CHRISTCHURCH CITY RESERVES BILL.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1069, 30 November 1877, Page 3

CHRISTCHURCH CITY RESERVES BILL.

[From “Hansard.”] The Hon. Mr Hall, in moving the second reading of this Bill, said its object was to .vest in the Corporation of Christchurch certain portions of land in the city for the management of which no sufficient provision now existed. First of all, there were Cranmer, Latimer, and a part of Cathedral squares. The Corporation had been advised that they had no sufficient power over those squares to enable them to enclose and plant them and lay them out as ornamental gardens. One object of the Bill was to give them that power. It proposed to do much the same with reference to certain unoccupied portions of the banks of the River Avon, At present there were strips of land along t he River Avon which, if they were placed under the charge of the Corporation and planted as gardens, would add very much to : the enjoyment of the people of Christchurch. There were also a variety of triangular pieces of ground formed by the intersection of various streets, which were now merely vacant spaces under nobody’s control —they were practically “ no man's land.” The Bill proposed to vest these portions of land in the Corporation, with the right to erect ornamental buildings on them, to construct water-tanks on some, and use others for cab stands ; but they were not to be let, and none of the buildings were to be made a source of pecuniary profit. The Bill also proposed to vest the Market-place of Christchurch in the Corporation. Although the Corporation now exercised a certain authority over a portion of it, there was considerable doubt as to their power to do so effectually. The sth clause vested in the Corporation one of those strips of land on the river-side to which he had alluded for the purpose of a lire brigade station. On part of the land the Corporation had already built a fire brigade station, and, strictly speaking, that was an encroachment, but practically it was not a grievance to the inhabitants. He proposed to make an addition to the second clause of the Bill, stating that Cranmer, Latimer, and Cathedral Squares were handed over to the Corporation, subject to such roads and streets as now legally existed. He understood that in the original plan of the City of Christchurch there were streets laid off across some of those squares. The squares were now fenced in, and the fencing had not been opposed ; but, when it w r as proposed to vest the squares absolutely in the City Council, the residents in the neighbourhood objected, and, he thought, reasonably, that it might be absolutely stopping up the right of road which legally existed. He proposed, therefore, to insert an addition in committee which would save the right. The Hon. Captain Fraser would like to know if these reserves were Crown-granted. This property was worth, he supposed, £IOO,OOO. Last year, when ho proposed to give to the University the reversion of the Drillshed Reserve in Dunedin, the Hon. Dr. Pollen objected. Would that hon. gentleman make any opposition now to giving land of the value of £IOO,OOO to the Corporation of Christchurch ? The Hon. Dr. Pollen said there was a general objection to Bills of this character, which he stated in Committee on the previous night. That objection was, that the habit had been, and the disposition was constantly shown, to deprive the Colonial Government of every inch of land that it was possible to take away from it in the towns and townships of the colony. The consequence was that, whenever the Government required a piece of land as a site for any necessary or useful purpose, they had to go into the market and buy back, at a largely enhanced price, in many cases, the very land which was unwisely granted in the manner proposed by this Bill. He did not know whether the ob-

jection was a valid one in this ■aso, or whether there remained, as he loped there did remain, a sufficient extent of land in Christchurch in the possession of the Crown to provide for the public want s of the colony in future. If that were settled satisfactorily, ho thought it was exceedingly desirable that land in the position which the hon. gentleman described should be enjoyed and controlled by the municipalityThe Hon. Mr Peacock said there was a large quantity of land in the possession of the Government in Christchurch. None of the land referred to in the Bill, excepting the squares and Market place, was suitable for a building of any kind. These pieces of land had been reserved for the city of Christchurch for all time, and he imagined it was through neglect that the reserves had not been made over before. In fact, the Provincial Council on one or two occasions offered to give a reserve to the City Council, but wanted to make conditions for fencing, and so forth, which the City Council did not think they were in a position to carry out at the time. The bidk of the land referred to consisted of small pieces, many of which were now planted, and the citizens of Christchurch were very anxious that these places should be reserved, and that no buildings should be erected on them. The Hon. Major Richmond would like to ask the Hon. Colonel Whitmore if the land described in the third schedule was the same land that was originally appropriated for a market place.

The Hon. Colonel Brett said all the land mentioned in the schedule had been vested in the municipal body for a long time. The object of the Bill was merely to prevent these spots, with the exception of the Market-place, from being built upon and so destroying the appearance of the city. Hitherto they had been preserved from buildings, but there was recently a movement on the part of the Municipal Council to build on some of the land, but the inhabitants offered great opposition. The whole of the pieces of land contained in the schedule had already been made over to the municipal body, and this Bill was only necessary to prevent the squares from being disfigured with buildings. He thought the Council would find that the Municipality were in legal possession of this property. The Hon. Colonel Whitmore presumed that when the Public Reserves Bill came into operation a great many Bills of this kind would be unnecessary. With regard to what the Hon. Dr. Pollen said as to the absolute necessity of reserving some places for the General Government, he thought that if the Public Reserves Bill were passed they need not fear the contingency which the hon. gentleman suggested, because power would be given to the Government to reserve any lands which might be required for such purposes without paying an exorbitant price. The Hon. Mr Hall said the objection raised by the Hon. Captain Fraser was based on a misapprehension. There was no necessity to hand over any of the reserves to the Corporation, as they were in the hands of the Municipality at present. It was only necessary to give them effectual possession and power to manage those reserves. The Hon. Dr. Pollen objected to reserves being granted away which the Colonial Government might require for building purposes. He quite agreed with the hon. gentleman, but the objection did not apply to the present case, because there was not one of those reserves on which the Colonial Government would have the slightest right to build. The Colonial Government had been very liberally dealt with in Christchurch. The Provincial Government handed over to the General Government, for building purposes, land tor which they paid £IO,OOO in hard cash. That was an excess of generosity, and he doubted whether it would be reciprocated. The Bill was read a second time.