The Globe. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1878.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1458, 18 October 1878, Page 2

The Globe. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1878.

There can bo no doubt that something should bo done by tho Legislature towards regulating the manner in which so-called private townships ought to be laid out, so far, at least, as sanitary requirements in tbo shape of suitably wide streets are concerned. A good deal has been said and written, both in and out of Parliament, of the necessity which has long made itself felt for compelling, by statutal enactment, both tho Government and private speculators to follow uniform rules when undertaking tho laying out of towns or subdividing land for dwelling purposes. The matter has oftentimes been ventilated in the Assembly, as well as argued in public prints, and, since tho rush for lauded property, in which during the last few months speculators figured so largely, fairly set in, greater attention has boon given to the subject than was hitherto tho case. The Government, it was expected, would have takeu tho question in hand during tho present year, but somehow or other the tangled mass of legislation which was at an early period of the session thrown promiscuously upon tho table of the House did uot contain any reference to it. A private member, however, Mr. Thompson, into in tho day as it was, made it his business to introduce a Bill having for its purpose tho regulat® ing of private subdivisions of land. It has been read a second time, but while in committee its contents gave rise to a variety of arguments, many .of V \vhich, antagonistic to tho Bill, wore urged with exceeding warmth. And wo can scarcely Avoudor at it. Tho Towns or Private Laud Regulation Bill, as it is called, certainly goes a great deal too far, and, as is generally the Avay Avhou an obviously good case is unnecessarily exaggerated, it greatly .defeats tile laudable object Avhich it had in view. P.Qjr instance the Bill provides that all streets in toAvu shall not be less in breadth than 99 feet gnd that when a town has a frontage to a road or street Avhich is less than 99 feet in breadth, the frontages of allotments to such road or street shall be 49 feet 6 -inches from its centre. And here we may rqmai’h that, for the purposes of the Bill, the word “ Town” is to mean any area of private land to u acres or upwards surveyed into lots of. fjnft aero or under; or any area of five acres upwards subdivided into lots of oue aero or j under, provided such land adjoiu lauds already surveyed into allotments and make with such adjoining lauds an area of ten ac#es or more; or an extension of any town which has been or may hereafter be laid oh! on private lands or on waste lauds Every poison laying out a “ town,” says the Bill shall lodge with the Chief Surveyor a plan of the town, before the allotments are either sold,: offered for sale, or otherwise disposed of. The Chief Surveyor, having satisfied himself that tho provisions of tho Act have been complied with, and that tho plan Avas .executed Avith due regard to drainage ; aud tv tho natural features of the country, ,'bcco/ncs empoAverod to at once ■select as a fosqrye for public purposes laud to tho extent of one-tenth part more or loss of the area of the town, to he in two or more distinct blocks. Tims it is clear that should this Bill become law any person subdividing his property into lots of oue acre or more, pro-

vided the area o£ the land subdivided amounts to ten acres, would bo required to lay off all streets of tho enormous width of one and a-half chains! This excessive width, which may in many cases bo considered a waste of land, is, besides, worse than useless for any purposes but those of tho main arteries of a great city. Tho expense of maintaining inordinately wide streets is very great. It is quite true that some regulation is absolutely necessary to prevent streets being laid out of too narrow a width. A largo number of important suburbs have been laid out around most of the chief towns of the colony by private persons with streets of ridiculously inadequate width, frequently of loss than thirty-throe feet, but this Bill runs into an absurd extreme without any possible rhyme or reason. Sixty-six feet has always boon found a suitable width. In the town of Invercargill, where the main streets are abnormally wide, tho Borough Council is continually at its wits’ end when trying to make tho enormous expenditure their maintenance entails come within the limits of tho proportionate receipts derived from the owners of property there. Tho power given to the Chief Surveyors is also too unbounded. For instance what would prevent them, if so disposed or fond of crotchety notions, from setting aside as reserves the most valuable frontages of the property? Tho provision with regard to this selection of one-tenth of the area for tho purposes of reserve, is looked upon by many people as a kind of unlawful deprivation of property. Wo are not , prepared to go so far. It' is but "right that tho law should regulate what lions shall bo placed, when absolutely necessary, upon a man’s property when the good and interests of the greatest number require it. But it is only in tho case of large townships that such a theory should practically apply, and not when the subdivision of land is only of an exceptional character. Many circumstances would arise rendering the application of this confiscatory clause both unjust and oppressive. As the Bill stands, that is a crudely manufactured skeleton with scarcely any flesh to its bones, wo cannot but declare that measures like it would bo far more productive of harm than good. And besides the question is a very large one, involving the tonderest rights of tho community, and it is one the generation of which should have been left with the Government, and brought forth at au easier period of the session so as to enable the Legislature and tho public to well mature its provisions and carefully weigh its results,. 0 '