SAND DRIFT

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 142, 13 December 1923, Page 12

SAND DRIFT

SHARING THE COST

NOT A CITY COUNCIL MATTER,

The allocation of the estimated cost of tha work for the checking of the sand drift nuisance at Lyall Bay, as drawn up by the Lands Department, has been filed in the Magistrate's Court, and may be inspected by property owners interested. The work is ; estimated to cost, over all, £3700, which amount it is proposed by the Department to divide up between 118 property-owners on the "betterment" basis, i.e., those who will gain most by the carrying out of the ■work are asked to pay more than those who will benefit only slightly, and thu3 the proposed allocations range from £3 and £4 up to as much" as. £120 in one case. Shares of £50, £60, and £70 figure frequently in the list. Formal notice of the proposed individual allocations have been served, or will be sewed, upon property-owners in accordance with the Sand Drift Act, and it will then be open to them to appeal to a Magistrate within two months of the date of service against^ the allocation made, and also to raise objections to other allocations or to the fact that certain areas have not-been considered in the making of the allocations. A special sitting of the Court will probably be required—unlesß, of course, everyone is satisfied—but this will not take place until early in the New Year. The Mayor, Mr. R. A. Wright, remarked yesterday that many people were apparently under the misapprehension that the City Council had charge of the work of allocating the cost and so had written to himself or to the Town Olerk voicing their objections. The council at present had nothing to do with the matter, which was brought up by those residents who petitioned the Governor-General, who passed the petition on to the Minister of Lands and the Lands Department. Objections, said Mr. Wright, should, to conform strictly with the Act, be sent on by way of summons to the Minister, calling upon him to show reason why such and such an allocation should stand, and he. would advise residents who felt aggrieved to allow a solicitor to draw up their documents, that the reasons for objecting and other necessary details would be in the proper form.- It would not necessarily follow that an objection sent' in otherwise would be at once ruled out, but certainly the wiser course would be to ensure that all papers were in correct form. It was insufficient for property owners to merely write a note stating the bare fact that they objected to their shares. The council, as he had stated, had no direct interest in the preliminary steps, but it had a live interest in the carrying out of the work as soon as possible, since if the scheme was a success, the bay would be considerably improved, and both residents in the bad area and the council would be relieved of the annoyance and fairly considerable cost caused by the drifting sand.