THE RESERVES

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 50, 28 February 1921, Page 8

THE RESERVES

NGAIO ROAD PURCHASE

NEW SCENIC AREA.

A strip of bush-clad land along the Manawatu railway,! following' the Ngaio Gorge almost to Ngaip,-on the. roadside of the line, has recently been purchased from the Trelissick estate to be a pnblic reserve. The cost to the city is in the neighbourhood of £1500,

The Mayor stated this morning- that th# area newly purchased is one of the few remaininfr beauty spots in the near neighbourhood of the city, and that it was undesirable ths.t it should be cut up for residential sites That process had already begun before the purchase. Some time ago, Mr. Lube said, he had reported to the City Council that it would bo in the interests of the citizens to acquire the bosh land along the valley.. He approached the Government, with the' result that an arrangement was made for the joint nurcbaae. This necessitates the land being held for the time being as a domain, and administered by a Domain Board. Such a board, until recently, controlled Wilton's Bush until the City Council purchased the Government's interest, and the bush reserve is now.the absolute property of the citizens of Wellington, and the Wilton's Bush' Domain Board no longer exists. Mr. Luke said that whim the council's finances would permit tlie expansion of its activities in respect to, its reserves (already costing, roughly, £20,000 a year) the same course could be'followed'with respect to the Ngaio Gorge reserve. THE MASON'S GAEDEKS . QUESTION/

In answer to a question regarding the suggestion that Mason's Gardens, at Lower Hutt, should be bought as a public reserve before the present intention of (subdividing them is carried out, Mr. Luke said h« felt the proposal was impracticable. He had interested himself in the matter when, the property belonged to Mr. R. Keene; but on making inquiries he found it was impossible for the City Council to finance the purchase,. 1 and there was no indication of any assistance to be expected from other local authorities, or the people who expressed the desire-to see the place added to the scenvs reserve*. The City Council was not in a financial position that wonld warrant *it undertaking the expenditure for a reserve to which access from Wellington was not convenient. Mr. Luke added that he could not undertake to campaign for th.c necessary fun da and conld not advocate expenditure by his fellow citizens in an enterprise in which he waa not .prepared to co-operate. . i