SYDENHAM RECREA TIO GROUND.

Press, Volume XLVII, Issue 7546, 8 May 1890, Page 5

SYDENHAM RECREA TIO GROUND.

MEETING OF BOBQE3SKS. < A meeting of the burgesses of Sydeaham Was held last bight In the Oddfeflowtf Hall< to consider a proposal by the Borough Council to raisa a certain special loan3ol £5500 tot the purchase of the Agriealtutal and Pastoral Association's olds Stow Ground as a recreation reserve,, Tha matter was brought before the m&sllgtg by the Council under the Municipal Colorations Act.; ■ '• .. I The Mayor occupied the chair, and fcasr* waa a very small attendance. ■/v.* The Chairman said that they ksm> what the object of the meetios ,w&9# mi if they wished to secure a breathing, spew for the future inhabitants o£ the borengh there would not be » tetter oppwm&m than now. Whether Bhey purchased .mm Show Grounds or some other site foi a recreation . ground was mattes for consideration in the future. <''***. Council were not in a position to purchase any site,; and tha question now before .&« ratepayers waa whether they wobM,««l*o tion the loan. If tbey carried the resolution iv favor of the , loan hs would . .talk 1 poll, and it would bo neceasaxy that* majority of the available votes and ,vot«ft should polL Councillor T, & Taylor would movo a resolution on the subject, , : Gr. T. JB. Tatlos said that with a via* of putting the matter before tbe ratepayers, he would move—"That this maefciafliap; proves of the propcjs&l to secure a hkMttcjol land in the Borough of Sydenham «oi recreation purposes. The matter had been before the Council for some yaara, and on the Mfeb of June last year, a more detailed proposal.' to secure the Agricultural aud Fastor&l Association's ground came before the Council. A Committee appointed reported in favor of purchasing the Old Show Grounds for £5000, the mm ot &#m remaining over for sixteen years and tha aumo££loUo deposit There ware also provisions for letting 01 selling a strip of l&ad t routing on Colpuab. aud St. Leonards street, such rent-or purchase money to be taken as a redaction o) "the purchase money to be paid by fch« Council. The scheme was not adopted, but aa amendment to put the mattei before the ratepayers before pledging tht ratepayers to such an amount wa* agreed to. Had they adopted the recommendation of the Committee to which he had alluded, tbey would hay. had a recreation reserve .fenced in, so to speak, by shops or dwellinghouses. He thought Bfcafc they should go further down and secore».eay ilftgrg&S! for mm, instead of having to for fourteen or Mfcfsen acres. The M_° w *_ of the borough had been wry rf_M t ff« bathoa«p Mef would find a aW«MM I mile ftm&si. dowa would he to the eeatw

bf the borough. This would serve their purposes as a recreation ground for their people, and when it was wanted one situated half a mile below the show jjround would be' quite central enough. T icy did not wast a block of land for re creation purposes now, and he might say that they had had a good block of land efiered to them at jbIOO per acre, and he thought they could spend £5000 to better advantage than purchasing the Show Grounds. Those grounds would not be Sufficiently large for a mass meeting of the inhabitants of Sydenham. Even if they did not sell the privileges, all they would have would be about fourteen acres, not sufficient for a park for Sydenham. He thought that a block of land in Wilderness lane would be far better. He waa strongly in favor of reserving sites tor recreation, because tbey were in this respect a long way behind .London. There were large reserves in-London for parks, besides the commons, far more so than they had done in this new country. Therefore, tbey should take means, Whilst land was reasonably cheap, to secure breathing spaces. As Chairman of the Finance Committee he might aay that a recreation reserve could not be obtained except by means of a special loan* This Would necessitate a rate of a cloth of a penny in the pound, which would cover tbe interest on the £5000. It had been said by some one that they should not take care of posterity, but leave ft to posterity to look after Itself. If this principle had been carried out by those who had preceded them in the settlement el the Province they would not have had BagleyParkor the tunnel, to.neither of which had they contributed anything. Cr. B. M. Taylor seconded the motion 5o forma and said that he thought the uniclpal Corporations Act prevented what the last, speaker proposed. Clause 178 of the Municipal Corporations Act provided that the Council must give notice of a loan for " the particular work," and therefore he argued that if the Council gave notice of a loan to be raised to be spent generally and not specially, it was against fro law. Therefore, he took it that the proposition now made amounted to a geherid spending scheme, which waa •gainst the law, and it would be useless for them to take a poll on the question. Mr Maynb opposed the proposal to expend £5000. He thought £2000 or £3000 would be quite sufficient to expend iv the way proposed. . Mr B. Motvett said that the proposer of the resolution had given them a history ot the way in which tbe scheme had been dealt with in the CouncU. .Mr Muffett then proceeded at some length to detail the negotiations which had taken place as to the purchase of tbe old show grounds. 1 He thought the proposal was throwing dust in the ratepayers' eyes. There were some 1400 ratepayers on the roll entitled tovote, and he thought it was impossible far the proposal to he carried, the Act requiring some 840 persons to record their votes. In connection with the loan tbey had raised for the benefit of all the district

