RECLAMATIONS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 29, 3 August 1923, Page 8

RECLAMATIONS

HOW THE CITY WAS EXTENDED

LAND PRICES IN EARLY DAYS.

The different stages in the extension o i^kmV^ °f Welli"gton by mean" of l eclamation were described in «,n interesting_and valuable address by Mr. ■H- B. Bailhe, Chief City Librarian g-ven at the monthly luncheon of the Aro Advancement Association yesterday. The first reclamation appeared to have been carried out in 1852 in the hape of land stretching from Chews lane with irT,^ Street ' 36° feet fll°nt^e with 100 feet depth. The contract was given to a man named Carter at £1600 Ihe land was then-offered for sale at an upset price of £6 per foot, which did not appear to be a bargain at that time, for only two lots amounting to HO feet were sold. The rest was given away, handed over as an endowment to the college. The next reclamation was in 1857 under the Wellington Provincial Coun^ cil, in the vicinity of Noah's Ark, established by the late John Plimmer, and the Bank of Australasia, going as far as Manama street. In the meantime the nS« 1'i 1l menfc xhi> d Sranted a right to the Oddfellows to recover land, and they reclaimed the piece at the corner of brrey street and Lambton quay, recent-w-fr a Very lar S« sun>- Land in Willis street round the present Empire -Hotel was sold at an upset price of £8 per foot, and the corner at £12, while the site of the Bank of New Zealand with frontage to Lambton quay, was sold at £10. They were bargains in the hght of to-day, but it was a Godsend to Wellington city that the bargains were not realised then. The third reclamation extended from Panama street to Waring Taylor street, but very little was sold This ™. *™c was bought by the Wellington Oity Council at a bargain price, getting itat about half its value. They were wise and did not attempt to sell it •gam .The City Council received a considerable sum from the reclaimed land ieases. _ The next reclamation was somewhere in the early 'seventies, the Government recovering a piece where the Government Buildings now stood. Then came Thorndon reclamation, which was done by the Governor in conjunction with the Provincial Council Meanwhile the Provincial Council got into difficulties and tried to sell to the wty Council, but the Government was too sharp, for- the City Council never got that land. About 300 acres were taken in the Te Aro reclamation, and the speaker told how the Queen's Wharf was extended until it had depth enough to take in the biggest boats.