THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1902. THE ABOLITION OF LANES.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 170, 25 February 1902, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1902. THE ABOLITION OF LANES.

A shout but important little Act Wa?i passetl hlst session uf Pariialueut. In LjQo Um Public Workk Act Amendment Acr, Section 21, nronded rhat when anyone owned land fronting a Bteeet I&gs . foet u ' h| ° !l 'id sold or leased far not loss than U part of that land, a strip had to be Lit suhieient to make S 3 fet-t f,oai rs)a centre oi the road. Now this pressed very hardly in some oases. lor instance, 'suppose a man had had an acre of land

fronting a

stroef -IQ Wi ‘de,

ami lle sol 'J a fjnai tev-acce to a purchrser ; in such a case u strip of 13 foot would have to be hft dlvug the front of the whole halfacre, with the idea of nial dug it pact of the road by-aud-bv.*. S,,l ’- , ? 3e * ih ™> was a honso btan ' iin " on th« front ’Dart of tho

quarior-aere not aolj ; W hut would be th, congruence? ‘Strictly the house would have to 1)0 shifttd otherwise :h 0 other quarter-acre could not ho sold. Curiously enough, tho owner could sell the whole ha if.

icre without reserving any part for widening the road. It W as only if he subdivided when selling that the strip had to be reserved. Kow, tins often meant considerable Joss to the owner of the land if it were situated in a populous district, for he got nothing in return for'the strip ho was obliged to dedicate. J t was a dead loss to him. The Act nr <** ***** Provide, local bodies, generally the municipal councils, should pay com- , l ,en . satio " f ‘* a “.V who was obliged to dedicate laud for a road as already explained. This certainly is a great improvement for the owner, but what about .the local bodies, the town now ? Payment is imperative ou them. Any man who subsidises liis land and Bella a bit of it; and consequently has to reserve a strifi m from for a possible widening of the road in the future* raaj-' now apply to the local authontW

for compensation, which must be *. xi d to him. We have not heard much, so far, as to actual cases that have occurred, but assuredly they will crop up in due course, and some day we shall hear of gome borough council getting an unpleasant shock, in the form of a demand for compensation for a piece of land which is no earthly use to the corporation The idea 0 £ the original provision was to try to gat rid in course of time of narrow streets and slums that are found in some of the large cities, particularly Wellington. On reflection it may possibly be found to be best to repeal last year’s Act —if not the original clause as ■well- There are great difficulties in the matter from whatevei mint of view it is looked at.