CITY COUNCIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 832, 8 November 1867, Page 8

CITY COUNCIL.

The ordinary meeting of the City Council Wan held on "Wednesday. ' The Mayor (Ifie Hon. Mr John Hyde Harris) was in t fjje, chair. -The Councillors .present were , .-^Messrs;, Driver, Fifch, Griffen, Turner,; r Towers, and Wain. • '

r.W.r ' • RESERVES. The following report by this Beserves, Committee was react by the Clerk :—: — 1 Your ' Committee have the honor to report as 'to several subj^ctis which engaged their attention- it the last two meetings.-— lst. 'Tie -Princes' street ' Reserve. — Yonr Com- ' inifetee hnye instructed the Solicitor to ■•diifef'-with His Worship the Mayor, and to -prepare a draft lease for the Princes street . .JJeeerve property 1 ; also,- to draw up a memoxa^dnm of agreement between, the Corpora.#pa,and- the tenants 'of "the property,-con-fronting to be botfud by arl>itratiou as regards .new leases The drift lease will be placed' 1 "before the Council as soon as completed. 3hid. The letter under date '23rd October, from the Committee of the Cricket Club, ■asking permission to apply the proceeds ' from the -sale of the grass at the Southern Recreation • Ground towards completing the planting of trees round the' same. Your Committee- recommend that ' the Cinb be allowed' to r soil the grass,' and turn the pro- , «s*(ds-to the best possible account ; but the ■Council will look to the Club to expend the jaoney from this t ource in improvements, and , to forward the Council a state- ' inept 'allowing' in what way the money has - l»eip applied. 3rd. Mr Thoznas Tomlinson's letter ' of date 22nd October, 'explaining the 'Wrcjunstances under which he claims to have a lease of the 1 own Bi-lt made ©at to him instead ot to Mr 1 Job Carin. Yoar Committee Sad the explanation satisrlacfory, and the Solicitors have been in*tmcfced io' prepare the lease accordingly/ 4tkyyqur Committee -liave- received an .^nplioation 1 from Mr Geo. .Xambull, for the ifopfijSjWFreyo? to- point ooi whether any jra^s.*! 1 . -turnstiles .are to -be : left iii the fence 'pofljidjng; allotment, 31 of the Town Belt, )»nd if,.80, th© pftsitioa of the .same. To this letter a( reply has been forwarded, to the «fifoci : .ihat.at present there is no necessity to*- interference 1 in' the'mktter'on the part of' tie-" Corporation, -the public having full right «fJii»gTftß»dr. egress through ' ana over all' poptioa&of . the Belt ; but 'it has -been - BugI^Sfced/io Mr Tutaabafl to place- gates, &<r., in^BCjb [places in. lis boundary fence as may present $hemselves>to him as most suitable ; aj^df.ji.iat, any future time ' complaints are inader as, to the insufficiency of gates, "&c, th?- Council will 'then- take 1 steps to have others" opened as may be necessary. sth. Mi^lQeo.. Labg's letter, offering LI O per pe'f'- 1 Annum ; : and Mr Geo.-R. west's letter offering L2O per annum f Or a lease of Section 20, Block 14, Dunedin. Your Committee have resolved that at present these offers should he over. '6th. It having come to the knowledge of the Committee that Mr Millar, )?.S.A. had declined to pay the Solicitor's ■costs^r, preparing the surrender of the lease •of Section .20, Block 14; -and that consequently #ie deed had not been executed, your Committee instructed the Clerk to intimate to Mr Millar that .failing his paying his.' paying the costs and signing the deed forthwith, the Council will hold him to the terms of "the Original lease. 7th. The letters from ;Mr Manning and from Messrs Wright, Sobertßon: and Co. , applying for leases of potions of the Reserve for public wharves and: quays. On this subject, your Committee recpmmejid that the Reserve be surveyed in quarter-a^re allotments ; and that a lease of each quarter-acre section be put up to auction "separately. Messrs Manning and Wright, Koberfsou, and' Co. have been informed.of thiff intention ; and in compliance with the expressed wish of His Honor the Superintendent, the Governmsnt' have been communicated with, to the effect that before finallyt dqah'ng with this Reserve, the Corpc ration, w^lj submit their proposition as -to leasing; it in. smal^ allotments to the Executive. 8(;h. Mr Chas. Brown's • Town Belt allotment.! Your Committee, after a personal inspection of the ground, beg to report that in tjb^ir, -judgment, po damage has been occasioned ,to this portipn of the Belt by 1 ontting dowjoi trees; as reported. As far as can be ascertained, np large trees have ever grown on that part of this allotment. Your Committee, .no we ver, recommend that' Mr John Barnes b. & appointed to, supervise the clearing of seru,b from off all the Town Belt lots; and that Mr C. Brown's i application for per* mission to erect a cowshed on his allotment be allowed ; to be of such material and in auch position as may be directed by the appointed officer of the Council. 9th. Your •Committee have written to each lessee of the Belt,' directing attention' to the condition of the lease, -providing that in all cases where it is desired to remove scrub or undergrowth from the land, permission to do so must be •obtained from the Corporation. Your Committee;, received a deputation relative to clearing _ away surplus material from one of the Bell Hdl sections fronting Moray Place ; and the,, matter will be brought before the Council tfp-day, Mr., Fish objected to one clatise of the report-^that' referring to Mr Brown, a lessee' of a Town Bfelt section. He felt convinced- that Mr Brown had destroyed a portion 'of the Belt '; but .as he anticipated that any amendment he might propose would, not be supported by other Councillorsj-he would simply vote against the adoption , of the report, bo far as that »clause i was. concernod. Mr Towers said that, as one of the

