PUKETE, LANDING RESERVE AND SCHOOL SITE.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 921, 18 May 1878, Page 2

PUKETE, LANDING RESERVE AND SCHOOL SITE.

As 4ho cotu||Ufflttfei£g of the public Board should be specially oautious m its dealings gff ith the ! va||ous||sserveß with which It' is entrupld, yf^thjit such is not |tjhe case iwjy be^&thered from the tsubjoinod c'qH'esp^indftrico, which m ftlie interests o^fjlb Pukete settlers we have««b§eii Requested to publish m an curly issue of the Waikato Ti3iE|. Lot^AA. Containing 26 acres *is the w f>iily landing reserve on the river between Newcastle and Hamilton. It touches upon the river at a place wherer .there is a natural fordj fllnd still more *to iW it as the proper site ffor.ar r .a landing reserve whero the river may be crossed either by fording now or by a bridge hereafter a similar piece oi land on the opposite side of the river, has been reserved for a like purpose. Some twelteraonths ago an application to exchaiige a piece of land about a mile higher up the river for this reserve at Pukete was made by a landowner, and on that occasion the Waste Lands Board referred the matter to the local board, asking if there was any objection by the settlers to the exchange. A protest against the 'exchange was made by the Board, and the matter was allowed to drop. Somewhat later an application was made by the JPukete; School Committee for a portion of this reserve for a gchool site, and to their surprise the other day the following communication was received by the I Chairman : —

Crown Lauds Office, Auckland, May 13, 1878. I urn directed , by the Honorable the Minister of Lands to inform you that Government haro effected an arrangement whereby the land reserve at Pukete is to be exchanged for a more suitable site on .adjacent property, belonging to Mr L. B. Harris, and that, further, a portion of the new landing site will, m conformity with the request contained m your letter of the 12th December last, be appropriated to school purposes. Instructions will shortly issue for the survey of the school reserve, which, m due course, will afterwards be formally gazetted. — D. A. Tole, Coimiiis-sioiier of Crown Lands. ' 1To the Chairman Pukote School Committee, Hamilton. Mr Morris, the Chairman of the School Committee, has addressed the following communication to 'tlib Chairman of the Hamilton High- , way Board, of .which district Pakete forms v part; : — Pukete, West Hamilton, May 16, 1878. Sir, — I have the honor to annex for your information a copy of a memo, just received by mo, as Chairman of ' the Pukete School Committee. The landing reserve referred to as abont to be jriveii m exchange to Mr L. B. Harris is allotment 4(ji) of this parish, and contains, I believe, some 26 acres, and was set apart as a landing reserve. A corresponding piece of land upon the East side was, I am given to understand, stt apart for a like purpose. Our hchool committee, with the consent of your Bo:ud, applied to the Government for live aorc-.s thereof for a. school site, which the Government agreed to give us if possible. The matter has stood m abeyance for about four months, when, to my surprise, thp memo, annexed reached me, although we considered the matter fully settled — the five acres for th© sphool site having been duly measured off by the instruction of the Government. The more suitable site referred to, I am informed, is the portion of the iavm belonging to Mr L. B. Harris nearest to No, 3 Bridgo (known as AVilloughby's Bridgp) — about thie> quarters of a mile nearer to Hamilton than the present site. I need scarcely point out to your Board the inconvenience this will he to settlers on the East bank of the Waikato River, as it destroys the original crossing above referred to without affording any compensation, At this point (Willoughby's Bridge) frhore are already landing places on each side, were that the oidy object required, but it will also compel settlers on the Newcastle side of the present aite to very much more carting. As a grant for a school site, it will be absolutely uiisniferl, as it is too far removed from the centre of population.

The Hamilton Board and Waikato Conneil are, we learn, both likely to move m the matter as their m, terests are affected by the exchange. It is felt that m a matter of this kind, which inyolves the disposal of public reserves, the Waste Lands Board should have taken the opinion of the settlers through their several local representatives, instead of entering into a private arrangement, which has only leaked out indirectly after it has been made.