A MARKET FOR WELLINGTON. To Be or Not to Be?

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 136, 7 February 1903, Page 8

A MARKET FOR WELLINGTON. To Be or Not to Be?

THL Wellington Ra^:m ers' Association has made a suggestion. It is not a new suggestion, but it is a good one all the same. It. is, that Wellington, the Empire City of the colony, the premiei hustler among New Zealand civic giants, the pattern of perfection to which the thiee other eenties are vainly endeavouring to appioach, and so on, should have' a maiket A public maiket, wheiethe finnj denizens of the deep can die comfortably away tiom the wharf, where eager man, with hi- snxpeaice, tramples them undeifoot. A market wheie one might be sine of getting what one's appetite prompted one to seek at reasonable prices A city market, the leveuue from which might, in time, induce the Corporation to add to the pathetic little fetnps of footpath that now lock flightened at their loneliness, and whe'e the WelLngton housew lfe might 1 aye a leally happy time without wearing heis,elt out in .search of a Ch.nanian who wanted to sell her the "welly m" banana at the bottom, and keep the robust specimen of Island pi educe at the top as an ach eitisement. The Coipoiation has been advised to take the. mattei into its serious consideration. We think the Ratepajeis' Association should have left cut the woid ''serious " If the Corpoaation can be induced to take the matter into any land of consideration, serious or humoious, at will be something to be deeply grateful for. Ponder one moment on the fearsome struggles the Coipoiation lias at presieiut to get through the w ork 111 hand, and put your market down for completion a fern years after the completion of the electric tram system, the widening of Willis-street, the building of the Town Hall, the extending of the strips of footpaths, the chopping down of the whole of the trees in Kent Teirace, and the painting of the fence, and all soits of other odd jobs Give them time. They are onl> human We aie used to inconveniences in Wellington. More used, in fact, than any people in any city in Oceania. We are getting to like it. A city maiket would remove some of the inconveniences, and you may depend that therewill be plenty of objectors on this account. One member of the Ratepa.veis' As&ociaition said ' the time had arrived" for the city to have a. public market. "Well, Mr. W. A. Worth is anything but a pessimist. If it lias arrived, it is here. Where's the market ? If he had post-dated his statement, and made it say 1910, his bitterest enemy would admit that he v<a& incapable of wandering fiom the path of strict veracity. Howevei, the fishy breezes, that blow anything but softly around the shores of our harbour, emphasise the fact that a market is needed to imprison the sea, product in. And fresh fruit and vegetables might also be captured and exhibited there to advantage. If possible, let it be soone; than 1910.