WESTPORT SECTIONS COMMISSION.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1116, 17 October 1873, Page 2

WESTPORT SECTIONS COMMISSION.

(To the Editor of the Westport Times.) Sib, —It is necessary, however unpleasant the duty, to point out to the Section Commissioners, Messrs Giles and Dobson, an omission in the just discharge of their public duties, which might even bear a more plain spoken definition. To them has been deputed the duty of granting the right to occupy sections to all whose present holdings are endangered by sea or river encroachment, to complete the work commenced by Mr Commissioner Sharp, by order of the Provincial Government. Among the many applicants for sections are the holders of property in the block bounded by Palmerston and Wallabi streets, and whose claims are certainly not the least worthy of attention, seeing that in reply to a memorial to the Provincial Government, they received in January last a letter ffom the Provincial Secretary stating " that the Government have Ho objection to set apart a further block for occupation by those who have not already had sections allotted to them by Mr Sharp," and also another letter at a subsequent date of a similar tenor. But the new Commission, possibly looking upon their new duties as irksome and an intrusion upon their leisurely dignity, did not, so far as the public aro aware, make any personal inspection of the property in jeopardy,

but taking the official map of the town; ship as u guide, merely drew a certain lino of demarcation thereon, and in effect have said, "thus far woshallgo and no further," making all considerations of right or necessity secondary to their own personal convenience. The result is that dwellers upon the block of laud referred to are told to seek elsewhere, to apply to the Town Council for sections, that the labors of tho Section Commission have ceased. Tho fact that their houses are in greater danger thau many for which new sections have been allotted, giviug uo weight to their respectful application that the promise made by the Provincial Secretary should bo ratified. They have applied to the Town Council, and although Mr Cr. Muuson, who, as one of the original petitioners, as holder of a section On the block referred to, having obtained compensation therefor, apparently takes no further interest in protecting the rights of his neighbors; and chose to suggest " that the letter ho not received," yet the Council show proof of their desire to deal justly in the matter, and will interview the Sec; tions Commission. As an argument in favor of the claim made by the people of Kennedy and Wallabi street it would be well for the Committee appointed to bring those facts prominently before tho notice of Messrs Giles and Dobson. The driftwood so much talked of has been tossed too and fro upon the beach opposite Kennedy street, and in reality has acted as so many floating battering rams, driving hole 3 in the beach a3 it forms and weakening the defences, The sand and shingle thus loosened; shifting northward, and at the present moment actually making up the beach opposite Queen street. The people in Kennedy street have, in the interests of self-protection, done that unlawfully that they should be permited to do lawfully. They have removed the driftwood, in contempt for silly proclamations, and thus to some extent saved their property from destruction. Now the questions that should have weight with the Sections Commission ' are these —If a favored resident \J Queen street has received compensation, why withhold it from residents elsewhere whose property is in greater danger ? And agaiu, if they can only protect the remnauts of their property by transgressing a proclamation made by the Superintendent, will it not be wiser and more just to place them beyond the necessity of such transgression, by giving the right to occupy a portion of the waste lands in Westport, which, until occupied, possess no value either to the people or the Government.—l am, &c, A A. a