THE NEW TROTTINGCOURSE.

Evening Star, Issue 12982, 19 June 1908, Page 4

THE NEW TROTTINGCOURSE.

THE QUESTION OF CLOSING THE STREETS. ' ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST. Two..ratepayers of St. Kilda yesterday lodged _ the following objection with Ms • H. Y. Widdowson, S.M.:—"We hereby lodge a formal protest against the proposal to close those parts of Onslow wad, Ranfurly street, and Alfred street, in the Borough of St. Kilda, containing la 2c 31.7p (more or less), and which paavts are particularly shown on a plan deposited in the Chief Surveyor's office, Dunedin. The following are the grounds of our objections:—(l) That the closing of a portion of the said streets will create three blind streets, to the detriment of the property m the vicinity. (2) Thai the said land is to be given to a trotting club or syndicate for no monetary or other conrideiration. (3) That the main thoroughfare to the proposed trotting course is along Bowen street, in the said borough, which street is only 50ft in width. (4) That the Ocean Beach Railway and the Dunedin City Corporation electric tramway service cross Bowen street at the junction of Victoria street, which is at present the thoroughfare to Tahuna Park, and that the Education Board reserve upon which is built the Musselburgh Public School is bounded on two sides by Bowen street and Victoria street. (5) That .the traffic is now dangerous to the children attending such school, and especially so when the Tahuna Pao-k is being used for public purposes and " d wUI more dangerous should the said steeets be closed. (6) That the establishment of a .trotting course hi the vicinity for trotting and recreation purposes is utineoeesaiy, in view of tho faot that there xire already in the said borough, and within a awlius of one-half mile from the proposed site, three recreation grounds—viz., Culling Park, Corinthian Park, and Tahuna Park. (7) That Uiisholm Park or reserve is within threequarters of a male of the proposed course." Ihis morning the Drainage Board also lodged an objection to the closing of the streets, on the ground that it would rive blind ends to their property. The arguments against the closing are thus put by one of the ratepavcrs :—These streets were dedicated to the borough bv the Tainui Syndicate. The club have now bought so many acres, and are asking the borough to close the streets. I understand that the club hav>; promised to put the buildings on the smaller portion of the ground which lies within St. Kilda, containing 29 acres, on which these three streets are marked in the plan. The streets are not formed, but they are dedicated. The promise of the club, as I understand it, is that if no objection is taken by the borough the buildings shall be put on the bt Kilda side of the ground, and thus yield rates to the boroujjh. I sav that this offer of buildings to be rated is nothing in comparison with what the borough would get from houses on those twenty-nine sections. But a more serious objection, in my opinion, is thw-that the traffic will be congested at or near the junction of Bowen street and Victoria street. This thoroughfare, has to carry the tram traffic, the traffic to Tahuna Park, and, if present plans ar* aimed out, the traffic to the new trotting ground, and Bowen street is onlv 50<t wide, and the only way to the Musselburgh bchool. A further point is that this newground would make the fourth recreation ground within a radius of half a mile and wo say therefore, that it is not necessary In addition, some of us take the moral objection that a trotting course in the immediate vicinity of a school is undesirable The answers to theso objections are thus put by another ratepayer: If the club do not get this for a ground the Chinese will remain in possession for five years. The streets referred to do not exist. 1 hey are fenced off now, and the Chinamen hold the ground. We are not proposing to take streets that the public have used. They exist only on paper. As to obtaining rates from these sections, they would first have to be sold, and I am not aware of any demand for them. On the contrary, it seems doubtful whether they would sell for a long while. The ground is low; and people say that the Drainage Boards rising main, which runs alongside, may burst and flood tho adjoining land. So that the possibilities of building seem somewhat remote. As to the traffic, it will be just the same on that road whether the new track is formed or not. If the project is not gone on with the people-will still go to Tahuna Park. So far as the school is concerned, the new ground will be further from it than' Tahuna is; and there will be access to the new ground from other directions, so that the traffic via this street may be even less than it is now. The objection as to thear being too many grounds already may be simply answered. So far as I know, the three grounds out there are of no use for the purposes that our ground could be put to. We have already been approached by the Rugby Union as to letting them our ground as soon as it is readv, and probably they will get it. You can't play football at Chisholm Park, and we do not hear much about Rugby at the other parks either. Speaking generally, I maintain that it would be better to have a good park made than to leave the ground to the Chinese, and that is the-present alternative. Besides, our ground would be properly fenced and looked after, and if the moral point of view comes in that fact is worth something.