The Globe. SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 805, 20 January 1877, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1877.

One of the most important questions which have of late agitated the minds of the ratepayers of the city, was discussed last Tuesday at the meeting of the City Council. We refer to the proposition made by Councillor Hobbs, and which he embodied in a substantial resolution, to secure for the use of the City Council the plot of land in Colombo street known as Morten’s corner. As framed by the mover, this resolution, which was ultimately carried, provides that, under the powers granted [to Municipalities by by the Public Works Act and the Municipal Corporations Act, authority should be given to the Council to purchase the piece of land referred to. The purpose to which it is intended to be applied is twofold. A few feet of the frontage is sought to be utilised in widening that part of Colombo street, while the remaider, it is suggested would be devoted to the erection of a Town Hall, together with all offices necessary for carrying the civic business of the city. When speaking to the motion, Mr Hobbs doubtlessly opened out a vista of pleasurable results, which certainly cannot fail to accrue from the acquisition by the public of the property in question. Of course it cannot be contested that it would be well if Colombo street, at that particular spot, could be widened a foot or two. Public offices, wherein to hold meetings and to transact the business of the Council, are also absolutely required. But the query which the proposed expenditure for the purposes mentioned naturally suggests, is one of no light or trifling

character. What will the cost be P Will the game be worth the candle and the quid pro quo sufficiently substantial ? £25,000 we are * told is the price which is set upon Morten’s corner, and it was with those figures before them that Mr Hobbs and those who supported his scheme urged its adoption. We fancy that the danger to life and property caused by the so-called narrowness of Colombo street opposite the Bank of New Zealand, has been greatly exaggerated. What about the populous centres in much larger cities in other parts of the world, where too tram-cars take possession of a considerable portion of the main streets? Of course it would be highly desirable to widen the thoroughfare in that particular locality, but certainly not at the cost which—proportionately—the ratepayers would have to pay for the whole block. Mr Hobbs seems to lay great stress upon the prospects of revenue which, he thinks might be derived by the Council from the desired improvements. To a great extent, we fear, those prospects would turn out somewhat chimerical. It is unlikely that much ground would remain unoccupied by the offices of the Council. Computing the few feet of frontage required by the Council for widening purposes, to be worth a few hundred pounds, there would still remain upon the shoulders of the ratepayers an enormous balance to be paid, in exchange for which the city would receive a Town Hall and other buildings, which can be erected elsewhere on land belonging to the Municipality, and where the site—for general purposes —is in every respect quite as good. The reserve upon which the Post Office is built will soon be vacant, and so will be that adjoining it where the old Fire Brigade station stood until quite recently. We cannot see that those sites lack any of the requisites needed for the purposes of the municipal authorities, or would submit the public to any possible inconvenience. There would be a clear saving of, say, £25,000, which expenditure at the present moment the public can ill afford. That sum in itself appears to us a most exorbitant price, and quite out of proportion for the half-acre of land which the city would get in exchange. At Dunedin, at the present moment, a piece of land upon which some public buildings stand, and which buildings alone cost £30,000, is in the market for the sum of £35,000. The site is larger than Morten’s corner, being three-quarters of an acre in size, and it is situated in quite as good a position as the latter. Yet we are not aware that business frontages in the heart of Dunedin are lower in price than they are here. We trust that the ratepayers will weigh well the financial position in which they are placed, before countenancing such a piece of extravagance as that contemplated. The question before them resolves itself into very narrow limits. Can they afford such luxuries at the price ? That all-necessary work, the asphalting of the footpaths of the city, will be a sufficient addition to the current taxation for some time to come. It is essentially and absolutely a work of need. Purchasing Morten’s corner, when other sites quite as available are in the hands of the Council, would simply be a piece of ostentation which the circumstances of the city in no way warrant. And, while touching upon this asphalting of the path-ways, it must be a source of general regret that Councillor Nathan’s scheme was not adopted in its entirety. As passed by the Council, this asphalting resolution renders it impossible that the work can be adopted within the Belts in less than three or four years. And, in affairs municipal as well as in other sublunary ones, “ there is often many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip.”