HOW WILL IT FARE ?

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 79, 30 September 1908, Page 3

HOW WILL IT FARE ?

THE TOWN BELT. A PATHETIC PUBLIC ESTATE. HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. "Protect your own property," runs the familiar legend displayed on public reserves in "Wellington and other cities of "New Zealand, in the hope that vandals, sneak thieves, or merely the thoughtless will stay their ruthless hands or be wary with, their careless feet. Much is hoped from the display of a placard, but the placard itself is sometimes the first victim to the appetite for destruction. For many years the belt has pitifully placarded itself through all the seasons, and mostly in vain. The writing on the great rampart has been the clay smudge and the twisted unsightly characters of the scrub. They have appealed to the people to have a care fo^ their estate, but the people — it is alleged — have been too much absorbed in money-grubbing to have any interest in gorse-grubbing. So the gorse marched on and on, and the tawhini claimed acre after acre, after the Government had 'liberally helped itself to the citizens' property. The domain has been whittled down, to 1061 acres, and the destiny of this residuum is to somo extent involved in a Bill which is now before Parliament. A GLANCE AT THE LEASES. How do the people stand now in relation to the lessees of portions of thebelt? "Councillor Luke," writes "Ratepayer," '"claims great credit for, the council in its having spent £500 to remove gorse from the belt. 1 believe a much larger sum has been so spent at different periods in relief of those tenants who have disregarded their contracts with the city, a condition of letting being that tenants are to keep down gorse and certain other plants.' An examination of the different areas let will, 1 believe, disclose that only one tenant has observed this condition — namely, the Crown, which occupies the extreme north section of the belt. Why the council should not compel tenants to fulfil the conditions ol' their lcass is a. matter of wonder to mo," The Town Clerk's l'eply to "Ratepayer" is that the council has never spent anything on the? relict or tenants. Tho ■money that is now being used for the clearance of the hills is on strips that are not leased. ' Tenants whose holdings ara affected witn gorse or tawhini have received notices to remove the undesirable vegetation, and have been warned that action against them will be taken unless they comply with the regulations. Whenever now leases are- issued tho poX j icy now is to make the areas smaller j than they have usually been in the past. The leases are for a term of fourteen 'years. Tho corporation reserves the ' 'right to resume the whole or any part J of the allocation, at any time by giving at least twenty-eight days' notice (to expire on one of the lialf -yearly days ap- i pointed for the payment of rent). Tho | terms enjoin the tenant to keep fences in good repair, to allow the public acce&s by "a convenient aiid acoessiblo turnstile, gate, or othor means of entrance" in each line of boundary fence, and to keep the "premises free from all gorse tawhini bcrub." TAKING BACK THE LAND. Councillor J. P. Lu!?.c, chairman 'of tho Reserves Committee, states that at present only about 600 acres of the belt ara leased for grsizkig purposes. Within tho past year or two a large area, has been resumed by tho council, by either not renewing leases that have expired or foreclosing on tenants who have not j don© their duty. Men employed by th 9 [ council have cleared away gorse and t other scrub on the slopes firing Oriental Bay, the flanks of Mount Victoria, and aro woildng now towards the southern [ end of the city. Planting operations t have begun on the bay side aad on Mount Victoria, and will be continued as opportunity offers. It is not considered advisable to re-lease the sections on which shrubs and young trees have been set, 1 because the cost of adequately protecting them against the attentions oi stock would not, be covered by the returns for tho grazing rights. The annual income from tlie present leases is about £800. Mr. Luke mentions that already there are. two reserves planted on Russell-ter-race, one at the foot of the Brooklyn hill, one on Bell-road, and one in Ellice- i street. ; A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN. I More than once The Post has urged that an expert should bo engaged to frame a comprehensive report, setting out schemes for the treatment of tho | belt, and it was submitted that the council could do tho work in instalments over ; a period of years.. Mr. Luke says that I the council has not overlooked the roading of the belt. "No area," he declares, "will be set aside or leased to any sports club until the city engineer has drawn I up plans that will be comprehensive in character, showing how the sections can be allocated and roading done when funds will permit. The areas suitable 1 for planting will also be shown on the map." AN APOLOGY FOR THE LEASING PROPOSALS. l J <3rsonally, explained Mr. Luke, he regretted that tho council had not the means to make the sports ground^; but it had to do the best that it could under ■ the circumstances. Within three* years it had spent £40,000 on new recreation grounds, and it was devoting £4000 to £5000 a year to the reserves in general, including the Botanical Gardens, Newtown Park, and others. The sports bodies wanted more grounds, but the City Council could not face further heavy expenditure in view of the urgent works of public utility and convenience, j requiring a tremendous outlay, such as ] tho duplication of tho Wainui main, ex- J tensions of tramways, the electric light- J ing system, drainage, and water supply, improvements of roads, the building of j abattoirs, and possibly the purchase of I the gasworks- j "The Bill," he commented, "provides for leasing certain areas for ten years. Tho council may resume the land at any time if the conditions of the leases are j not complied with. To safeguard the I city, the full term is for ten years, and then the council may resume the land by paying for the improvements. There is absolutely no suggestion on the part of the applicants that these lands should in any way hecome alienated from the purpose for which they were given to the inhabitants of Wellington. I do most emphatically say that if tho funds of the city will not permit the full us© of tho lands, for the reasons already stated, then wo aro justified in using safe, honest means to bring about a system which will provide for the true interests of sport, and will enable the council to hold control, and resume the grounds again as it thinks best and when the periods of the leases expire." Mr. Luke added that care would be taken to restrict the leasable areas so that the general public would have something better than precipitous slopes for general recreation purposes all the year round. Another matter which is to soon closely interest the Reserves Committee is 'the question of encroachments on the Town Belt. The domain runs unevenly around the city. There are islands and peninsulars of private property in the public sea, but they were on the original map. The committee, however, will take pains to discover whether individuals, with property adjacent to tho public estate, have been doing any illegal "squatting."