Minister Criticised About Park Road

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32392, 3 September 1970, Page 12

Minister Criticised About Park Road

Strong criticism of the handling of the Hagley Park road issue by the Minister of Lands (Mr Maclntyre) was made at a meeting of the council of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce last evening.

It was remarkable that a man holding such a position as the Minister of Lands should take three months to say it was not his prerogative to decide on the park road, Mi- R. C. Dunn said. “If he worked for me, I would fire him. On this basis he can deal with four such matters a year.” One never heard of such things happening in Wellington or Auckland, Mr Dunn said, but it always seemed to happen to Canterbury. “We did not ask for this interference. We should register our strongest disapproval.” Although he agreed with Mr Dunn to some extent, it was not quite fair to the Minister in that the legal situation could be made complex if people wished to make it so, Mr B. J. Drake said. “Totally Untenable” From his reading of the relevant legislation the reasons given by the Minister for declining jurisdiction were “totally untenable,” Mr Drake said. It was a “silly and Gilbert-

; ian” situation, he said. If a ’ Private Bill procedure and , the suggestion of the Leader ' of the Opposition (Mr Kirk)— ! that the Private Bills Commit- ; tee should hold open -hearings ,in Christchurch—was fol- ' lowed, there would a complete re-hearing of all objections. i “Every Tom, Dick and Harry will be able to come along and have his say,” Mr Drake said. “There will be i interminable delays, and 1 i can see that at this time next I year we will still be waiting i for the passing of the Private Bill.” One-way Pair

I Until the road went through I the park the Kilmore Streeti Salisbury Street one-way pair (could not operate, which i would mean further congestion, Mr Drake said. Construction costs were rising all the time at the rate of about 20 per cent a year.

“1 only hope that on Monday night the City Council decides to take a course that •will cut this Gordian Knot,” (he said. If it was proved that (the Minister did have jurisdiction he could hardly refuse ; consent after, saying he would (expedite a private Bill. The question was one for the local body and not for

Parliament, the chairman (Mr J. M. Tocker) said. ’’This rigmarole of a Private Bill is all so much waste of time. Local Issue “It means that once again we will be subservient to some desk-bound genius in Wellington—all to settle a local issue.”

The Governemnt should give the go-ahead for the work and then pass any necessary legislation, as it did with some of its own works, he said. The council declared on a motion that the work should be proceeded with as quickly as possible as soon as the legality had been sanctioned.