It had cost £37 to secure the ratepayers to do their duty. He did not think the ratepayers at Addington who had a nice little «serve of five acres, or those down at .Lancaster Park, would submit to be taxed to the extent of a ninth of a penny in the pound, The whole expense of taking Ihe poll would be thrown away, as there waa no chance of the proposal being ; carried, owing .to the absentees, who would not vote. He should oppose the resolution on these grounds, and he hoped they would do the same. Mr Peacock said if theCooneil bought the old Show Grounds and sold the frontage tbey would render the recreation reserve useless. If they bought one at .twenty minutes' distance they could get to Hagley Park in that time. They did not want the reserve, and he hoped the ratemyers would vote against it. They had Efegley Park, to the use of which tbey had as much right as the Christehurch residents, and therefore they did Want any more. Cr. Smith said that he had told them When el • ed that he was in favor of purchasing in 3 old Show Grounds, if there wasnot to oe an increase of rates. At that time he thought the accrued interest would be sufficient to pay a portion of the Sttr<*ha3o-money, but found that they had ad to transfer £1000 to the general account. Personally he was in favor of the old Show Ground if the y purchased a recreation reserve at all, as it would be quite large enough for their needs. He thought there were other members of the Council who were In favor of purchasing the old Show Ground; but there was this to be said—that in his opinion ££000 was too much to pay for it. He thought £4000 would be ample. Mr Dawson said that he thought they were there that night before they were ready.- -The Councillors evidently were BOS agreed. -At any rate there was a strike amongst the Taylors. He thought tbe matter should be remitted back to the CouncU to consider, and come down with some scheme, He had always thought that the Corporation of Sydenham should purchase the old Show Grounds, as it was well in the centre. He could not agree to the proposal to go only so far to the west as proposed by Cr. T. E. Taylor. Was there not some site nearer? At any rate he thought it would be better for the matter to be again discussed by the Council so that they could come down with a definite proposal. The increase of .ft ninth of a penny in the & was not |l large one, but there were many burdens to beMborne now. * *Ese Chairman said that he desired to say a few words and to express his regret that there seemed to be a suspicion that something not quite right had been done 'to* the Council. It had been thrown out ta&t the Council had thrown dust In the '«$«& of the ratepayers, and also it had bctshtttsinuated that they were going tobuy A piece of land outside the Borough for the .benefit of some one. These were quite unseemly. He might say that the objection Salaed by Cr. R. M. Taylor was, in his opinion, fully met by the notice given by fthetJouncil to the ratepayers. As to the frontages being sold, that would not be ■gecessary if they raised & special loan. 'They would have money enough to purchase the block without letting or selling any of the frontages. As to the size, he would point out that the old Show Grounds were larger than Lancaster Park. If the ratepayers agreed to the special loan, he thought he was speaking the mind of the Councillors when he said that theywould he in favor of purchasing the old%how Grounds, but they would oppose going so far as Wilderness lane. As to the price, the notice did not commit the ratepayera to give £5500, nor did he think that the Council would agree to giving fchat sum. He felt sure that if the Council

went to the Agricultural and Pastoral Association and offered cash they would fet a fair offer. Cr. T. E.Taylob said that he had taken £th c matter that evening as his Worship i Mayor was Chairman of the Comadttee having charge of this matter, and eouldnot move the resolution. He thought the CouncU were well within theMunicl- ■ pal Corporations Act in the notice given, and as to the price of the old Show Ground he agreed with Councillor Smith that £4GOO was sufficient. Now, aa to the locality. He would not be in favor of a reserve towards the westward at all, but In the neighborhood of Colombo road, and this, he thought, ought to remove any Bospietan that the Addington contingent (Wished to get the reserve in their district. As to the financial position Of the borough, they were going to the had some £350 per year, and had it not been for the interest accrued on the balance of the loan they would have had 4| to come to them for more rates. This 1 * Ihey had had to do this year. Their genefad fund would, therefore,- not bear any ■train at all on it. Therefore it was - necessary for them to come to the rateBayers, as, he contended, that on such targe questions as this the voice of the ratepayers should be heard most distinctly. He-held most strongly that If they did not secure a recreation reserve their children would be justified in censuring them for their negligence. Their member (Mr R. M. Taylor) had endeavored to get the Police paddock from the Government as a recreation reserve, but np to the present without any success. He- looked forward, however, to the political eruption which would take place shortly with confidence if they sould only enlist the services of the three members who would be returned for the whole district. The whole question was In a nutshell. If they Wanted to secure a recreation reserve they must have a special loan. They could not by any means finance its east out of the general fund. The resolution waa then put and lost by a large majority. The meeting then terminated with a TOte of thanks to the Mayor.