DAY'S BAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2004, 11 March 1914, Page 9

DAY'S BAY.

THE CITY COUNCIL DECIDES TO BUY

EXTRA LAND GIVEN,

COUNCIL MAY FIND ABOUT £7000,

Last x night the Wellington City Council passed a resolution which amounts to a decision to acquire tho Day's Bay property, over which so much discussion has passed in tho last few weeks. Tho council met in tho morning, received a, deputation of citizens, and then after deliberating in committee- decided to inspect the land. In the afternoon the Mayor and city councillors, the Mayor of Eastbourne, and councillors of that borough and others visited Day's Bay, and in the evening a further meeting of tho City Council took place. The council sat in. committeo for two and a half hours, and at times requested the attendance of the vendors in the , chamher. Finally tho decision to purchaso was announced by the reporting of tho resolution which is given below. The position now ; s that the City Council may have to find' about £7000 of the £14,000 needed. Land valued by tho vendors. at about £2270 was added to tho property beforo tho council closed the deal last night.

The Monjlng Mooting. The spokesmen at the morning's meeting were tho Hon. IV W, Hislop and Mr. T. i>l. Wilfordj M.P. Mr. Wilford said tbat unfortunately tho position was that they had been unable in tho .time at their disposal to obtain the amount of money, tuey had expected they would get from tho citizens. Every member of tho committeo and the members of tho City Council bad been niost'.energetic, but tho fund stood, from all sources/at only £10,119, arrived at as- follows:—Government, .£41)1)0; City Corporation, £40U0; -public donations, £211 ( J, :'•■'- Of that £my, Mr. Wilford remarked, £1000' had been donatod by Mrs. Williams. To bo' added to the amount of the subscriptions was a minimum oi '£2oU iroiu mo liujstbourne .borough Council, and a'possibility of £1000, niasmucu as Eastbourne bad decided to give £250 in any case, or, as an alternative, £500, if Day'sßay; provided £600. however, as tho meeting of the East-, bourno" Council, had been held only on tho previous evening there had not been time to. 1 -get tho feeling of all tho Day's Bay people The indications, however, pointed to a generous responso from Day's Bay. So the position was that £3900 " (roughly) was needed. If Eastbourne were/put down for £500, that would reduce the amount required to £3400. . The position" was: "Can the city see its way to pay the balance-of this account?" It was .argued in favour of tho city's Sliding the balance that" supposing .tho city round £7000 they would only be paying 10*. in the £, which would be regarded by a private individual as a sound business transaction.'■• Would it not bo good business if £7000 could secure for Wellington 'art excellent 'reserve which would'in time to come become part of 'tho city ;beautiful?•;! The city was not :a speculator' in 'land, but the transaction was not in tho nature of a siieculation. The land'would become part of tho city property if purchased, and that would make , a-.'long ; step'towards bringing .the?, other vsideiljof <ff>he'~iha'i'-S hour into the city area. Ho'believed that some, day the ferry sorvico would belong: to. th'p .city, and, that the land' .'across tho harbour-would'.bo part'or. tho city. . ■ ■■■•■• ■•' : .

Further. Advice to Purchase. • Mr. Wilford- went on to say that canvassers found that very many of ;the wealthy men -.of the city used this argument: "Put it on the rates, and wo. will pay our share.' Why should we give you a subscription of or £100 while others inako no contribution at all for a park which will for ever Tfe for the citizens of Wellington?"' That was a strong argument, difficult to answer. , The capital , value of ,the city, was £17,000,000, and the' unimproved' value £10,000,000. ■ If tho value of tha oity were increased by £14,000, with an addition of only £7000 to tho liabilities, it could not be called a wild-cat scheme The Hon. T. , AV. Eislop said that from a business point of view the city could very well, afford to pay the whole of the money needed, oven up to tho £10,000. (which was the whole amount less the Government gift of £4000). Money could be made out 'of'tho ground, but in: the life of the city there was something higher. and better than the making of money. They wished to see the city advance not only materially but from the point of view of citizenship. Here we should have somo place where people- could Tjo taken' 'for a holiday at a minimum cost —somo place where the people could encpuuter surroundings entirely different to what they were accustomed to. If there had been a'fault with our civic administration it had been a lack of foresight in gauging tho future requirements of the-population. This ■piece of property was unique in affording all kinds of recreation, and giving the ordinary citizen a largo amount of pleasuro at a very small cost.. Tho futures genoratiens of AVcliington would look back with pride on tho fact that this council had been i'nr-sighter enough to acquire the reserve. From tho point or view of promoting sound health, the council should not liesitate.

