FLOUTING THE PUBLIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 303, 21 December 1921, Page 4

FLOUTING THE PUBLIC.

The Harbour Board has calmly flouted the petition of the shipping companies and principal commercial firms of the city, who, in conjunction with leading social and industrial organisations, protested against the erection of an unsightly shed on the Quay Street frontage adjacent to Queen Street. When a protest was originally made against this outrageous and dangerous structure at the city's portals a commencement only had 'been made to move the dilapidated shed into position. There was no urgency in the matter, and the correct and reasonable course was that work should be suspended until the Board had opportunity to reconsider tho position. What actually was done waa to push on work with an expedition that ie entirely foreign to the somewhat dilatory methods of harbour works construction, so that when the petition came to be discussed by the members the ehed was an accomplished fact, with a rough coat of paint on the city side. Then the matter was taken into committee of tho Board with power to act, and a decision promulgated that tho structure must remain until the completion of Prince's wharf. The public is afforded no information, and a matter that should have been dealt with in open Board is stealthily disposed of, so that individuals of this very tutocratic public body succeed in shirking their personal responsibility. It is to be presumed that there were at least some protests against this entirely indefonsible manner of dealing with the question, hut of these the proeeduro ( adopted permits us no knowledge, and i the Board stands charged as a whole with J flagrant disregard of public welfare. Before wo leave this question we should like to recall a chapter of Auckland history bearing on it. In 18T8 the ; reclamation of the harbour front from J tho Thame3 Hotel to the present water I line was completed by the Harbour I Board, and the allotments were put up on ec-year leaee without building restrictions. It was well .known that a number of purchasers were going to acquire those j sections and erect all sorts of buildings made out of wood and old iron. Mr. H. Brett, who was Mayor at the time, went jto Wellington at once and saw Sir George Grey, at that time Premier of the Colony, who immediately issued a special "Gazette -, proclaiming the area j within the bounds of the city. The' result wag that buildings on these Har- I , hour Board allotments camp under tho city building regulations, and round the front door of the city there grew up a ' collection of brick buildings, not a huddled mass of nondescript erections rej minding ono of a mining township. As I a direct consequence of this case Parliament in 1878 incorporated in an Act a provision which automatically placce any reclaimed land under the provisions governing road and building restrictions in the adjoining city or borough. The ' question is whether the Harbour Board should now be aNowod to put up on ono side of what is really a street in the city a huilding of a kind that is prohibited by regulation on the other side ,of the street. The petition against tho I erection of this shed was very largely I signed by business people who had leased ] Harbour Board allotments and saw their properties damaged by tlie board's action. But the question of the city's I rights in the matter of waterfront buildings is a far wider one. The Harbour Board has been making large reclamations elsewhere. It is very evident from the aetton of the board in this matter that these areas are rightly under the city's 'building restrictions. ;We would suggest that the City Counj oil, as tho principal guardian of the appearance of Auckland, should consider this matter. Further, with regard to the shed in Quay Street, in I view of its proximity to the I heart of the city we . trust that the Health Department will assert its authority and see that it is not ueed for a collection of stevedore's gear that can only afford an ideal harbourage and breeding ground for rats. For the next twelve months at least the danger of the introduction of plague through the , agency of the rat is too real to permit \ such a dangerous store within a few I yarde of the oversea shipping where the , I plague-stricken rat searching for a new I home can find a sanctuary on its pilI grimage into the town.