Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6811, 15 September 1883, Page 4

The Auckland Railway Station is one of those, things of which we may well remark, that hope deferred maketh the heart sick; but if the rumour current, and which appears to be authentic, is. really true, then the heart of the people may well be very sick indeed. For it is said that instructions have come up from Wellington to have enquiry made ■vrith reference to the propriety of haying a wooden building erected for She purposes of a railway station on the reclamation. The alleged recommendation of a wooden structure is, it is reported, on the grounds of the difficulty and expense that must necessarily be incurred in finding foundation for a more substantial building oil reclaimed ground. We are reluctant to give credence to the rumour, but the statement is made with such certainty, and the danger of neglecting it is so great, that we do not hesitate to direct public attention to the possibility of such a mischievous proposal being carried out.

It is bad enough that a city of the size o£ this has been so long deprived of accommodation better than the miserable Shanties that do duty for railways running north and south, when a place like Ghristchurch has had for so many years a magnificent range of railway offices, providing accommodation of the most comprehensive kind. But the possibility of having thrust on ;us a temporary structure, of inflammable materials, in. the immediate neighbourhood of some of our finest buildings, and close to the shipping, is sufficient to demand im mediate attention to the matter, and the most prompt steps to avert the danger. A sufficient lesson has already been afforded in the recent burning of the railway sheds in j Dunedin, where a substantial and ex- [ pensive building is about to be erected, | : the plans being- at the present time in course, of preparation. If foundations difficult to deal with were to necessitate wooden station buildings, better far to have the site of the station remain where it is. But surely, a consideration of this kind should not rule, when on similar and surrounding sites private parties are erecting or intending to erect buildings of stone and brick, despite the trouble and cost of excavating to a sound foundation.

We do not know to what extent the Government would be disposed to respect the spirit of the City Council's building regulations, which expressly prevent private parties from erecting wooden or temporary buildings within specific areas.. The building regulations apply to the site in question, but railway station buildings are exempt; indeed, the Municipal Corporations Act provides that " nothing in this Apt shall authorise the Council to interfere in any way with any Government work without tile consent in writing of. the Minister." It seems a hard thing that the Government should be privileged, or at least exercise the privilege, to impose a nuisance and danger on citizens which citizens are iiot permitted to inflict on one another. They have the power apparently, if they will to exercise it, but we can hardly think advantage would be taken of it in such Unreasonable circumstances, in the face of & strong protest from the. people of Auckland. But in any case it is not when, such a proposal as this has been matured that pressure would be most effective. The erection of an unsightly pilo of temporary : structures on one of the. finest and most prominent sites in the

colony, and at the largest city, is a project t£t * receive the most strenuous * * P nl y,°n*3thetic grounds ;& ; we consider the risk, not onlvS? contents of the station build£? h * 9 selves, and the consequent Qbst of insurance, baUhe the surrounding properties wfaichtS a proposal would, entail, a far r™ substantial reasoa is afforded for dm W everything that can be done to p re °g the carrying put of a *}S we haye reason to believe is senWl entertained by the Government "