"Will Not Pass From the People." Councillor It. A; Wright: Do you think that £6 10s. a foqtiis a very liigh prico for the front portion of tho land? . Air. Willord. • roplied that tho prico was not too high. However, tho iront sections wore not all £6 10s. —somo w,ore £4\L03., some £5 10s., according to position. A resident bad been ! ottered "i! 8 per foot. i Mr. Hislop said it seeniod that tlio Government was satisfied on tho question of price, and that the citizens Woi'fe. ■ '■..•■.-■ • ■ j Councillor W. F. Thompson said that : on tho previous- night he had interviewed a citizen and asked for a donation, and that the citizen had said that he would givo £500 if the Government would givo another £1000 and the city , another £1000. . I'ne iUayor said that the Prime Minister (Hon. W. ■¥.■ Massey) maintained a great interest in tie matter. "So," con-. tinued the Mayor, "you have the co-; operation of the Government and the City Council to close this bargain today," Councillor-Wright: Aro these amounts given on condition that the grounds aro ' to ho free of charge? ' Mr. Wilford snid that two amounts were, he. thought, given conditionally, but ho did not know what the , conditions were. Tho donations given in t'heso instances were amounts of £20 and £10. Couiillor Wright: Then it is clearly understood that tlio council can charge and raise revenue if it wishes? Kepliesof "Yes" wore made. j Mr. D. M'Laren said that there wan ! only one conditional donation, and tlio condition was that the tennis courts should bo included in tho area. \ Tho Mayor then said that tho council would go r'uto committee and deliberate on tho matter. "And I feel sure," ho concluded, "that the result of the deliberations will bo that Day's Bay will not pass out of the liauds of Uic people of Wellington." Tho Final Resolution. The resolution given out to the Press

by tho Town Clerk after hist night's meeting was as under:—

"That tho council purchase tho Day's Bay land on tho terms submitted by tho deputation of citizens and tho vendors, such purchase to include tho two irregularshaped sections fronting on Day's Bay Road, adjacent to Day's Bay Houso; also to include Sections 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 fronting Pitoitoi, and Section 15, Kotari Road; also that tho for,eshoro rights vested in tho company bo vested in the Wellington City Council, and the wholo of the company's buildings and appurtenances on tho ground; and also that tho seal of the council bo affixed to all necessary and tho transaction bo at once comploted." Additional Donations. The following donations towards tho purchase of the property have been promised in addition to those acknowledged yesterday:—jM'Lean and Archibald, £10; W. It. Archibald, £10; Georgo and Kersley, £10 10s.; John Campboll, £5; Ilawdon Beoro, £5; Miss K. Helyer, £5; Miss Buttle, £2 25.; J. M'Gill,' £2 25.; W. R. Hursthouse, £2 25.: Miller and Alieani, £1 Is.; F. Lamberg, £2 25.; J. W. Wallace and Co., £2 2s.'; P. W. Congrove, £1 Is.; G. Hardt and Co., £2 25.; A.O. 1.8.C., £3 7s. 6d.; C. Russell, £1 Is.; Mona, 10s. 6d.; N., Eichelbaum, £3 35.; S. Oppenheimor and Co., £3 35.; Harrison, £1; Weston, £2 25.; W. Ewart, £5; Cambridge, £5; Ryan, £3; Bushlover, £2; Quick, £1 10s.; Morley, £2; J. C. Brown, £1; G. F. C, £1; S. Mackay, M Is.; C. Cathie, £1; D. Milligan, £1 Is.; Mrs. Sannans, £1; lady enthusiast, Is.