REMUERA RESERVE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 249, 20 October 1924, Page 4

REMUERA RESERVE.

SAVING IT FOR SPORT. j i JUDGES OPINION SOUGHT. ; ACTION BY THE LESSEES. The question of whether or not the > area known as the Kemuera recreation reserve is to he retained as a recreation ground, or : > to be cut up and sod lor residential section*, will prolmoly come up for deciM.m at the Supreme loiirt at an early date. On behalf ol a number of r.cimiera residents, who arc Icssc-s of properties fringing the recreation ground, a. writ lias l.cen served on the Dilnorui Trust H-'ard, ilie owners of the piWin. notify'.iy i'"' l MK ' h lessees aie muwiv *'■> »»° *>prenie Court lor mi injiim-tiou retraining t.ie board from cutting "i> ihe recreation "Tor two years or more this matter of the possible nil tin? up of u,e icriMtion area, which lias li.on developed into a line cricket anil hockey ground, has been under di.iCUwMon. An appeal was made to the City Council to buy the area, but the price put on it was considered too great, having regard to the restricted dimensions of lhe ground for the pjrposes of public games. Then the lessees of adjacent resii ential sect'ons, wnwU they had on lease from the Dilworth Trust Board, ar.aiigeu 10 take united action to save the reserve. Speaking to a "Star" representative to-day, one of the lessees stated that when that part of the Dilworth rotate fronting Jiarket Road and Kemuera Roiid was thrown open for lease as building sections, there was shown on the plan of the estate an area which was marked as a recreation re.-erve, which included the preseut recreation reserve, the areas later acquired by the Remuera Bowling and Tennis Clubs, and some land which was recently cut up and leased for building sites. The claim of the original lessees is that the recreation reserve marked on the original plan was a substantial inducement to those who took over leases, and was part of. the contract of. lease, and they are not only seeking an injunction against any further cuttingup of the remaining recreation area, but are aiso claiming the rents from, that part of the land originally marked as a reserve, and subsequently cut up into building sections and leased. A great deal of public interest has ■centred in the efforts to save the recreation reserve for* sports purposes, as a result of the Hockey Association and Cricket Association having made efforts to come to satisfactory terms with the Dilworth Trust Board on the subject. The action of the lessees has the whole-hearted support of organised sports bodes, and the City Council is expected to lend practical assistance in this effort to retain for the use of the public an area ou which a great deal of public money has been spent in equipment, the pavilion and such ground improvements as have required to condition it for hockey and crickei.. When a request was made some time ago to the Dilworth Trust Board to keep the reserve intact as a recreat : on ground, the applicants were informed that the reserve had been marked on the plan in error, and that it had been found that the board had no 'power to make such reserve. The applicants hold that the board is bound to hold to its original contract, and a point was made of the precedent established by the prant : ng of the land for bowling greens and tennis courts. During the course of the discussion on the matter it transpired that in the original deed of trust the only specific ment'on 01 sports is a prohibition, of any of the Dilworth property being used for the purposes of football.