CITY MATTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1605, 6 April 1875, Page 2

CITY MATTERS.

DEPUTATION TO THE SUPERIN-

TENDENT.

A DEPUTATION1, consisting of His Worship the Mayor, Councillor Hurst, and Mr P. A Philips. Town Clerk, in accordance with a resolution of the Council yesterday, waited on His Honor the Superintendent to-day, relative to various city matters.

Mr Tonks, Provincial Treasurer, was present at the interview.

TTTV ENDOWMENTS,

The first Bubject introduced to the notice of His Honor, was a request tha; he would introduce a bill into the General Assembly, at the cost of the Corporation, vesting the endowments and all unappropriated land at the junctions of streets and elsewhere ia the Mayor, Corporation, and citizens. In support of thi3 proposition the deputation urged that the proposal was in accordance with the original intention of the grantee, and that the present mode of granting leases and enforcing rents was very expensive and likely to cause great litigation ultimately. The previous loss to the city was £5,000. The Council was prevented from improving many junctions of leadina streets making additional cab-stamis etc. The title of the Council to these allotments must be made indisputable before anything could be done with them. They further stated that by the Public Keserves Act, the city was deprived of certain lands origina'ly city endowments, particularly I acre 1 rood and 20 perches in Stanleystreet, the Bite of the present post office and custom-house, also section 48 of the city. These lands were originally granted to toe burgesses, but when the first City Council lapsed the endowments were in part re-cOL-veyed to the Superintendent in trust for the city, and have not been formally conveyed to the Mayor Council and citizens. His Honor promised his hear by co-opera-tion, and asked the deputation to communicate by letter their wishes. He had set apart these endowments for the city himself, and he thought that unless the Act specified expressly that the endowments were to be diverted from their original object, the city had been dispossessed unlawfully. '■ He promised the fullest attention to the subject. THE POLICE. The next subject introduced by the-depu-tation was police assistance to the city, particularly in carrying out the Public Health Act, Lodging-house Regulations, and City Bye-Laws. Hs Honor promised to give the matter his attention. . GRANT TOWARDS MAIN ROADS. The deputation next represented that the city was entitled to receive some grant from the Government towards the maintenance of main city roads in lieu of the grant made, annually to highway boards. Or if no grant j could be made that the local licenses should be handed over to the city. The deputation represented that Dunedin and Chris tchurclr received the licenses, and that a large number of country members of the Provincial Council' had expressed the opinion that the cifcy was entitled to a grant out of the ordinary provincial revenue towards the maintenance of the main streets.

His Honor said the question was an important one and would receive his consideration, but he would like the application put in writing. The deputation then thanked his Honor and withdrew.