DELAY OF A YEAR

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 51, 23 November 1929, Page 10

DELAY OF A YEAR

PURCHASE OF EDUCATION BOARD’S BLOCK The purchase of the Wellington Education Board’s administrative block of property (between Mercer Street and Wakefield Street) for £51,000 was decided upon by the City Council at a special meeting oheld on November 5. This sum, it was understood at the time, had been approved by the board and the Minister of Education (the Hon. H. Atmore), but the purchase of the property has not yet been consummated. When approached on the subject yesterday afternoon the Mayor (Mr. G. A. Troup) stated that at the time of the meeting when the decision was made it was considered that the sale was practically un fait accompli, and it was only subsequently realised that such was not the case. A letter was written to the Minister as from the City Council, conveying the council’s offer of £51,000 for the property—£2o,ooo in cash and the rest to be spread over the next succeeding three years in equal payments, free of interest. . No reply, said the Mayor, had been received to that letter from the Minister, nor was any provision made in the Washing-up Bill to validate the transaction. Now it seemed that the Minister desired interest on the whole of the unpaid money, without guaranteeing apy specific date of occupancy. A usual business transaction of the kind, continued Mr. Troup, entailed the payment of a small deposit, and the rest of the money (in cash or on terms to be decided) to be paid from the date of occupancy. That, of course, was. not contemplated by the council. It might .be eighteen months before the council secured occupancy. The council’s very generous offer was to pay £20,000 In cash as a deposit, the idea being that this would provide money for the Department to push on with the construction of the new wing for the arts and crafts classes of the Technical College, and so to enable those classes to vacate the board’s premises in Wakefield Street. - “I am very sorry,” said the Mayor, “that the matter has been held up, as it means another year’s delay in the completion of the Technical College, and puts us back a year in the utilisation of the Education Board's block for civic purposes. That has been brought about by the delay entailed in promoting the seemingly necessary validating legislation.”