THE MAYOR'S REPLY

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 122, 25 May 1928, Page 6

THE MAYOR'S REPLY

COUNCIL'S POLICY DEFENDED The MayoT, Mr. G. A. Troup, has replied to Colonel M'Donald as follows: I have to thank you for your courtesy in permitting me to pursue and' reply to tho statement prepared by Colonel T. W. M'Donald. The matter of Taranaki street has been the subject of consideration by. varipiyj officials and committees of the council. On 29th November, 1920, tho council decided to make a splay at tho .south-eastern corner of tho intersection of Manners street, having on 15th April, 1926, decided to issue a building permit for the erection of Levy's building, subject to compliance with the conditions

laid doAvn by the City Engineer . . . Nothing further was done in this matter until February, 1927. The action taken in February, 1927, resulted in tho carrying of a proposal .to widen Taranaki street between , Wakefiekl street and Manners street, to a minimum width of 100 feet, the widening to take place on the western side of the street. ... At this date the building was in its present state. Con'.racts were let for all the work necessary to complete the building, tenancies were arranged, and the council had to deal with matters on that footing. FULL WIDENING SCO COSILY. ' If the resolution of the, council to widen td ,100 feet had. be,en . carried out it would have been necessary to have takeir land to .the" extent-of-34 i'eet in depth. In view"," hpwever, of the enormous cost that would have', been involved under .conditions existing at the time the project was embarked on, the council, on the advice of, the City Valuer, .decided to widen to 100 feet up to Luke's lane and only to 84 feet beyond that. In orde.r ; tpi. proceed c,cotiouiically with the;ta'kiiijgpfJlaiLd;:£o.rj'\v:daniiig,it was iiccessary-?.i'fl,iandVfor: widening' it to the land a.ctiially i ''iefiii!re(l for street widening, and if' it had been poi-sible to take Jobson's land adjoining Manners street a still greater saving would have resulted. The matter of Ihe acquisition of additional land was carefully considered by the City Solicitor before any land was taken, and aJJ the land taken was taken on his advice and with' his approval. Tlio result ha* beeii'v'ery satisfactory to tho City Council. The City Valuer in. dealing with tho question of widening, recommended that the widening should bo reduced to 84 feet throughout,, but five demands' | of the lessees of tlio corner adjoining Wakefleld street Were such that it was cheaper for the council to retain the 16 feiit-S^i.p.-.as street, than to han^'it iO.^et/'to rtheiji. ''They demanded, ''if Atlie widening were reduced to; 84 feet, not only the frek.use.of the 16 feet at the corner-for', this •■balance of the first term of their lease for J6 years, but the sum of £3000 to cover the additional coßt of building. The diminution of the width from 100 feet to 84 feet at the southern end involved a saving, in the City Valuer's opinion, of at least £25,000, .and it enabled the council to ' come ' to a 1 settlement with the Levy trustees. THE COST TO THE COUNCIL. The actual cost to the City Council for land transactions, settlement of compensation claims and paymerts of every kind up to date ia £57,540 for the whole of the widening of Lower Taranaki street. There are certain other claims outstanding which are not very ■ serious. - The council still holds available for: use,-of .the land purchased, land amountingin.value .to.at least £6000. The council■• Has also been enabled to widen Luke's lane by an additional eight feet on its north side from Taranaki street to Blunder's Building. .This was necessary to improve, that area. The council holds certain stee} from which it is expected to obtain £3000. The settlement of these claims at the amounts agreed upon has left the council, in my opinion, in a much more satisfactory position , tlyin if the matter, had been settled by Compensation Courts. All the settlements were made by council officials and approved by the City Valuer. /No doubt it is clear and incontestable that if the project of widening this street had been embarked on befire tho building had been commenced tho cost would have been much less, but it is idle to attempt to turn back the. universe. In this connection I desire to point out that., Colonel ; M'Don-^ aid's esimate of the value of thQ : .land*! required for-street widening of £.8000 is ridiculous in the extreme.' Even assuming ( that his valuation for Vacant 'land is correct, tho land was not vacant at the time, it was taken. There are other factors in the configuration of the land that he also fails to take into consideration. THE BETTEBMENT QUESTION. %t is suggested that the matter should have been delayed until the Town Planning:. Act came into force, in order to 'obtain "betterment.' This is inconsistent with the fact that the council has been blamed for delay in not acting before the building was put up. As a matter of fact, in a growing city like Wellington if' street widening is contemplated the sooner it is done the better. The only difficulty that confronts the city in these matters is the lack of funds. It should be pointed out to the public that betterment if available at all. is available under the Municipal Corporations. Acts and the Wellington City Empowering, Acts just as much as it is available under any town-planning scheme. . . ' ■ \ The difficulty in the past has been to obtain evidence of betterment. „ The City Solicitor has advised that the only way in which it is practicable to obtain betterment for street widening is to buy the whole of the adjoining lands for • a considerable depth, or to have the betterment fixed by an officer appointed for the,purpose by|the Govern-, inent.' If the matter has to go before'! Compensation Courts, the expense of fixing "betterment is prohibitive, and the results in. most cases prove unsatisfactory. ' ' . . As to the alleged'secrecy of the council in dealing jvith^matters. at itsFinance 'Committefl^it'/ite only3: iieees'r>l sary to point (^ tsat itli?flonlyl.! change made in thiij}cfl^ecs6B'iSgt;halfcj the Finance Committe^ihste'ad of V;con-l sisting of a cabinet of seven, members of the council, namely, the chairman of the standing committees, now consists of the whole council, and that no matters are taken in committee of the council ■ which were not formerly so taken. All matters in relation to property acquisition' whether consequent upon street widening, or any other oporations must,' for obvious.reasons;-be takn in comuutteie.;,,, It.- is difficult to prevent interested persons wrongfully obtaining information even 'when matters aro so taken in committee. If there is anything wrong in making any matter unduly secretive any councillor has the remedy of bringing tho matter up in open council. The only aim of tho present council in fixing its procedure in these matters is to guard the interests of the M^&mm^,. : •■