THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'OLOCK Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1880.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3550, 12 May 1880, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'OLOCK Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1880.

At the meeting of the Council yesterday some important facts were brought out in connection with the Kauaeranga Recreation Ground. This ground lies some two or three miles from here, and was lately bought by the Government, who paid pretty heavily for their bargain. It was then handed over to the Thames people, the Borough Council accepting the trust. As' the property is public it cannot be seized by the creditors of the Borough— neither cau it be sold. It is held by the Borough only on trust, .and is therefore not an asset. This being so, are the Council acting wisely in spending the money of the ratepayers in improving Ithis land? There is one circumstance in connection with this matter. The Borough Council will never reap any monetary benefit from the sums spent on this recreation ground, as all the rents .and monies accruing from it have to be expended in improving the ground, and cannot legally be applied to any other purpose. This means that we are taking the Borough funds to improve a property which will never repay us ! But here we must pause. The Kauaeranga Recreation Ground is not of any use, at present, at all events, and the men who bought it for the Borough committed an idiotic and almost wicked blunder. £800 was the price at which it was bought, and £400 was voted for fencing it in. This appears to have been a ridiculous waste of money. The ground is too far from Grahams town for anyone to visit, without involving a long walk. The 'busses take you nowhere near it, and even were a 'bus to run, the cost of travelling by it would be quite 2s, which is far too much to spend on going to a breathing hole. There are no means of access, except by a long and fatiguing walkj and it is doubted whether half a dozen people have visited the new ground for pleasure since it was bought. Money spent on improving this land is a reckless waste, and the sooner this trust property is handed over to au Acclimatisation Society the better. In their hajids the ground would realise a profit, as the £70 a year in fees, which go to Auckland, would go to the local Acclimatisation Society. We would strongly urge on the influential persons of the Thames, the necessity of forming such a society. In the hands of the Society the proper^/ Iv the Kauaeranga Valley would become

profitable, but while it remains in trust to the Borough, the money spent on it is an illegal"waste. There are no means of showing the ratepayers how their money has been spent, except when included in the vague term " contingencies" or perhaps " miscellaneous expenses." For the Borough to spend money on land situate m the County, in which they have only a partial interest, and which improves another body's property without giving any intrinsic return to themselves, is t^o act of a madman, and no sane body of individuals would countenance such an act of wilful extravagance.