CAMPS FOR MOTORISTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 90, 13 October 1938, Page 7

CAMPS FOR MOTORISTS

EXHIBITION NEED

COMMITTEE SET UP

RUSSELL TERRACE RULED OUT

No further action, should be taken at the present time for the formation of a motor camp at Russell Terrace, as it is not possible to have the work completed in time for the Centennial celebrations, the Centennial Committee recommended to the City Council yesterday afternoon. The committee proposed that a special committee of Councillors Butler, Duncan, Luckie, and Macalister should consider if there are suitable sites on reserves and other areas in the city for use as temporary camps. The Mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, has already communicated with the Mayors of Lower Hutt and Petone to ascertain if temporary camps can be provided in their districts. Councillor R. McKeen asked whether the recommendation meant that the area was to be abandoned. "This council," he said, "is becoming a public joke among citizens of this town owing to the way it handles its business. This is one instance, and the other was the question of those advertising seats." Some time ago, he continued, Councillors visited various places in the Town Belt and considered that the Russell Terrace site was the most suitable for a temporary, and possibly a permanent, camp site. Now the recommendation was that the whole plan was to be abandoned. Councillor W. Appleton: We cannot get it done in time. There are plants and shrubs on the site now. Councillor McKeen: The plants and shrubs have been put their since we made our visit. The Automobile Association, saidj Councillor McKeen, had been fully be- j hind the council and had assisted in special legislation to remove a legal difficulty in the way of establishing a camp on the Town Belt. Accommodation was going to be. a serious problem during the Exhibition months and the abandonment of the camp was not going to make the position any better. CANNOT BE DONE IN TIME. The work could not possibly be done in time, saitl Councillor Luckie, as acting Mayor. That had been stated definitely by the City Engineer on October 5. A large portion of the area had been planted by the Director of Parks and Reserves, but apart from that the plans provided for resowing practically the whole area, and there was no chance of the grass gaining sufficient body to stand up to camp traffic: it would be a mass of dust in dry and a quagmire in wet weather. Who gave authority for trees and shrubs to be planted after the council had made its decision? asked Councillor A. Black. Nobody had any right to interfere with the decision of the council. Councillor W. Duncan, chairman of the reserves committee, said that when the city solicitor had pointed out that there were legal difficulties and that the camp could not be established the Director of Parks and Reserves naturally thought that no one would want the area and planted out the trees. Then the secretary of the Automobile Association came along two days before the session closed and suggested that a committee should go down to the House. Councillor Luckie: That is quite a reasonable explanation. The trees were not planted out, said Councillor Butler; they were merely heeled in. They were not the obstacle at all; the real difficulty was that there was insufficient time and that the money could not be found this year. The committee, said Councillor R. L. Macalister, was quite surprised to hear from the City Engineer that the work could not be finished in time; the grass simply would not grow. Councillor L. McKenzie: It seems to be a bit of a muddle. What was the committee to do now? asked Councillor Duncan. i Action would be taken as in the second recommendation, replied Councillor Luckie. The special committee would obtain suitable areas wherever it could. '