Committee,' lie had op jeered to the erection' of cow-sheds bn the'Towii Belt, and, so far as lie remembered, the' matter, had not been agreed uptin by the Committee. 1 It was; at least, understood that any sheds erected would require to be : ornamental ? so that lessees would, in most instances, be diadouraged from erecting them. , 1 Mr DRtYßß'explained that Mr .Towers was 'mistaken as to the decision of the Com-; mittee ; the recommendation in the report had been regularly agreed upon and confirmed. In the first instance, Mr Towershad made some objections ; but it was subsequently agreed that sheds should be allowed, provided they were erectad.under the supervision of an officer of "the Corporation, and in situations where they would not be a nuisance.

Mr "Fish ' was satisfied that, in this matter, as in others connected with the Town Belt allotments, the Council wculd, some day, rue the steps they were taking. Mr Terser suggested, with reference to the Pelichet Bay Reserve, that th 6 whole should be surveyed in allotments, and not merely the portion where it was intended to erect these flax works. ' The Mayor pointed mit that the grormd in question was', in. the Dunedin Reserves Management Ordinance, reserved, not, as the Harbor Terrace Reserve' (a* the Committee had described it in tlw original draft ! 6f the report); but as a "Reserve for Public Wharves and Quays." If it was so reserved; they had no right to let it for sTflax mannfactory. ' • • ' Mr' Durvxit thought it would be as little needed for wharf purposes as would be' the top of Fiagsraff jHiIL All these reserves had had names given to . thexq, on r the" Rpur of 1 the moment, "by the krte Mayori ' The Quarry Reserve, for instance, "although 'so', named, was not intended to, fee used as, such ; and for himself, he thought that the particular ' place •referred to, iinleSs ' Something un- ' pre<3edeiited7 occurred, ' would never- "be required for 1 wharf •purposes, ";;, The Mattor explained that this reserve ■ did riot : stand in ' the' same category as' the', Reserves. It wtii' reserved ' aiier ' the town Vas ' Burveyted' into^eqtibns, Bpeciai : . instrufitioiife had ' been given in London .that it should fee kept out of the selection* inaj>, and Reserved for a specific purpose. : Frbra .'a 1 conversation , he. had had, hVwas "aware -that the Superintendent and 'the Provincial Executive ,tiad some objection to the mode in'which the Cduncil proposed to deal with the reserve — they seemed 1 to think that it was a diversion of the reserve from its original purpose. That, however, need J riot interfere with the adoption of the report. Before leases were granted, the matter would be submitted to the Superintendent.

Mr Driver reminded the Council that it was only proposed to deal with one small portion of the reserve.

Mr Ttxrnbr preferred that the whole should be dealt withj and that it should be put into the market in desirable allotments. The original intention of the City Council, in securing these reserves, waa to turn them to account for the purposes of revenue, and the time had arrived when something should be done in that direction, with regard to this reserve and others.

Mr Driver thought that, by dealing with the one portion, they would sufficiently ascertain the views of the Government.

The Mayor could not help thinking, from his conversation with' the Superintendent, that there would be some verystrong objections made by the Government.

Mr Driver did not anticipate any difficulty in the matter. If the Government could make any reasonable objections, or afiy reasonable suggestions, he had no doubt the Coxincil would follow them; but, otherwise, the reserves might as well be taken back at once.

The Mayor said he' had already stated that the Government had made objections, and'that they ■ were very likely to do so when the matter came regularly before them. He read the description of the reserve, in which it was stated to' be 18 acres 2 roods 4 poles, ' extending from Castle street to the northern outlet of the Water of Leith, and reserved for public wharves and quays. '

Mr Fish : What- are the objections ? The Mayor : The principal ground is that it would be a diversion of the reserve from the sppcial purpose for which it was destined. ,The report was adopted.