PUBLIC MEETING RE HARBOR RECLAMATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5096, 24 July 1877, Page 3

PUBLIC MEETING RE HARBOR RECLAMATION.

Pursuant to announcement, a public meeting in regard to the proposed reclamation of a portion of the Te Aro foreshore, was held last evening in the Polytechnic Hall. There was a good attendance, notwithstanding the inclement state of the weather. His Worship the Mayor occupied the' chair. The Chairman said : This is an important meeting, which I have had the honor of calling with the object of submitting to you certain proposals for the reclamation of Te Aro foreshore, and of asking your consent to a loan for carrying out that reclamation. No proposal of more interest to the progress of the city, as it appears to me, has ever been laid before the burgesses, and you will bear with me while I state its salient features to the meeting. To put myself in order, I shall first read the advertisement calling the meeting. (He then read the advertisement calling the meeting, as also a few clauses of part 10 of the' Municipal Corporations Act, under which the meeting was called, and referred particularly to the power placed in the hands of the ratepayers to decide questions such as that for the consideration of which the present meeting had been called. He then continued) This, as it seems to me, is putting a matter of this kind in its proper shape. The ratepayers have to undertake the responsibility of the expenditure ; it is, therefore, right and proper that they should deliberately be asked to give their consent to the work being undertaken. With these preliminaries, I will now state somewhat in detail the proposals which I have the honor to bring before yon. And first, as to .the particular work it is proposed to undertake., A plan of it is before you. The foreshore granted to the Corporation contains an area of about seventy acres, extending from the second south T of the wharf, and running in a sort of semicircle round Te Aro to a point near ' the baths in Oriental Bay. We propose starting the reclamation from Harborstreet (not from the wharf T, for a reasonwhich I. will explain presently), proceeding with the work dlong the rear of Willis-street, and filling in from this quarter right bn till the

jvhole.ia 'finished. The first section of the: work,- extending to Taranaki-street, which you will have observed is already opened up, through the Maori pa, is all that has yet been; carefully! gbne into in' the r way of calculation,: blit it is proposed to continue' the work right, on, to completion.-; We sball-thus have abputi ■seventy acres of 'absolutely levfel ! gr6iind, with! a frontage to the harbor, suitable for building purposes, of all kinds. The' land 'will be; intersected by streets sixty-six feet wide-)-; .very-much after the.plan now before you.| In stating what is proposed, you will readily understand that I am only indicating the work' in a general way,- and as it strikes'one at the outset. ,/ Of course, the: plan will be open to any improvements— anything in the public interest—that 'may be suggested before the; work is finally let by! tender. What I am' anxious to obtain from you is your opinion of the general usefulness and propriety- of the re-! clamation, and your sanction to raise the loan ' which will be necessary to carry it out to its completion.: Of course it would he folly to say at this meeting that the plan as to the whole of the details is fully matured. For example, - we have just now put down a wharf frontage, which adds very considerably to the cost of the work) The harbor-master is of opinion (some of you may have seen a letter from him addressed to me on the subject), that vessels could not lie safely at such a breastwork, notwithstanding the precautions which we propose to take. If that-opinion of Captain Holliday (and I myself have a great respect for Captain Holliday’s opinion)-is borne out by others, this partof theplan maybe abandoned,and the Council would simply make the ordinary breastwork, which would be less; expensive. I have said we do not propose to start from the wharf, and the reason is this, that while the Corporation owns the .foreshore at the,second T, within that line the ground is not ours. There is a portion running from the wharf at the rear of the Queen’s bond, and including a small space behind Messrs. Bethune and Hunter and others, which has not been granted to the Corporation, and with which consequently we cannot now deal. I hope the Government will ere long see the propriety of making a grant of this small piece to the Corporation, when, if a reclamation is made on the other side of the wharf, it can be continued on the south side, and the railway can . run without break to any point in Te Aro. As to the material for this reclamation, I am informed that..there-is a section of land in the Town Belt, the property of the Corporation, which lies a little way beyond the tea gardens, that would best supply the material. But it would be necessary in that ease to lay a tramway along the side of the road, and bring the material round. It may be said that this is a long distance; but I am informed by competent authorities that when once steam is introduced a quarter of a mile or so makes very littleldifference. Of course some other place might he found, but that is an after consideration.! So much in a general way then for the proposed reclamation. - I should mention, however, that differences of ; opinion have been entertained as to how the cost of the reclamation might be affected at certain points by the depth of the water. I may state that, from information I have . obtained on the subject, I find that the depth required to be filled in is something, like this. Taking a straight line down Tory-street, for example, we have a depth at the extreme end, where the reclamation ceases, of 18ft. 6in, at low water ; Taranaki-street, T2ft. Gin. ; Guba-street, 15ft. These are the depths th.v. require to be filled up ; and it has been supposed by some of those long acquainted with the harbor that near the extreme point of our reclamation the sea dips down very suddenly. ' So far, however, as we have, been able to take soundings, that does not seem to be home out. Should it be discovered after very careful soundings that this idea as to the sudden deepening of the water is borne out, and that there is at the point referred to a dip of 10ft. to 20ft., it might be well to discontinue the reclamation at the shallower point, and not incur the expenditure of going into deeper water for the sake of a comparatively small return of land. I mention this ; because it meets the objections of some of our. old settlers who have been concerned' about the harbor for a long time. So much in a general way for the proposal. Now I am going into the question of expense. We have set it down at £IOO,OOO. Not that this sum will fully complete the work. It probably may take £150,000. (A laugh.) Some gentleman laughs at this. Ido not say that it will cost so much as £150,000. We have set the cost down at £IOO,OOO, because by the time we have spent £IOO,OOO we shall have reclaimed sufficient property on which to raise such further sum of money as may be • necessary for the entire completion of the plan. We therefore confine ourselves to £IOO,OOO, and now ask the burgesses to give the Council power to borrow that amount by way of special loan, to be guaranteed by a -special rate made for' the purpose., ! Now, let us understand this point fully. The raising of a loan of £IOO,OOO at 6 per cent, means a yearly payment of £6OOO ; or, in other words, a yearly rate of 9d. in the pound;' and if-you-agree to the proposal, you also agree that a special rate of this amount will require by-and-by to be levied. ' I don’t think you need.be greatly frightened at the idea of this rate. Observe, we propose to lease the land as we reclaim it, and we should reasonably expect that in twelvemonth, or at farthest in eighteen months, there would be as much land reclaimed and disposed of as would pay the interest upon the loan, so that certainly in eighteen months the ratepayers would he relieved from any further tax in this respect. But what return, you ask, do you get for the payment of a special rate for twelve or eighteen months ? Why should you pay a rate at all ? Mr. Carpenter : Hear, hear I

