MT. ROSKILL AREA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 126, 30 May 1934, Page 9

MT. ROSKILL AREA.

boundary dispute.

RATEPAYERS DIVIDED.

EVIDENCE TO COMMISSION.

Objection to a request made by 29 ratepayers in the Mount Roskill Road District that a certain area be included within the borough of Onehunga, was made this morning at the Onehunga Courthouse, when a commission comprising Mr. W. R. MeKean, S.M., Mr. W. D. Armit, Commissioner of Crown Lands, North Auckland, and Mr. W. G. McClintock, district valuer, sat to deal with the petition. Mr. M. G. McArtliur appeared for the petitioners and Mr. J. H. Reich for the objectors and the Mount Roskill Road Board.

The area is from Pleasant Street and Trafalgar Street to the Manukau Harbour, thence by the harbour to Frederick Street and Queenstoun Road.

Mr. McArtliur said that of the 40 ratepayers in the area comprising the block 29' had signed the petition and 19 had signed a counter-petition. The area was adjacent to the Onehunga borough, but a considerable distance from Mount Roskill central. Although the residents of the area were in the Mount Roskill district, letters addressed to them were delivered from the Onehunga post office. Again, Onehunga was the shopping centre, and the residents did not shop in Mount Roskill. Apart from relief work, the amount expended upon the area by the Mount Roskill Road Board in three years was only £10-. The roads were in very bad order. Mount Roskill Road Board's Attitude. Mr. J. IT. Reich, clerk and treasurer of the Mount Roskill Road District, said the area under review could not be described, because of its natural configuration, as being suitable for closer settlement than it had at present. The area had been included within the boundaries of Mount Roskill Road District since 1868, and had shared in the development of Mount Roskill from a rural area to its present character, partly suburban and partly farming. Mr. Reich said he doubted whether the petitioners, in the event of the merger taking place, would secure a reduction in rating burdens, because the severed acres would, in any case, continue to bear the responsibility for annual charges on seven special loans amounting in the aggregate in 1934 to I 21-64 d in the } unimproved value. Mr. Reich showed that the rates on a typical £250 valuation would be about the same. If the area were merged into Onehunga the rates would be £2 7/2, and in Mount Roskill £3 8/11. The Mount Roskill Road Board contended it had given the area service in proportion to its requirements. The area concerned was 92A acres, comparatively small in proportion to the area of the district, and the loss or retention of the strip of land would not affect, except in a very minor degree, the rest of the community. The board's attitude was that if certain ratepayers in the area desired to continue under its control, and if no overwhelming advantages were to be gained by anyone through any alteration from the present situation, it was justified in objecting to the suggested transfer of part of its territory. The commission adjourned in order to inspect the area. Evidence is being heard this afternoon.