The Southland Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 1870.

Southland Times, Issue 1268, 21 June 1870, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 1870.

A short time ago we informed our readers of the appointment of a select committee to " consider the best means of increasing the finances of the Acclimatisation Society, with a view to the formation of a botanical garden in the vicinity of the town," and suggested the propriety of a general recreation ground being included in the proposed scheme. The committee was not above adopting our hint, and considerable satisfaction was expressed at the prospect of a long-felt public want being supplied. As it is now doubtful whether the object will be carried out, it may be as well that we should make the public acquainted with what has been done, that the blame, if any, may be laid upon those deserving of it. The committee, after due consideration, came to the conclusion that tho Society's reserve, some miles out the North Boad, was too distant to make the undertaking popular, with the townspeople were it decided to form the garden there. That idea was accordingly given up, and they cast their eyes upon public reserves in more accessible localities. After visiting several, a corner of Hyde Park, fronting Gala street, was selected as at once most suitable and convenient, , and it was thought, foolishly as it turns out, ttut that difficulty at least was disposed of. The next question to which attention was given was that of " ways and means." It was felt that the sum required to lay out and stock the grounds would be larger than the public could be expected to contribute, and other sources had to be discovered. Under a happy inspiration some one thought of the chain reserves along the rivers of the province,; andtit ; was decided to ask the Government for the flax and timber growing thereon, which, being public property, it . was thought, might be legitimately turned to public use in the manner proposed^ The timber on the Society's reserve in the Waikivi Bush was also doomed to the axe as the 'most available resource to raise money' for the immediate commencement of the work. These propositions, embodied in proper form in an elaborate report, were in due time endorsed by the general committee, and,

then submitted to the Government, accompanied by an explanatory and commendatory letter, for its favorable consideration. From our report of a late meeting of the committee, which appears elsewhere, it will be Been that the Government has expressed itself powerless to aid tbe Society in the direction indicated ; neither has it seen fit to bint its ability to render assistance in any other manner. Possibly the Acclimatisation Society, and the public too, for that matter, may accept the " warm sympathy' 1 of the Government as at once genuine, and indicative of a willingness to co-operate. Indeed, although no regret is expressed, the phrase might even be construed to mean that they felt galled by the restrictions which forbade giving the people the use of their own. Failing, however, to see where the obstacle lies, we must confess that in our opinion the unctious sentiment simply covers a sneer, and if, after reading the subjoined clauses, the public take the same view of it, they will probably noi be doing the "powers that be" any gross injustice. New Zealand enactments are notoriously complexes well as proverbially obscure, but we think those bearing upon the case in point plain enough, and^ after careful perusal, have failed to discover what hindered compliance with the main request preferred. By the "Public Eeserves Act, 1854," all public reserves,; as nearly everyone knows, are vested in the Superintendent of the province in which they are situate, and clause VII. reads as follows :— " No lands so to be granted as aforesaid within any province to the Superintendent thereof, and his successors, shall be alienated by way of sale or mortgage, or by lease, for any longer t&rm than three years, except by the authority of some Act or Ordinance of the Provincial Council of such province, to be passed in that behalf," &c. Clause VIH. provides that, by Act of the Provincial Council, the purposes for which reserves were originally made may be changed. This Act was amended by a subsequent one, passed in 1862, but we do not see that the power given in the clause quoted has. been rescinded. Clause 111. of the amended Act stands thus :— . 5 "It shall not be lawful for the Superintendent and Provincial Council of any province to pass an Act or Ordinance for the sale of any lands within or adjoining to any town, which have been or may hereafter be reserved for public gardens or recreation grounds for the inhabitants of any such town, or for any lease of such lands excluding the public therefrom, except in furtherance of the purposes for which they shall hare been so r; reserved. Provided that it shall be :> lawful for any Superintendent and Provincial Council, anything herein contained to. the contrary notwithstanding, to pass any Act authorising' the "Superintendent to vest the management of any such reserved lands as aforesaid in any Corporation, Commission, or other person or persons, having corporate succession, under such restrictions as shall secure the full maintenance of the purposes for which such lands shall have been reserved." Now, when it is borne in mind that the reserve asked for was, and is, a reserve for the recreation of the public of Invercargill, and that the Society had no intention or wish to exclude the public therefrom, but rather to put it in a condition fit for its designed use, where, it may be asked, rests the 'impediment? We wonder whether the Provincial Solicitor was consulted before the reply was written ; also how it happens that the Agricultural Society have possession of a portion of the town belt, which they retain exclusively for private purposes? The solution is, probably, that a flat denial was deemed the simplest method of getting rid of a little trouble.