' The Mayor; I have great pleasure in telling you that you not only add to the area of the city an, addition which, with our rapid increase of trade and population, is greatly needed; but in doing so you give work and wages to a large number of people, and you vastly improve the city. You may possibly think these improvements of a rather negative character. Mr. Carpenter: Hear, hear!

The Mayor: My friend, Mr. Carpenter, says “hear” to that last remark of mine. Perhaps he does not believe in sanitary improvement. , Mr. Carpenter -.-Decidedly not, of your sort. The Mayor : Well, gentlemen, I am of opinion that the, improvement which will be effected in a sanitary point of view alone.will be worth the whole expenditure. But these improvements- you perhaps think do not. bring you any tangible return, and therefore I wish to direct attention to the financial results of the reclamation, Taking a moderate estimate, we shall have at least 26,500 ft. of frontage, and this with roomy wide streets, i Mr. Wallace : Will that allow for reserves ? ■ The Mayor : No ; it does not allow for reserves; but there is abundance of room for reserves, which I shall immediately show you. Say that there is 26,5C0ft. frontage. I think I am speaking within bounds when I estimate that frontage at £2 per foot on leases of forty-, two years, which will give £53,000 per annum. Now, notice what that means. It is an income year by year of £48,000, without taking into account anything in connection with wharves or other privileges. This income will not be available all at once. The whole area of the reclamation will not be leased when it is finished, but a large portion of it will be rapidly taken up, and in twenty years at furthest, I venture to predict, if this plan is now gone on with, not only will the loan now sought for be wiped off, but there will be an income derivable from the property suffif oient, under prudent management, to set the burgesses entirely free from any general rate. When I think of the result, I feel a glow of honest pleasure in having had anything whatever to do with a scheme which will tend so largely to the prosperity and comfort of the city in which we are all interested. ; (Applause.) There are various other matters necessary to be. touched upon/ In the first place it would no doubt befonnd necessary to give some compensation to owners of property in Old Custom Housestreet, and it may be in Willis-street. However, if it was found that any compensation to these property-holders was necessary, I have reason, to believe that almost all of them will be willing to have their claims adjusted

