PEPPERCORN LEASE BUT NO TRANSFER

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 18, 14 September 1931, Page 5

PEPPERCORN LEASE BUT NO TRANSFER

MEDICAL RESERVE DOMAIN BOARD DECIDES CANNOT VEST. AREA. DIFFERENCE OF OPINION. When the Rotorua Borough Council meeting as a Hoxnain Board on Monday evening, there was considerable discussion, arising out of the recent request from the High School Board of Governors that the area known as the Medical Officers' Reserve in Old Taupo Road, should be transferred from the Domain Board and vested in the High School Board for use in connection with the prqposed scheme of agricultural training at the school. The Council was divided as to advisability of vesting complete control in the High School Board, and finally, after an amendment had heen lost on the voiees, it was decided that the reserve should be leased to the school at a peppercorn rental and with a provision that it should be used for experimental purposes only. Bringing the matter up for discussion, the Mayor Mr. T. Jackson, said that a letter had been received from the Rotorua High School Board asking the Council to transfer to the Board the area known as the Medical Offieer-s' Reserve for use in connection with a scheme of agricRltural training which the Board was considering. As they were aware this request had been baeked up by a deputation from the Board to the Council but as the Council was not then sitting as a Domain Board it had been impossible to deal with the matter.

Trustees for Community. "Whilst personally I am very much in sympathy with the encouragement of agricultural training, and while I lcnow that the Board also is in sympathy with such a movement," said Mr. Jackson, the Board must of necessity take the widest view of a proposal such as this, and realise its re-, sponsibilities as trustees for the community as a whole. Although the High School Board may say that there is no use for this area at present, it would be very foolish to assume that it will never be required. We cannot say wbat this area may be required for in the years to come." "For that reason I suggest that whatever the Board's attitude towards the request may be, it should retain control of this area. If the object of the scheme is merely to develop a class of special instruction to teaeh people to manage their farms it is not worthy of support, but if the project is to produce practical farmers then it certainly merits our support. Buildings Together. "If this latter is what the promoters of the scheme have in mind, then this area is too small for any other purpO'ses than that of experimental plot work. If the scheme is to be carried out a much larger area will be required. In my opinion, as a practical farmer, all buildings for a scheme such as this must be situated on that larger area. "I would also stress the necessity for boys being trained under the same conditions as they would experience on an ordinary farm. That would be absolutely essential if the scheme is to be a success. They don't want to live under ideal hostel conditions where they will be pampered and molly-coddled. Taking all these circumstanees into consideration (I suggest that the Board should reht the area to the High School authorities at a nominal rental for the purposes of experimental work only. I make that recommendation after careful consideration and animated by the desire to assist the project which the High School Board has in mind, but feel that unless the scheme is started on sound practical lines it is likely to be an incubus rather than a benefit to the community. The Motion. In order to throw the matter open for discussion, Mr. Jackson then moved that the Board offer to lease the Medical Officers' Reserve to the High School at a peppercorn rental, provided that the area be used solely for the purpose of carrying out experimental work. Councillor Smith : As you explain it, a lease would not be of very much use. Their idea is to erect a hostel. The Mayor: Yes, that is my idea. Encourage Report. Mr. Smith said that he understood the Board intended to acquire a larger area of land. This would necessitate spending money, but the Board was prepared to do so. Two areas were being considered at the present time. He considered that the Domain Board should be only too pleased to transfer this piece of land for the purpose for which the Board desired it. He did not think that it was intended to use it as an experimental plot but as a hostql site. He f elt that the future salvation of the country rested with farming. We had been overcrowding the professions, in which there was now no room left, but there was plenty of room for boys taking up farming. He moved as an amendment tbat the Domain Board vest the area in the High School Board according to the terms of the request already advanced. Great Bcriefit. In moving this amendment, Mr. Smith said that he felt that the Board's scheme would be of . great benefit to the town and bring a number of people to Rotorua. They should assist in any movement which would encourage young people to leave the collar and tie j'obs and go in for what was really the backbone of the country — farming. The Mayor: We cannot grant the reserve — all we can do is to notify the Department that we have withdrawn our claim to it. Cr. Smith: I understood from the deputation that no opposition would be raised by the Lands Department to the transfer. •Cr. Johnson, in seconding the amendment, endorsed Cr. Smith's remarks. He considered that the Counhands of the High School authoricil should not stand in the way of any movement which would encourage young fellows to go on the land.

He did not suggest that the Mayor was doing so, but he did not think the Domain Board should fasten the ties. If the land was merely leased from year to year, the School Board would not, under those conditions, be able to erect buildings at all. The Mayor: Quite so. That is my intention. Security of Tenure. Cr. Johnson reiterated his opinion that the High School Board should be given some security of tenure. Rotorua, he considered, was at present over supplied with reserves. It was not that he did not believe in reserves, but he thought that in the future some of these areas would be a big handicap in the way of maintenance. One had only to look at the map of the borough to see that half of it was macle up of reserves. He maintained that the Domain Board could not do better than facilitate the vesting of the land in the school. It was true that other land would later be required in connection with this scheme, but the move to obtain the Medical Officers' Reserve was a commencement and he thought that anything the Domain Board could do to help the cause it should do. Help the District. Cr. N. M. Keane also gave support to the amendment. He thought that the question of erecting a hostel was one of the most important which had been broached in Rotorua, and that tlie Board by advancing the scheme was doing something to promote the progress of the district. Stating that he disagreed with Cr. Johnson's contention that the borough had too many reserves, Cr. Urquhart stated that he would support the Mayor's motion. He did not think it was the intention of the High School Board to use the land for a hostel site. That idea, he understood, had been abandoned and it was now intended to use the reserve for experimental plots. The intention of the school authorities, if .they were successful in their req'fiest, was to secure a larger area of land somewhere else and there erect some building where the boys could be boused. Cr. Coleman said that tbe reserve was vested, in the Council as ..a DoMain Board and as trustees for the people, and he did not consider that they were j'ustified in handing it over to the High School Board or anybody else. If the High School people required an area of land for educational purposes surely they could acquire it themselves. As trustees for the ratepayers, they had no right to agree to give away the title to the reserve. On. the other hand, he thought that the motion to lease the reserve at a peppercorn rental would meet the case.' Cr. Smith asked whether it was not true that the deputation had asked for the area to be used as a hostel site. Changed Its Mind. The Mayor stated that this was so, but that he understood that since the discussion with the farming instructor at the Rangiora School the High School Board had changed its mind. This instructor had recommended that the reserve should be used for experimental purposes. It was also his opinion that larger areas of land would have to be acquired and that all buildings in connection with tbe farm should be situated on that area. If the Domain Bo.ard consented to the use of the Medical Officers' Reserve as a hostel site, the High School Board would probably find itself saddled with an elaborate building when all the other buildings connectecl with tbe scheme would be situated somewhere else. Cr. Johnson suggested that it might be advisable to hold the matter over until they had definite evidence as to the purpose for which the High School Board required the reserve. The Mayor said that he did not think any good purpose would be served by defering the matter any further. Cr. Urquhart said that he had had the privilege of reading a report which had been submitted to.the High School Board by the farm instructor at Rangiora, Mr. Campbell, and this elearly recommended that the Medical Officers' Reserve should be used only as an experimental area and that any hostel that was built should be erected with the other buildings necessary to the conduct of a farm. His Worship then put Cr. Smith's amendment, which was declared lost on the volces. The motion was carried.