A CURIOUS POSITION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 81, 7 April 1910, Page 8

A CURIOUS POSITION.

ABOUT A SECTION AT PETONE. THE DEFUNCT 'BOYS' INSTITUTE." The position in regard to the section of land in Beach-street, Petone, held in trust for the new defunct Boys' Institute, grows interesting. On Tuesday night, at the conclusion of the Technical School Board meeting, two of the members — Rev. A. Thomson and Mr. J. G. Castle — left with the expressed intention, as two of the trustee*, to at once sign a transfer of the section to the Technical School Board. Not being able to secure the services of a Justice of the Peace, as witness to the transfer, the two trustees were hindered from immediately giving effect to their resolution. In the meantime the remaining trustee (Mr. R. Mothes), who is persistent in his refusal to sign such a transfer, has brought under the notice of his fellow-members an extract from a minute-book recording the transactions of the trustees, and signed by Rev. A. Thomson as chairman,, wherein it is clearly stated that no proposal to dispose of the section in any manner may be given effect to without the unanimous consent of all three gentlemen concerned. To a Post reporter this morning, Mr. Mothes reiterated his intention not to agree to the transfer until he had the written assurance of the Education Department that he or another of the trustees would be given a seat on the bo»rd, not for one year only, but for a number of years to come. At present the position was, he said, that if the section was completely handed over to the school, he would be entitle' to only one year's representation, and that was not good enough. Besides, the chances were that the land would be given over to the school committee for a swimming bath site, and thus become the property of the Education Board — entirely defeating the original objects of the subscribers for the purchase of the land. The matter, he contended, could be satisfactorily arranged by the section being sold at the interest from the money received devoted each year to the Technical School. Being a yearly donation, it would every twelve months entitle the trustees to representation on the board. Anyhow, he was not going to concede a step until the matter nad been arranged to his satisfaction. As regards the other members, one of them in conversation with a Post representative, admitted that now that the minute had come to light they apparently had no power to do anything without the concurrence of Mr. Mothes. The matter is forming the subject of a good deal of local debate. Another interesting aspect is the attitude of the Borough Council, which is threatening to take legal proceedings to recover rates overdue on the section. The council offered as an alternative to assume ownership of the section.