THE FITZROY HALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 254, 25 March 1914, Page 4

THE FITZROY HALL.

Whatever the legal aspect, there is no doubt that morally the Borough Council is bound to treat the Fitzroy people more generously in the matter of their town hall site. It is inconceivable, if this section were purchased and the hall erected by private enterprise, as stated, that it should, owing to the rapid development of local government, be commandeered by the local authority without some definite quid pro quo. With a somewhat culpable lack of foresight, the dealings in the property years ago were not conducted in such a manner as to conserve the rights of the Fitzroy people, or to show the property as being but lie-id in trust by the local authority, though then' seems little doubt that this was the case. If this view of the situation is correct, the Council is not dealing fairly with the Fitzroy people, who have recently come into the municipal fold, and who have made the greater Xew Plymouth and the tramway scheme possible. It may be that with the installation of the trams the Fitzroy Egg Circle of 1920 will decide to hold its committee meetings in the magnificent Town Hall that should some day be erected in the centre of Xew Plymouth, but in the meantime the Fitzruvians are to be deprived of a hall in which to hold local meetings and local socials. Possibly this will be no great hardship, but at the same time it is the bounden duty of the Council to give the Fitzroy people a hall site in return for the very central section which the Council lias appropriated as a site for its tramway buildings. The remark that there can be no' municipal expenditure on a hall in Fitzroy so long as Councillors are compelled to sit and debate in our antiquated Town Ilall is hardly statesmanlike, for it is not the fault of the Fitzroy people that the New Plymouth borough councillors have let tin; central municipal reserves be occupied by private lessees instead of carrying up-to-date municipal offices and Town Hall. This, however, is a chapter of another story.