The New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1926. PUTTING THINGS STRAIGHT IN KENT TERRACE
Mr Page, S.M., has recommended that the proclamation sought by the City Council for the completion of the Kent Terrace scheme be issued. The reasons given by the magistrate are published elsewhere in this issue. They seem reasonable reasons. Mr Page is convinced that Kent Terrace, a main artery, needs widening, and that the visibility at the Buckle street and Vivian street ends calls for improvement. So a strip must be cut off the reserve, and the cabbage palms may well tremble. We have an idea—which is no reflection on the magistrate—that had the council not commenced the work, it would have had to fight even harder for the necessary proclamation. In its present state the reserve is no beauty spot. Obviously it could not remain in that unsightly and sorry condition until the Yorks arrived. Lacking the proclamation, the council would have found itself in a pretty muddle. It dare not proceed with the injunction hanging over its head, and it could scarcely restore what it had already despoiled. The magistrate’s judgment terminated the impasse. Those who opposed the proclamation have been worsted in that issue; nevertheless, they have achieved two useful things. First, they have taught this rather bull-at-a-gate council of ours a lesson not likely to be forgotten. The attack on Kent Terrace reserve was, as Mr Justice Reed said, a breach of trust. It was an illegal act. The promoters of the proceedings for an injunction have been the means of establishing that interesting fact. Their second achievement was to rouse reserve-lovers to the necessity for combining in defence of these community-owned playgrounds. The “Times” laid the foundation of that movement when it uncovered to the public gaze the proposal to road the Botanical Gardens in order to convenience a handful of motorists in Kelburn. This subterranean plan, in conjunction with the surreptitious assault on the Kent Terrace reserve, brought matters to a head.
Thus out of evil has come good. Future councils will hesitate before attempting, on this pretext or that, to lay vulgar utilitarian hands on the Town Belt. Notwithstanding the figures with which Mr Page concludes his findings, the owners of these reserves, the citizens, must resist further encroachment of any and every kind. That policy will commend itself the more as we visualise what Wellington is likely to be a couple of decades hence.
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New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12614, 26 November 1926, Page 6
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406The New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1926. PUTTING THINGS STRAIGHT IN KENT TERRACE New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12614, 26 November 1926, Page 6
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