NEW TOWN SQUARE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22378, 26 March 1936, Page 13

NEW TOWN SQUARE

EEMOVAL OF A HILL PROPOSAL AT HAMILTON APPROVAL BY COUNCIL [from our own correspondent] HAMILTON, "Wednesday A scheme for the development of Garden Place, a hill of eight acres in the centre of Hamilton's business area, was approved by the Hamilton Borough Council this evening. The proposal involves the removal of the hill, which occupies a space 63 yards wide and 240 yards deep, and contains 350,000 cubic yards of spoil. On the opposite side of Victoria Street to the Garden Place frontage is the section occupied by the old courthouse, now owned by the Post and Telegraph Department. This section had been set aside as the site of a new post office, but. it is now proposed to exchange it for a section on the developed Garden Place area. If the exchange is effected the old courthouse site will bo formecf into a park, with a pathway leading to' the river bank. It is proposed that the post office should be erected on a site 140 yards back from Victoria Street. A full-width street would pass the post office on either side.

Property values on the western side of Victoria Street are estimated to be three times greater than on the eastern side, and it is considered that the values in the new post office square would be equal to the highest in Victoria Street. where a property was recently sold at £4OO a foot. It is expected that the rents received from the business sites provided by the excavation of the hill will provide more than sufficient income to meet the interest on the capital cost involved.

Mr. W. W. Dillicar said that the scheme was a good one and worthy of support. However, fuller details should be obtained and the scheme should be submitted to the ratepayers. Mr. C. Lafferty said he opposed the raising of a loan for that purpose solely because he thought kerbing and channelling of various borough streets should have precedence over other works. He thought the scheme a good one, nevertheless. . A motion to support the proposal was carried without further discussion, Mr. Lafferty being the only dissentient.