THE CITY RESERVES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 311, 25 September 1908, Page 9

THE CITY RESERVES.

A NEWSPAPER'S FUNN^Y.SOMERSAULT.

A local contemporary had'an article'yesterday upon tho city's reserves;'with"-special' rcforenco to" the Town Bolt", which- it called "a itsoless encumbrance up'oiii the city,, and a blot upon the landscape/'*., "quitft''valueless for tie enjoyment, use,- or recreation "of tho human beings for wlios'o 'delectation'"it was originally set apart." 'In'itsenthusiasm our contemporary referred contemptuously to "the aomowhat hysterioal -protests which havo been uttered against the-' alienation of the reserves,' and the 'filching of the': birthright. of tho citizens.' " " Tli^3'o.' ; '4uotatibn,v will indicate the general tone- the article;' It is unfortunate that'-bitter experience has not taught our contemporary to' look up its files beforo giving its opinion' "on a debatable question. A few' yehrs ago this scorner 'of -those people who talk'of "iilched*' reserves had !'n oditorial 'headedton's Filched Reserves."' ; Tlio : articlo is" W long to quote, but as the following extracts' will show, it was a strong'';ad^ddagy' J ,of. u .th6" position that tho journal-in l question' novr assails.

"Of the 1517 aeies reserved .'in'Welling-' ton for recreation and other puiposos," ; .comes the voice from the past, preserved not only in accord with the spirit of;.'modern . requirements, but far in fttlvftncc'''of;it; ) ; ;'prer; 400 were pillaged by behcrßlehtreqboqlTcrs; of various lands,' while the; gtVnfdiani of.the.' interests of the citizens nnd* t'hoir ; pqs,ty , 'i'ty slept tho sleep of tlw lethargic and tlio'iinjust. After the city came into being, 'pro-" perly endowed for all ti'mej the. philanthropists, shortsighted as most' philanthropists arc, who see nothing but' their- particular object, to which they.tliink'everything must give way,'lost no timo:in;niaking;'as-.: sanlts upon its equipment;. 1 '; After giving a list of the varipn's filcliings, this articlo says: "Tho city,.']bptihtifullyi.endowed by its far-sighted founders; .fo.tiij.d-it, self robbed of 432 acres, with'tho cprinivanco of its guardians That Vis ' tho; particular circumstance which makes .the matter- so'deplorable, for it pi\t tho city' into the' position of tho spendthrift , who has" deliberately thrown away his inheritance. ; v There "is-this difference, of course, thatth'e' objects 1 of'.this diversion "of endowments- wiore; good ;, but. they would have been as wellacliievfld.tyjfleeking land' outside tho city boundaries, at* atime when land Was cheap.,',' _ ". . 1 There is, to put it mildly, ..a.lack of perfect harmony between our contemporary's views then and its views to-day.