THORNDON RECREATION GROUND.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 767, 12 November 1886, Page 24

THORNDON RECREATION GROUND.

A meeting of Thorndon ratepayers was held at the Princess Hotel on Monday nightto consider the question of a recreation ground for Thorndon. There were about twenty .gentlemen present, and Mr George Anderson was voted to the chair. The Chairman said he had been advised to keep this matter agitated; and although there were only a few gentlemen present, still there was energy in a few. He read a letter from Mr Samuel Brown, the body of which was as follows : —“Among others, you invite the Mayor-elect to be present. There not having been any election, there can be no Mayor-elect, but as I am the only candidate for the office, I suppose that the invitation is intended for me. I would have been glad to have attended the meeting this evening, but had previously made arrangements to go to Christchurch by steamer sailing this afternoon. As 1 have before spoken with you on the subject I shall only add that, should I be elected Mayor, Ishallbeglad to give any assistance that I can to forward any feasible scheme for a recreation groundfor that end of the town.” The Chairman went on to say that Councillor Brandon had shown that it was practicable to get a recreation ground for Thorndon, and it was for them to urge on the Government the necessity for at once providing the ground. They had read in the papers what was to be done by the opening of the Wellington. Manawatu railway, and if they did not get the land now they would probably not get it at all. The Governor had said that Weilington should be made attractive, but how could that be done without a recreation ground ? He (the chairman) believed that the reclamation would make an admirable site.

Mr George Fisher asked whether the negotiations which had been entered into in this matter were at an end ? The Chairman said they were not. Mr Fisher : They are still pending ? The Chairman said yes ; no answer had yet bee* received from the Minister for Public Works.

Councillor Brandon explained the negotiations which had been going on between the City Council and the Government. The Minister for Public Works, he said, had promised to give the matter favorable consideration. He appeared to raise difficulties in the way, however, and to think that there might be a difficulty in getting the Company to move their station. It seemed to him (Councillor Brandon) that there was no necessity for that at all—that the station would do very well where it is. If the Company got 20 acres of land, as they had been promised they should, they would have all they required. He thought it would be well for the Thorndon ratepayers to keep the matter going, and to show the Government that the scheme was not simply the pet idea of a few ratepayers. With reference to the argument that the people of Wellington would be deprived of that magnificent birthright, a drive right round the harbor, Councillor Brandon said this part of it would be for the benefit of the Thorndon residents, and if they preferred a recreation ground their wishes ought to be considered. He pointed out that there was this advantage in the reclamation proposal, that the laud would be obtained at a smaller cost than another site could be obtained for.

Mr Fisher asked what the amount would be ?

Councillor Brandon said the probable eost of moving the railway to the outer edge of the breastwork would be about £6OO, and necessary reclamation to make entrances at the northern end would be about £ISOO. The Government, he said, had anticipated reclaiming that portion of the southern end where the baths stood, for station works, and had plans of the present station showing this land as reclaimed. So that—leaving out of course any negotiations with the Railway Company—at a cost of £2IOO they would be in a position to exchange blocks with the Company. He was of opinion that twenty acres in the heart of the city would be of much more use to the Company than twenty acres in a block extending toward Kaiwarra. Mr Fisher asked what area of ground it was supposed they would get for the recreation ground, and at what cost ? Councillor Brandon said about five acres, which could be exchanged with the Company for a block of five acres at the northern end. Mr Fisher asked what the cost of the five acres would be to the city ? Councillor Brandon said the cost to the city, provided the Company agreed to the exchange, would simply be that of reclaiming and moving the station, about £2IOO.

Mr Fisher said it narrowed itself down to this, then, that it was thought that five acres of land could be got for £2IOO. Councillor Brandon said what he said was that, if the Company was disposed to deal with them, the cost the ratepayers had to to face was £2IOO, which would enable them to deal with the Company. It appeared to him that in dealing with the Company what they had to offer was that which would be as valuable as what the Company gave them. There should be no additional cost. In answer to a question, Councillor Brandon said it would probably cost about £BOO an acre to put the ground in order, &c. But that was a cost, he pointed out, which, with any other land, would have to be incurred in addition to the purchase money. Then they had a level ground. There was this objection to the Botanical Gardens site, that there would be an additional cost in filling up gullies.

