“NO PRIOR RIGHTS”

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 61, 6 December 1926, Page 10

“NO PRIOR RIGHTS”

STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN OF SHOW ASSOCIATION.

The chairman of the Wellington Show Association (Mr. R H. Nimmq) states that the assertion of the chairman of the Education Board regarding the intention of the board to utilise portion of the Town Belt in the ’vicinity of John Street for the purpose of a playground in connection with schools to be erected later, has come as a distinct bombshell to those connected with the Show Association.

“Inquiries made at the Town Hall indicate that there exists no agreement between the City Council and the Education Board,” he says. “Whilst some years ago certain conversations may have taken place, it is incorrect to suggest that the land in question is at the disposal of the board for the purpose of a school children’s playground. If the board has spent public moneys in acquiring certain areas of land on the assumption—nothing more—that an adjoining area of Town Belt would be available as a playground, then the members of the board have not acted with that acumen which might reasonably be expected of them. They, surely, had no right to merely assume anything, and have no grounds for complaint when they find that those who are working in a movement for the benefit of the city have perfected their plans in ignorance that any other interests desire the same area, particularly as these negotiations have been proceeding for some months. Had the board any rights such as suggested, representations should have been made to the association or to the City Council long ago. • “The configuration of the environs of Wellington has forced those associated with the Winter Show movement to look for their ground to portion of the Town Belt. The .Winter Show executive have organised a scheme whereby the city will ultimately be endowed with a magnificent playing area and buildings to the value of £50,000, in place of the present unsightlv piece of waste ground known as Jam Tin Gully. In these circumstances I take strong exception to the suggestion that the prior rights of the Education Board have in any way been filched from them, when, in fact, no such rights existed. If a compromise could be effected, well and good, but the Show Association earnestly desires that the public of Wellington should be apprised of the facts, and appreciate, the value of 'he magnificent scheme for the advancement and improvement of Wellington, and the endowment of the whole of its citizens, which has recently been approved bv the City Council.”