Marlborough Times. FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1880.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 124, 28 May 1880, Page 2

Marlborough Times. FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1880.

The Mayor of Blenheim having, as it appears to us, taken very proper action in objecting to., the Bank of New Zealand obtaining possession of a strip of land which, it is contended, has been set apart and dedicated for the purpose of widening Alfred and Sinclair-streets, is taken to task for it in the columns of a contemporary who appears to be very anxio'bS to assist in taking away from the ratepayers'land which there is, at all events, a large amount of evidence to show forms’a portion of ’two public streets. The attempt to intimidate the Mayor and Council from maintaining what they believe to be the rights of the burgesses in the matter is very contemptible. It is surely a fair presumption to assume that these pieces of land being reserved from the sections, were dedicated to the public, and that the land was not sold without frontages to the streets. The Bank of. New Zealand purchased allotments 44 and 45 for, as we are informed, .£450, and in the conveyance a space ten feet in width is reserved to form part of .-Sinclair and Alfred-streets. Now' the Bank seeks to acquk.v3-.this land instead of. allow.-, ing it to form part of these streets. Our streets as a rule arc not too wide, and we hope the Council will, in this instance, do their best to insist upon y.diat they consider to he the rights of the burgesses, in the matter being, maintained, and that until a Court of Law decides otherwise which seems an improbable contingency, will adhere to the position they have taken, and which is certainly in the interests of 'the town. t Upon the settlement of this ca.se we believe rests the title to hiany similar pieces-of ground marked in the map as streets, or parts of streets, over which the Corporation lias cpnicphi xJThq question, { thprefore is one'of"much greater importance- to the town than if it, were merely a squabble ‘concerning the rights of the Bank- as %gaihst* mef Corporation* -itf ; 1 J. * -bV-

the matter of Sinclaiv-street alone. "\yo think that the. ’Mayor- deserves every credit "for haying taken -the question up in a piiblicspiHted way. As to what’may lie the intei'pretatioiy of the law bearing ou the subject, we leave that for the Court io decide, but in acting as they have done, the guardians of tlio Borough interests have been true to their trust and deserve the thanks "of the town. The case appears to be this : the Bank purchased two allotments of land with three frontages of sly, 132 feet to'Grove Road, Alfred-’ street, and Hinclair-street, and now they propose to ‘‘ jump'" these strips of land, whereby their frontages will he increased to the extent of ten feet to each of the above‘'named-. streets. The proximity of the new railway terminus has •increased the -value of land in the neighborhood, and the attempt now made to acquire these extra ten feet will, if successful, raise the selling price of the property tothe extent of at least .£‘2oo, and decrease the value of the ratepayers’ property by a like amount.