KELBURN TANGLE

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 124, 29 May 1933, Page 8

KELBURN TANGLE

SETTLEMENT LIKELY

A NEW POSSIBILITY

OBSERVATORY AREA

After very long negotiating, going back over several years, thero is now a- likelihood that the curious tangles of titles of la?id about the Kclburn tramway will'be straightened out shortly. Though no considerable areas are involved, the position has been difficult in that by ono side or tho other it is claimed that tramway property cnero.achcs on council land, that the kiosk is partly on tramway land, that tho road reservation ,has been encroached on, and so on. Most of tho claims arc disputed by the other party, and generally the position has been complicated. The public has*not been interested in tho details, but it has been interested (and not too well pleased) by the closing jjf a long-used access to the Gardens at the top of the tramway as one sign that the negotiations were proceeding. Now, a "Post" reporter gathered today, the negotiations have reached ■ a stage where exchanges of certain areas of land may bring satisfaction, complete or otherwise. . ' , However, a new consideration may arise, like the conflict of property titles, out of the years now consider' ably past. It has to do with the land about tho Government Observatory. THE FORT AT THE HILLTOP. About 1890 the Government handed oycr the Botanical Gardens reserve to the city. In 1891 legislation was passed reserving to the Crownv the right to resume up to six acres for scientific.purposes, in about the position of the present observatory. Apparently the right was never exercised, but later the Defence Department, spurred by the imminence of tho.Russian (or some other) peril, took over about four acres at the top of the hill and proceeded to build there a fort, with ono large gun, a massive concrete breastwork, a parade ground, collars and. ammunition storage, a thoroughly expensive piece of work. Gravel and cement were hauled to the hill top over a wire rope at tremendous cost of energy, the gun was dragged up Salamanca Koad and settled stubbornly, in, the mud when the last pinch to the top beat the means of transport and had to wait thero while a special track was, cut. Tho 'Russians (if it was a Bussian scare) never came, and it is said that the gun was never fired, but no one approached seemed sure on that point. At' any rate, when the scare was properly over and doubts arose whether Kelburti was really a. good place for a fort, right behind tho city, the gun was taken away from there,, the sunken paVade ground was filled in, and there were tons of concrete and masonry of not much use to anyone. ESTABLISHMENT OF OBSERVATORY, v Then the observatory people went to the hilltop, by virtue of the 1891 Act, and took over the fonr acres vacated by the Defence Department. The Observatory was built in 1907. The cellars came in useful as store rooms and the solidity of tho job was adapted more or less satisfactorily to the special requirements of the Department. . Now it is suggested that the old powers to resume six acres should be acted upon, and there is talk of the placing of a proclamation in accordance with the old Act, to regularise, the position and also to give a more.regular boundary, as the defence area ran away in a sharp tongue to the north, presumably to give a greater angle over which tho gun could operate, if it ever needed to operate. *The four acres now surrounding the observatory are not enclosed and possibly may never be enclosed, but arc treated as apart from the true gardens area and maintained in good order by a special arrangement with tho City Council. For observatories to bo established in public gardens is- more or less standard practice, as witness Greenwich, the greatest of them all, Melbourne, and several more. A PROPOSED ROADWAY. Plans havo been in the air for a road connection between Upland Road and Salamanca. Koad, turning in just behind tho tramway powerhouse. Such a road connection would not provide arterial access to Kclburn, as Bolton Street is too steep for any but special traffic, and though opinions differ as to the advisability of such a connection the noes seem likely to have it. Such a road connection would be affected, in all probability by,the setting aside of six acres about the present observatory. To the observatory people a roadway would not bo welcome, for traffic vibration would quite conceivably interfere with the delicate instruments used. GATES FROM THE TRAMWAY. Meanwhile thero are smaller matters of interest.. The settlement of access 'to. the Gardens proper at the- hilltop depends largely upon the success of the proposals for tho exchange of areas ot land, but apparently the City Council is not inclined to provide a new access at the back of the tramway powerhouse. Lower down the hill is the- Clifton Terrace stop and the gate which gives or denies access to 'Wellington Terrace. Following a fatal accident the tramway company closed the direct way to Wellington Terrace, giving as its reason that as this access is at present persons using it must trespass over tho lines, with risk of other serious accidents and heavy claims upon tho company.lt has been suggested that if tho City Council will agree to provide a path on the other side of the lines tho position can bo put right, as access can be given without need of crossing the tracks..