Mr Hall asked what the cost would be to make that ground level ? Councillor Brando* had been informed that the cost would be about £3OOO or £4OOO an acre.

Mr Fisher said he had not come there to place any difficulties iu the way—it was his desire, on the other hand, to assist the movement. He would point out, however, that this matter was in the hands of the City Council, and also in the hands of the Government, and he thought it would only have been courtesy if they had waited a little. There was no necessity for precipitance in the matter. This was a question governed by cost, and if it was to cost a large sum, necessarily the people of other wards would have a voice in it. Councillor Brandon had given them some figures—as far as he could judge in a very crude form. Councillor Brandon said the cost merely of obtaining the exchange of site would be £2IOO. If that were so he (Mr Fisher) would, as a resident of Thorndon, snap the land up at once. That, however, showed what a crude grasp Councillor Brandon had of the financial aspect of the question. It would cost them, he believed, at least £7OOO, whereas the curator of the Botanical Gardens had "informed him that it was possible to get, not one, but two or three admirable sites in the gardens. Now if that were possible, then why should they go to the expense of purchasing an estate from a company or a private individnal ? They must put before the burgesses the exact cost, and then the question whether the land was to be bought could be snbmitted. But he should say their troubles would just begin when they had the £2IOO, and began to negotiate with the Company. Councillor Brandon aßked in what portion of the Gardens these sites were to be obtained.

Mr Fisher said he could not say just then, but if he were allowed till the next day he could see Mr Bramley and get the information.

Councillor Richardson thought they ought to have recreation grounds for Thorndon and for Lambton also, for in Lambton the only place for recreation at all was the wharf. The views of the gentlemen forming the deputation to the Government had been considerably altered, be said, by the production of a plan which showed that the Government had altsred their arrangements with the Company, and were going to take land along the JButt road and give the Company land seaward. The Minister said it would be necessary for the Company to alter their station. Now he did not think the Company was going to give away its land for a recreation ground for Thorndon; aud as to the esplanade, he pointed out that that, which was proposed to be done away with, was the only agreeable ride in Wellington in dusty weather. Thorndon asked the city to give that up for the purpose of providing a recreation ground in the centre of a railway terminus. For there was no doubt that, if they believed only half what was said about the importance of these railways, the present land would not be sufficient for the terminus. This, it seemed to him, was ths most unlikely place in the city. The present proposal seemed to be based upon “ifs and ands,” and did not appear to be at all a feasible one. It was in its present stage impracticable, or nearly so, and he believed that the site in the Botanical Gardens could be obtained at a much smaller cost.

Dr Newman said it was agreed that they wanted a recreation ground, and they were justified in looking around Wellington for a site, for by that means they would get the best one. He thought Councillor Brandon’s proposal a useful one, and that considerably less than £IOOO an acre would put the land in order. With respect to the esplanade, the fact of the matter was that the Government proposed to reclaim outside the present line, and the esplanade therefore would only be temporary. As to the Botanical Gardens, he thought a good recreation ground could be obtained there, but he was bound to say he thought it would cost a great deal more than many gentlemen living in that locality seemed to think. Three acres at the top of Sydney-street would cost, he believed, about £3500. Mr Fisher said it was very singular that no information had been obtained as to the cost of a site in the Botanical Gardensj such a report could easily be obtained from the City Engineer by any Councillor. Assuming that the matter was being considered by the Government and City Council, lie would ask what they had met there that evening for?

The Chairman : To discuss the recreation ground question. Mr Fisher : But it has already got into official channels, 1 understand. The Chairman : The official channels are slow. Perhaps this is to clear them out. Mr C. T. Richardson regretted that the other members of the City Council forming the deputation to the Government had not supported Councillor Brandon. Councillor Richardson subsequently explained that they were in a difficulty because no plans were produced. After some further discussion the following resolution, proposed by Mr Fisher and seconded by Mr Carter, wa3 carried:— “ That the chairman of this meeting be requested to communicate with his Worship the Mayor, reminding him that no answer has as yet been received to the representations of the deputation which waited upon the City Council in reference to the necessity of providing a recreation ground for Thorndon.” . This concluded the business.