CITY WATER SUPPLY

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 127, 31 May 1934, Page 13

CITY WATER SUPPLY

LAXD OX GEAR ISLAND

ACQUISITION OPPOSED

;',is anticipated in a recent article in "The Post," the Hutt River Board at its-meeting.yesterday decided to oppose the' proposal of the! Wellington City Council to acquire the fee-simple of a •r portion of Gear Island under the Public ■ Works Act. ' The engineer (Mr. H. Sladden) sub--.-'inittcd a plan which, showed that the city proposed to acquire for the purpose of sinking artesian wells and provid-1 ing a site for a pumping plant, over .two acres of Gear Island and sundry - other areas owned by private indivi- : duals, adjacent thereto. _The engineer pqinted out that tho ..piece to be taken would effect a complete severance of the board's access - to the southern end of Gear Island, and -' it/Was very undesirable that tho board • should be divested of this area. ■■_•■- The board's objection was expressed . -in a formal resolution, as recommended by the board's solicitor (Mr. E. P. . Bunny). In addition to the chief •': objection that the acquisition of the - land would cause a severance of the ' main portion of the island from the - southern portion, the board maintains ... that. the acquisition1 of the fee-simple ; is not necessary for the execution of ..the works contemplated by tho City ■• Council, and the board is prepared to : grant an easement over tho land, subv ject to the reservation to the board of - a suitable right-of-way connecting the northern and southern portions of the . island, and an undertaking by the council to indemnify the board against ,: claims for compensation for erosion of „• the land occasioned by the Hutt River. The proposed easement will, tho board '' considers, bo effectual for all purposes •in connection with, the council's undertaking. . The board decided to request, the assistance of the Hutt County Council, the Lower Hutt, Petone, and East.i bourne Councils, and tho private mdi*- * viduals whose land is affected. Mr. W. T.-Strand said he hoped everything would be done to oppose the city. While he .believed it was the board's- duty'to facilitate the city in obtaining water,, it: was quite wrong that it should obtain the fee-simple. He-did not think the powers given by the Public Works Act were intended to be used by one local bod}' against another in. the manner proposed. ■