NEWMARKET PROGRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18827, 30 September 1924, Page 8

NEWMARKET PROGRESS.

WIDENING STATION STREET.

PROPOSAL TO BUY SECTIONS.

LOAN OF £50,000 WANTED.

SECURING UNEARNED INCREMENT

A local bill is to bo presented to Parliament this session empowering the Newmarket Borough Council to acquire land for street improvement, to raise a special loan of £50,000 in connection with that purpose, to contribute £100 to the Auckland War Memorial Museum Fund, and to spend out of the general fund the sum of £100 for expenses incurred in connection with tho official opening of the new municipal buildings. The bill, which has been circulated, has yet to bo considered by the Local Bills Committee of tho House of Representatives. The Mayor of Newmarket. Mr. S. Donaldson, when advised by Mr. J; A. Lee, M.P. for Auckland East, who will havo charge of the bill in the House, will go to Wellington to explain the proposals.

■To give effect to these proposals tho council seeks legislative authority to acquire and deal with forty-three small sections fronting Station Street,* between Broadway, and Osborne Street, for the purpose of widening, extending, diverting or improving the approach to the Newmarket railway station. The greater part of Station Street on the western side of Broadway is already a chain in width t but for a length of 189 ft. nearest Broadway it is only 33ft. wide. It is proposed to widen the narrow part and to pave the new portion in concrete, as has already been done to the existing thoroughfare. This will necessitate the acquisition of two shops on the corner of Station Street and Broadway. As this work will Improve the value of land in the vicinity of the street widening improvement, the council seeks authority to acquire 43 small allotments along the route and, after carrying out tho proposed works thereon, to dispose of the surplus land, thus securing to tho borough as a whole tho benefit of any increase in the land values because of the civic improvements. In this respect, and in its provisions for the disposal of land acquired but not required for tho street widening, the bill embodies the same principles as part of tho legislation recently obtained by the City Council. There is, however, the difference that whereas the City Council sought and obtained general powers, the Newmarket bill authorises only a specific undertaking. It is, therefore, more strictly comparable with the legislation sanctioning the Anzac Avenue scheme.