KENSINGTON.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5331, 29 April 1878, Page 3

KENSINGTON.

The sale of land styled the township of Kensington, which will take place on Wednesday, is quite a leading item in town talk. Plenty of people speak of it, and a great many have been to see it. It has been thoroughly well advertised in ordinary and extraordinary ways, and Mr. Pinnimore must have a liberal share of praise awarded to him for the manner in which he has brought the land into notice. There is in the minds of those who havo not visited the place a doubt as to the position of this new township, but.it is easy to find if one will but take the trouble to walk to it. Its eastern boundary faces a part of the Ohiro or Happy Valley road, and the lots extend over the range, down into a valley, and over a second range. The land is decidedly hilly,’ hilt there are some nice patches near the summits of the ranges, and here and there are gently undulating spots which, would make capital sites for houses with picturesque garden grounds; but at present they are subject to tho drawback of not having roads. mads to them. The owner of the property has, so the general opinion is, committed an • error in selling the land before the streets are formed, for it is certainly probable that complications will arise as to who should construct the roads, and until they are made it will be impossible to get building materials up to nearly all the allotments ; at least without talcing a course over land belonging to other persons.. People intending to buy should go carefully over the land, plan, in hand, and ascertain the exact bdtmdanes. The pegs are

numbered, and with a little care the situation o! each allotment can be ascertained, and anyone who takes the trouble to learn for himself the nature of the ground and.of its approaches will discover that his time has not been thrown away. Erom il 1 any points extensive and beautiful views are obtained; indeed, from the majority' of the sections the outlook is very fine indeed. The air Ja delightfully fresh and . pure, and possibly the pioneer settlers of this suburban township _ may go there for reasons in a measure similar to that which led in the first : instance to another Kensington becoming a favored place. Macsmlay,'Writing of William the Third’s palaces, says “In a short time it was found that Hampton Court was too far from the Houses of Xiorda and Commons, and from the public offices, to be the ordinary abode of the Sovereign. Instead, however, of returning to Whitehall, William determined to have another dwelling, near enough to his capital, for the transaction of business, but not near enough to be within that atmosphere in which he could not pass.- a night without risk of suffocation. • - * * At length vhe ' fixed his choice 6n Kensington House, the' suburban residence of the Earl of Nottingham. The purchase was made for eighteen thousand guineas, and was followed by more building, more planting, more expense, and more discontent, 1 At present Kensington House is considered as a. part of London. It was then a rural - mansion, and could not, in those days of highwaymen, and scourers, of roads deep in mire and nights without lamps,

be the'rallying point of fashionable society” Our, Kensington has been surveyed, anti cut up by Mr. D-P- Davies, C.E., who-has displayed;’considerable engineering skill in the manneir in which he has laid out the roads and streets. It may be noticed that the plans state the land, is 20 minutes’- walk from the Post Office, but it is a good half hour’s walk from the nearest boundary to the intersection of_ Man-ners-street with Willis-etreet. Auctioneers have something in the nature of a poetic license when describing' distances from the PostOffice, and intending buyers will not be led by the announcement to believe that they could do the distance in 20 minutes.