ALLEGED ILLEGAL ENCLOSURE OF A PUBLIC ROAD AT DEVONPORT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9014, 29 March 1888, Page 5

ALLEGED ILLEGAL ENCLOSURE OF A PUBLIC ROAD AT DEVONPORT.

For some time past the residents of the breozy suburb of Devonport have, in addition to their waterworks and other troubles, been exercised over what is considered an illegal enclosure by the Messrs. Alison of a portion of what is known as Beach Road, that is, the main road communicating with Cheltenham Beach. It is now some years since the land was first enclosed with a stone wall, and the road rendered nearly twenty feet narrower for a distance of nearly one hundred yards. The commencement of the enclosure is at the junction of Stanley-street with Beach Road, and the sudden diminution in the width of the road is so obvious that those unacquainted with the fact of the enclosure have marvelled at the mysterious ways of colonial surveyors. We understand that Mr. Percy Smith, of the Government Survey Department, a short time ago caused a survey to bo made of the locality, in consequence of a statement that Messrs. Alison had not their proper quantity of land without the part of the road enclosed. Mr. W. J. Napier, acting at the request of a number of the residents, has addressed the following letter to the Borough Council on the subject:—

To the Mayor and Councillors Devonport Borough Council. Gentlemen,l beg to bring under your notice ail illegal enclosure of a large portion of a highway within your borough, to which I think immediate attention should be given. From the junction of Stanley-street with Beach Road a stone wall has been erected by the Messrs. Alison, enclosing a long strip of Beach Road from Stanley-street nearly up to the residence of Mr. Wood. At Stanley-street the width of the strip of land so unlawfully enclosed is, I believe, over twenty feet, and the width gradually diminishes until it reaches the j point above-mentioned, where the wall again : joins the proper highway. The enclosure is | absolutely unwarrantable, as a' reference to j the deeds and surveys of the land will im- ' mediately show. I venture to submit to your council the necessity of at once removing i the stone wall, and restoring the land to • public uses, as the road outside the obstruc- . tion is inconveniently and even dangerously j narrow. —I am, &c. t W. J. Napier. i The above letter will come before the ' Borough Council at its next meeting, when ; doubtless some further stops will bo taken.