THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1892, 17 March 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 1880.

The City Council havo, it appears, at last come to the conclusion that the Town Hall project, like the Waimakairi scheme, is too costly for the ratepayers at present. The public generally, we may note, had arrived at precisely the same point some months back, but no doubt tho official mind, whether municipal or othorwiso, requires time to develop its conclusions. Now a fresh departure is made, and the citizens are to have, as in tho water supply, an alternative scheme for municipal offices. There is, however, a cbarming vagueness about the proposal of the Council as embodied in their resolution of Monday night. They havo determined to ask for £SOOO to form a fund for tho erection of offices for the uso of the City, Mayor's Court, &o. But they do not give us any information in the resolution as to the sito proposed. In tho discussion -which ensued the general feeling seemed to bo in favor of that opposite the present one, and on tho bank of the. river. The site may have its advantages. We do not dispute that at all. It may bo a very good one. But it would not be suitable for the carrying out o£ the original design, or of one which would be requisite for the City. In sinking tho money of tho ratepayers, due regard should be had to the futuro as well as to the immediate present. To expend the sum of £SOOO on what will only bo used temporarily seems to us to )be a gravo error. The Council has at its disposal a splendid site for the purposes contemplated in the Market Place. One of the objects for which this £SOOO is asked is for the erection of a suitable building for a Mayor's Court. As the Courts have now been concentrated in close proximity to the Market Place, no better site for a Mayor's Court could, be I selected, so that in this respect tho ' Market Place is infinitely preferable to Oxford terrace. But this is only a small item when we come to regard it from a .financial point of view. If this £SOOO is expended on the site favored by the Council, the building so erected cannot be utilised when the whole scheme of a Town Hall, &c, comes to be carried out. But by erecting it as a portion of the main design on the Market square, the nucleus is formed of a building which can •be added to as the growth of the city warrants such an expenditure. The sum thus spent will net, as would be the case if the Oxford terrace site were selected, be sunk in providing temporary accommodation. The building erected could be so planned as to harmonise with a general scheme, including a Town Hall, and thus the money of the ratepayers would be economised. That improved office accommodation for tho transaction of city business is urgently required, there can bo no doubt. The present building is miserably deficient both as regards accommodation for the officials and the public. But we feel sure that if the proposition is put before the ratepayers to expend £SOOO merely in providing this accommodation for a year or two without its being able to form part of a general scheme, it will be rejected—a result which would not be satisfactory. We trust, therefore, that before submitting tho matter to the ratepayers for final decision, the Council will decide upon erecting tho proposed building on the Town Hall site, and so planning it that it can be adapted and brought into any future building which may be erected. In fact, that instead of asking the ratepayers for £30,000 or £40,000 at once, the building shall be erected by stages as the requirements of the city may demand.

It .is to be regretted, wo think, that the Reserves' Committee 'of the City Council should have dealt with the question of establishing a market in the way they have dsne. As we have already pointed out their action has resulted in the congroga- • tion on one of the best business sites in the city of a series of shanties. Not only so, but by granting leases for a year the Council have alienated for that period one of the most valuable reserves in their hands, and they are, therefore, powerless to prevent what has already bocome an eyesore. 'There is such a thing as being too cautious, and despite the cry of economy which has been raised, we are of opinion that the Committee have erred in the direction of too mnch caution in this particular. Tho great mistake has been in allowing tho tenants of the sites to acquire a tonure, and thereby a vested right. The result of this is seen in an announcement made yesterday that one of the tenants has disposed of his title for a comparatively considerable sum of money. What should have been dono by the Council was that they should have retained the right of the reserve in their own hands and obtained power to erect a market under tho control of the Corporation. A suitable building—one which would both have been an ornament to the city and and a convenience to the public—could have been erected for £IOOO or £ISOO. Had such a building been put up with, say, accommodation for thirty stall-holders, there would have been no lack of applicants, and instead of, as now, receiving a mere pittance from tho reserve the ratepayers would have had a very handsome return on the outlay. Besides, the building could havo been so constructed as to bo able to bo added to and incorporated in any permanent building, which might be orectod for the purposes of a market. As it is now, the reserve has passed out of the hands of the Corporation into that of private holders for a year, and there is no restriction as to buildings which may bo erocted. Those which have been put up do not in any way add to the appearance of the city, and are far from being the kind of erections which should occupy so central a site. Had such a scheme as wo have indicated been put before tho ratepayers, we do not doubt that they would at once havo acquiesced in it. The roturn for tho monoy exponded would not only have amply covered sinking fund and interest, but would in a year or two havo paid the principal, besides preventing the spoiling of a very oxcellent site by the erection of such a collection of nondescript edifices as those which now disfigure it.