A SINGLE PURPOSE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 34, 10 February 1927, Page 10

A SINGLE PURPOSE

It is not desirable that public bodies in Wellington should be multiplied. On that account the proposal placed before the Reserves Protection and Improvement Society for the constitution of a Domain Board is one which should be viewed with caution. Council control has many advantages. The provision of funds for improvement and maintenance is simplified, administration is facilitated, and the services of engineers and other experts are available when necessary. At the same time the unified control has its disadvantages. A Council which is elected to serve many purposes may deem the Reserves interest of less importance, and may acquiesce in or even promote the sacrifice of the Reserves. We have had instances of that in the past, in the transfer of Reserves areas to other purposes—to the streets (in" Kent and Cambridge terraces ana at the Basin. Reserve), to the Fire Brigade and elsewhere, and in the proposal to devote any compensation from Thorndon Esplanade to streetwidening -in the centre of the city. It is highly improbable that a separate Domain Board would have consented to such conduct; but in the Council the Reserves guardians have been over-ridden. With such examples before them, some champions of the Reserves favour the constitution of a' separate authority which will have a single purpose. Their proposal is arguable, but we would prefer to see increased public vigilance to convince the Council^Jat the Reserves are prized by citizens and that they should not be sacrificed hastily for utilitarian purposes.