would like to have a poll of the citizens taken on the subject. Cr. Reeves said that the matter had assumed a different phase if the School Committee would accept a please of twenty-one years. The deputation having withdrawn, the following letter from the Superintendent was read :

“Superintendent’s Office, „. “ Dunedin, 30th January, 1874. Sir,—At an interview held with me the other day by a very numerous and influential deputation of citizens of Dunedin, it was suggested that in the event of the Government an undertaking not to dispose of the Fire Engine-house site the Corporation might feci disposed to reconsider its decision in re the site in Moray place, and to agree to the erection of a school there. I have therefore now the honor to request that you will be good enough to inform me whether or not the City Council will agree to the school being erected in Moray place on the conditions indicated. I may state that with the concurrence of the Corporation there would be no difficulty in obtaining legal authority to devote a portion of the site named to school purposes. You may perhaps recollect that some time ago I had a conversation with you relative to the erection of an additional school for Dunedin in Albany street, adjoining the Pelichet Bay railway station, where there are several sections suitable for the purpose. I then understood that no objections were anticipated on the part of the Corporation to a school being erected on the site in question. If this is correct, perhaps you will have the goodness to apprise me accordingly, in which case the erection will be proceeded with at once.—l have, &c.,

“ J. Macandhew, m i • itt , . , Superintendent. To his Worship the Mayor of Dunedin.”

Or. Beeves : Did you, Mr Mayor, give his Honor to understand there would be no difficulty with regard to this site ? The Mayor : I did not speak on behalf of the Council.

Cr. Ramsay moved— “ That in consideration or the Provincial Council conveying the Fire Brigade Reserve to the City Council of Dunefor the purpose of public traffic, the Council will lease to the School Committee, for 21 years, a site on the Market Reserve, for the purpose of a Fourth School.”

Cr. Burt seconded the resolution. The Goyermnent had now met the objection he had held before to the gran ring of a portion of this reserve. They had now eight sections in the Octagon Reserve, and this was more than they would require. The public would benefit by the Fug Brigade Reserve, and it would be a loss to the citizens if ever this ground were built on.

Cr Walter regretted that ha was compelled to oppose the exchange, as he really looked upon it as no exchange at all. It would never be fit to put any building upon, and was quite useless for any business purpose. One of the astute members of the deputation had made the suggestion for the exchange, and his Honor the bupermtendent, as a smart business man, had seized the suggestion. He would move as an amendment—“ That the Council should wait on the Superintendent to endeavor to make the best possible exchange for the Octagon site. °

The Mayor said that the suggestion first came from the Council. To pass the amendment would only be to hang the matter on a peg again. 1 *

Cr. Reeves seconded the amendment as a matter of form.

Cr. Barnes opposed the amendment, and aigued that to carry it would be to postpone the matter indefinitely. Some people thought that the Government would be giving nothing in giving this piece of land, but it must be remembered that L 2,000 was given for the land upon which the Cargill Monument now stood. The whole of the present Octagon Reserve would never be required for a market—not for the next twenty years at any rate. The Corporation by meeting the Government in the proposition that had been made would be well repaid. He hoped the matter would be settled that night. . Cr - Reeves thought the matter before them involved a most important principle—that of granting the reserve. The offer of the Government had put the matter in a somewhat different light, and it must be remembered that the Government might sell the Fire Brigade reserve some day. The motion before the Council did not state what portion of the Octagon reserve wap to be granted, and he could not support it as it was too indefinite, The matter was a fair one for a compromise, and the Council misfit send a deputation to the Superintendent. Cr. Woodland opposed the motion, as he disapproved of the principle of allowing a portion of the market reserve to be used for any other purpose than that for which it had been granted. The inhabitants of the ward he represented were opposed to it. The Council should stand by the decision it had come to a short time ago, not to grant a portion of the Octagon reserve, otherwise it would be said that pressure had been brought to bear on them by the School Committee. The site was unsuitable for a school, for many reasons, and it was not fair for those who had purchased land there from the Corporation. Other pieces of land that were suitable for the purpose had been offered and refused, and he would oppose the motion. He would never vote for the giving any portion of the Octagon reserve until it was shown by a poll that the citizens were in favor

Cr. Beck supported Gr. Woodland, and thought it was shameful for the Government to hoid «ut such a sop to them as the exchange of the Fu-e Bngade reserve for the site asked for m the Octagon reserve. The site proposed \m unsuitable, from the danger that the children were exposed to by the traffic, and from its proximity to the Middle District School' A new school was required further down on the

Ci. Pnos.SEp admitted he had been under a misapprehension op this matter. He had since found that a wedge-shaped piece of land could oe taken riom the reserve without injuring it as a market. If the School Committee would be satisfied with this, he would be willing, especially when the Government offered them ° j a va “ ia^^e piece of land. He would have liked to have taken the votes of the citizens first, but the majority of the Council were against him. At the next election, however, he would like to see this question of giving away the reserves put before the ratepayers, so that I they could express their opinions upon it. None of these reserved, in hiis opinion, shbuld be

parted with unless the Council got an equivalent, and the piece offered by the Government was much more valuable. ~ in reply, reminded the Council that they were not giving this site, as they were getting something in return. The proposed site was one of the quietest and least dangerous to children m Dunedin. The amendment was then negatived, and the original motion carried in the following form by four votes to three, Or. Reeves not voting • “That, in consideration of the Provincial Government conveying to the City Council of Dunedin, for the purpose of public traffic, the piece of land known as the Fire Brigade Stand this Council will lease to the School Committee for twenty-one years, at a rental of Is per annum, section 31 and half of section 30 of the Market Reserve, for the purposes of a Fourth School.” Or. Beck protested against the motion being adopted.