Nelson Village Protests At Proposed Hall Lease

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28906, 28 May 1959, Page 12

Nelson Village Protests At Proposed Hall Lease

Press' Special Service

NELSON. May 27

A protest which has been made against the establishment of a machine-assembly plant in a building at Spring Grove, near Nelson, has recalled the interesting background to the property on which the building stands Used until recently as a drill hall and general public hall for the district the building stands beside the Spring Grove School, with not even a fence between the two. the land concerned amounting to about five acres

The owners of the land and building were prepared to lease the hall property to the Hop Harvesting Machine Company, but the committee of the school next door objected on the grounds of noise, and danger to the children It has come as a surprise to some people to learn that the owners of the land are the trustees of the Suter Memorial Art Gallery in Nelson Negotiations between the trustees and the- company have been held up while the Waimea County Council. the zoning authority seeks written objections to the lease This to how the trustees’ ownership came about: Soon after the first settlers landed at Nelson in 1842 there was a move to set up • school to cater for the children of the new town The leader in the movement was Matthew Camnbelt and soon the first public school in Nelson was operating Incidentally, it was there that the Nelson system of religious instruction in schools had its being, a system still used, and often in the news today. the school authorities.

the central Government, then ai Auckland, made a grant of a pro perty in the town to the school, this being the land then known as the Eel Pond, now housing thSuter Art Gallery and the ornamental waters of the Queen’s Gardens. Five other properties were also handed over, all in the country, and one of these was the property at Spring Grove, now under discussion.

With the setting up of an education authority by the Nelson Provincial Government soon aftet its formation in 1853, there wa> no further need tor the Matthew Campbell organisation, which handed all its funds to the new Education Board, but retainer, ownership of the six properties granted by the Government Ninety-nine year leases were granted to the board over all the parcels of land, the rental fixed being £25 a year tor the lot. Time was up a year ago, so the gallery trustees set about disposing of their land, encountering difficulty over the Spring Grove portion Bishop Suter, of Nelson, died in 1896, and residents held meetings to decide on a memorial. It was decided to build an art gallery A property in Hardy s'reet was given to the gallery committee, but it was not suitable, so the gallery was built where it is now on the site of the first Matthew Campbell school Campbel] gave this land to the gallery by Act of Parliament <18971. leaving the other properties still subject to lease to the Education Board

About 50 years ago. the Army was in need of a drill hall at

Spring Grove, so it co-operated with the residents and the hall was built—the Army supplying the materials and the residents carrying out the construction A tablet in the hall sets out the circumstances of this combined effort The lease of the property having terminated last year, the Art Gallery Trustees decided to dis pose of the portion holding the hall which was not required bv the Education Board Pending outright sale, the trustees agreed to lease to the machinery company and objection has been raised

Other land held by the trustees has been sold, but the last has not been heard of other properties on which education property stands, and the gallery authorities stand to win handsomely because of a costly blunder perpetrated 100 years ago.