FINALITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 223, 20 September 1935, Page 12

FINALITY.

BY-PASS IN CITY.

! HIGH-STREET EXTENSION. SITE TO COST £35,000. After negotiations which have extended over a period of 13 years during the regime of various Auckland City Councils an agreement has been reached with the Government, and the City Council last evening decided to purchase a strip of 40ft of the Shortland Street Post Office site for the sum of £35,000. The terms agreed upon are: Two years free of interest, interest at the ruling rate of interest for Government loans at the end of the twoyearly period as fixed by the Minister of Finance, the Government to retain the street until the new buildings are completed, repayment of principal by instalments for an IS-year period, commencing from the end of the second year, making 20 years in all.

Report by Mayor. The decision of the council last night followed upon the reading of a lengthy report by the Mayor, Mr. Ernest Davis. He said that Messrs. Rosser and Bloodworth proceeded to Wellington last week to interview the Hon. the Minister of Public Works and continued the negotiations. On their return to Auckland from Wellington the council's delegates notified him that, after a lengthy discussion witli the Minister, and after having fully covered all the aspects of the council's case, they were unable to induce the Minister to agree to a price which lay within the council's authority. Subsequently, however, he further discussed the matter with the Minister of Finance, with the result that the Government would accept the sum of £3.5,000 for the 40ft of the site. "On the figure itself I have taken careful advice, and I am satisfied that there would be little possibility of having this figure reduced by way of arbitration or any other procedure available, based on the figures supplied to the Government by its four valuers," stated the report. "The question now before the council is as to whether it considers that the facility to be obtained by a connecting road between Shortland Street and Fort Street justifies its paying the sum set down as the amount required by the Government. "For my part, after consultation with the city engineer, and making exhaustive inquiries, I am satisfied that it is in the interests of the city to take advantage of this opportunity, which is one that is not likely ever to recur, to acquire the strip of land for the purpose of a connecting street, which will undoubtedly afford a facility for the relief of traffic that to me is essential to the city's development. It is now for the council to determine what should be done. Personally I have no doubt as to the wisdom of the proposal or that the future will itself substantiate it."

The report then denlt nt length with the history of the negotiations since 1922. Satisfactory Conclusion. Mr. B. Martin, in moving that the Mayor be authorised to complete negotiations for the acquisition of 40ft of the site at the price of £35,000, congratulated the Mayor on bringing the negotiations to a satisfactory conclusion. At the same time, while he recognised the necessity and urgency of acquiring the site, it seemed to liiin that the Government was determined to make the citizens pay for something that belonged rightly to the citizens.

Messrs. Stewart, Bloodworth and Rosser each congratulated the Mayor upon the completion of the negotiations. Mr. Bloodworth said it was true the price of £35,000 seemed high, but when the negotiations were first begun the price was double. It had always been the council's ambition to have it street parallel to Queen Street on the eastern side as well as on the western side.

The Mayor complimented Messrs. Bloodworth and Rosser on the part they had played in the negotiations. "It is almost with a sigh that I say I am glad that the long job is finished," said the Mayor.