NOT CONSULTED

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 120, 14 February 1920, Page 7

NOT CONSULTED

•• ■ RAILWAY DEPARTMENT OFI'ENUS .CITY COUNCIL. With regard to the application by the Railway Department for : an extension of, tho water .supply to serve cottages that' are being ere6ted by. the Department ai Ivaiwarra, the .City Council oil Thursday decided to defer action fliitilan assurance is received thati tho road which is being formed will provide a proper access io the property, and bs an adequate thoroughfare to tho properties beyond. It was also decided that a protest lie made, to the Minister in chargo of tho Department in regard to the action taken by the Department regarding tho Torino-, tion of the access road without consulting tho city authorities. The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) said it was . very regrettable that, the Government.had not conferred with the council Wore proceeding with the construction of the road. No. speculator would bopermitted by the council to so cut up his land that he could prevent access to other land beyond his own property, and no Government Department should bo permitted to do so. The council should hiako a most emphatic . protest iigainpt not having been consulted in tho matter of tho road at ICaiwarra. Councillor L. M'Kcnzie said that what the Railway Department had done was really a. menace to the community. Tho read' constructed by the Department was too narrow, and cut off a treniendouß area of land. It also prevented the opening.rip of a very fine residential districtAny Government Department going in .'for. housing schemes should be compelled to. conform to tho principles of townplanning and to the by-laws of u civic body.' It was to be hoped that the Prime Minister would seo that, the injust'c<i done by tho Railway Department wa* righted. Councillor 1!. A. Wright, M.P., said .it. would be a very vicious principle if the. General Government were permitted Ao flout the local bodies in the Domin:oi>. Tho matter was so serious that a. >eij: vigorous stand- should be made in tli* House, and a demand'should lie ma<W for an elteration of the law to provide that-Governments shall be amenable to the by-laws of local'authorities. Cquiicillor, Wright suggested that iho City. Council should send a deputation to th» Prime' Minister on the subject.

I'. Councillor- J. St. Dale .said that if-tho road .complained of - were permitted to ,bs'completed.without opposition it wouldmean 'that no accets to Khandallah would be available from Ivaiwarra.

"If the Government is going to over ride the-city by-laws in the way it 1.-as been doing of late years it will bo a disgrace, to the Government and to v.s," remarked Councillor W. H. Bennett. "Wo should' take a very firm stand nn this question, and see that Governments are ■mado to conform to o'.ir by-laws." Councillor Bennett referred to' the "abomination of a building" that had been erected in Whituiore Street, contrary to the irisbes of tho _ Cify Council, and said that already dirty rust-marks were beginning to deface tho structure. M., P. Luekie, C. .11. Chapman, and J. llutcli-'son also voiced their protests against what the Kaih'uy Deportment had dono.

The Mayor said that the best way of bringing (ho matter under the notice of the Government forcibly would bo for the council to inform the Administration that if it persisted in the erection or the' houses without conforming to the wishes of ths 'council regarding the roadway then' the council would not connect the houses with the water and drainago systems.

The Mayor promised to arrange a deputation to rho Government on the matter,