-by talcing other portions of. tha as compensation., Of course meeting ( iwill understand that these matters’cannqt be . fully entered into without the consent 6t the (general Government., The'harbor "regulations, for instance, would be to'a certain'fekteht’affected. I am fully convinced," ■‘however, that the Government will ppt throw/any obstacle in the" way, 1 as T know that ‘ the Minister of Public Works, with whom you have chiefly to deal, is highly favorable to the proposal.; In conclusion, I may say)that if you agree to' the raising of this loan, the sum of £50,000 may be ‘obtained ; at once. We can lay ourhands upon it as soon, as, ever' an arrangement; has been come to ’ favorable to the proposal to reclaim a portion of. the Te Aro)foreshore. ,I; think lam right'in stating that all the monied men of the city are prepared to., say that this 1 ■would be one of the best schemes the people 1 of Wellington has‘ever entered into. I have nothing molelto say on the subject, but may intimate that .I shall be pleased- to offer.any explanation that may’ be .desired of me by the meeting.‘ Mr. Charles O’Neill has taken great pains in' the 'preparation of the plans, and you may obtain,.from him any .information you may desire in that respect. . Thanking you fpr the attention with which you, have listened to my remarks,, I will now leave the matter in your hands. ' , , '-■ . A question having • been, asked asto com : pensatiou likely to) be’asked by persons having property oh .the. foreshore, several gentlemen stated that that point had been settled long ago, and no claims for compensation could arise. The Mayor said that, he had ascertained that no resolution passed: at this meeting would be effective for carrying out the reclamation, without a poll. Mr. E. W. Mills said that without going so far as the Mayor, he came there to support the reclamation ; but he would not be in favor of reclaiming to a great depth of water, in order to secure a small extra quantity of land, more especially considering, the danger to shipping, as most of them would remember in the old times seeing vessels ashore on Te Aro reclamation. The whole-question was one of considerable moment, and it would be best not to hurry it too much, but to let the work come in as a sequence to other important public works going forward. If the ratepayers would affirm' the desirability"of reclaiming' the" Te Aro foreshore) and leave the details to the Council, that would be best. Mr. Carpenter, with much volubility, proposed the shelving of the scheme for six months,'and considered the polling of the ratepayers a perfect farce. A contemptible minority carried the Climia scheme. Mr. Carpenter declined'repeated invitations to sit down. His remarks were.heard with difficulty owing to good-humored applause. . In order to test the feeling of the meeting, Mr. J. H. Wallace proposed the adoption by the ratepayers of the ,Te Aro reclamation scheme. " , . '. Mr. J. Martin seconded.

Mr. Allan was not opposed to the reclamation, except as regards the proposed plans for carrying it but. He moved, as an amendment, —That the proposed reclamation of the Te Aro foreshore extend to the depth of from ten to twelve feet at low-water mark, such reclamation extending from Harbor-street up to Te Aro baths, and that the City Surveyor prepare plans and specifications, and submit an approximate estimate of the cost, at an adjourned meeting for the purpose of receiving the report If they went to only about ten or twelve feet of water they would be able to carry out the work for one half of the estimates laid before them, and so far as accommodation for shipping was concerned, a jetty could be run out at the end of each street. " He thought more elaborate details of' the proposed work should be before them. He was of opinion that rights did exist to the foreshore, which would come in with claims for compensation on the carrying but of the reclamation. They should not be in ■ too great a hurry, as Mr. Mills said, tb fash into this scheme while the important municipal works in progress were being carried out. Mr. Greenfield pointed out that the business of the meeting was to affirm the desirability of the reclamation, not to adjourn for the consideration of plans. It was-very well to talk of delaying the reclamation, but they should consider that in this case they were going into a work which would be largely reproductive. Mr. Gillon was in favor of reclaiming the land on the security afforded by itself. Mr.'.E. W. Mills trusted the meeting would simply affirm the desirability of going onwith the reclamation.

Mr. C. O’Neill, C.E., entered into an explanation of the plans. In answer to questions, the Mayor said the plans before them: were for financial consideration only.. The plans were only a guide and index, to the details of which the Council were not bound. The meeting was called not to approve of the reclamation but to sanction a loan for carrying it out. . The amendment was then put, and declared lost by a large majority. A further amendment, proposed by Mr. Carpenter, met-the same fate.

The original resolution was then carried, and the . meeting, after a vote of thanks to the chairman, terminated.