KUMARA EDUCATION RESERVE

Kumara Times, Issue 1540, 3 September 1881, Page 2

KUMARA EDUCATION RESERVE

Yesterday, we printed the major portion of the correspondence which has recently taken place relative to'tne survey of land for the Kumara Cemetery, which correspondence had been renewed by reason of some remarks made recently in the House of Representatives by Mr R. J. Sed'dori. The following are the remainder of the froni which it will be seen tfjafc the Lands Department is not indisposed to rectify the Kiiiuara bonildaries. To the Town Clerk-, jtumara. Sir—Will . you please inform nie oii which side of gazetted Cemetery Reserve is the ground you want to take in; and how much. J. Giles, . Commissioner of Crowii Lands: Hokitika, Aug. 22, 1881. To Dr: Giles, Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hokitika; Sir—ln reply to your telegram of the 22nd inst., I am instructed by the Borough Council to 1 inform you that tliey Wish the* Cemetery Reserve to be shifted about four chains to the north, so as to include the" ground fenced and occupied by graves.-^. I have, &c, James Wyldej Towii Clerk:: ,_. A special meeting of the Borough Council was held on Monday last (29tH ult.); present—Councillors Campbell (in the chair), Pearn, Barnett,. Dpvey and Burger—at which Dr. Giles' letter of the 24th ult. to his Worship the: Mayor of Itumara was considered, and;, on the motion of Cr. Pearnj seconded by Cr. Dove; it was resolved "That the leteer to Dr; Giles, prepared by the Town Clerk, be approved of, and that a copy thereof be forwarded to ' the 1 Government." The following is-the ; letter:— To Dr. Giles,. Commissioner of Crowii Lands, Hokitika-./ .- Sir—l am instructed by the Borough" Council to acknowledge receipt df yoitr letter of the 24th instant, addressed id his Worship the Mayor, preference td the" Kumara Cemetery Reser.ve.You state that a letter* hatf-been referred to you by the Government ''received, front the Tp.wn Clerk, Kumara, and pur-? porting to bes written by the direction of the Borough Council." You also,state that you "do not iiltdii'd now to notice the many misstatements made" by Mr Wylde," and thatybil are 1 "quite sure the Sorough Council must have been misinformed in the matter, and that itcanridt be their wish to have, such incorrect statements made in their name. Your assumption that the letter iii question was written by the Town Clerk without the authority of the Council, appears to the Council to be uncalled for, and I am directed by-them to again' inform yoxi that the letter was written by their direct tion, and was read and approved of by them. - lam also directed to infofm you that the Council have an intimate knowledge" of all the facts mentioned in the and therefore have not been misled by inCorrect statements. The simple question at issue is this i Has the Lands Board most unreasonably protested in refusing to grant the most reasonable request of the Council ? Ydur own letters of May sth, 1880,: and June" Bth, 1881, incontestibly prove that they have done so. It is possible that the Survey Depart l ment may have made a survey of the ground as enclosed by the Borough Council ; but, if so, the Council have never been informed of the fact. The Reserve" is gazetted as 30 chains south of the" Chesterfield Road, whilart the ground occupied is only 26 chains from the same" front; and it remains a. public' scandal that the Board should refuse to gazette and to invest in proper authority the ground which has, as a matter of necessity, been used as a place of burial. I have, &c, _ . James WVlde, ' i Town Clerkj - Kumara* Aug. 30, 1881. ■