The Globe. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 938, 27 June 1877, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1877.

An important recommendation has made by the Finance Committee of tii** o*ty Council, As out* readers are awa' 1 " 0 ' tlaere are i50m " 11 lai 'S e reserves boundaries ot'the city, which, on tUe *} °±J be provinces, passed into tUe Jf ds 0± the General Government. .. ,UJBO com "

prise Latimer and Cranmer sq. , ' the site of the G-odley statue n. Cathedral square, the greater part of the Market square, and several strips of land on the banks of the river. When the question of l.he erection of a town lialj was discussed some time ago, it was urged that il would be a great waste of public funds to purchase a site for the purpose, when the Council were already possessed of more than one. But as a matter of fact this

turns out not to have been the case. At present they have only a title to a very small part of the Market square, the greater portion of it never having passed out of the hands of the Provincial Grovernment. The Finance Committee have therefore, we think, shown that they have the interests of the citizens at heart in making the recommendation which they have done. The delegate of the Council is to have power to represent the Council at the coming Conference at Wellington, with the aocw of obtaining a Crown grant of all the reserves within the city. Of course care will be taken to secure the setting apart of these reserves to their original purpose. The squares will no doubt bo devoted to purposes of recreation ,never on any consideration to be encroached upon with buildings of any land. The case is different with the Market-place, and the small strips of land along the bank of the river. the market reserve in the possession of the Council, a handsome income might be derived from what is at present a useless w.iste. The time will no doubt also come, when the necessity of erecting a Town Hall and municipal oifices will have to be considered. It will be for the Council and the citizens to make up their minds as to the best site for such a building. If the Market-place is used, we should have to do without the revenue which otherwise would be derived from such a valuable plot of- land. Of course, if we are content to do without this addition to our income, there could bo no objection to its selection. But thei'e is still another place in every way suitable for the purpose. Were the buildings at present used for a Magistrate's Court and municipal offices removed, a convenient and central site would be at our disposal. The place is centrally situated, is away from the noise and bustle of business, and yet convenient to all parts of the city, and would on the whole, we think, be in every respect as suitable as the market-place reserve, and this latter site could be made the means of a considerable addition to our municipal income. But whatever be the intention of the City Council in the matter of a Town Hall, we hope they will be successful in securing the Crown grant of the various reserves within the city. It is very necessary that some local authority should have control over the squares; and the other plots of land ought in all fairness to be vested in the city itself for municipal purposes.