TE ARO RECLAMATION QUESTION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 777, 21 January 1887, Page 10

TE ARO RECLAMATION QUESTION.

At the meeting of the City Council last night week a communication respecting the TeAro Reclamation question was read. The first was from the Council’s committee to the .Harbor Board. 1. That the Council’s clauses as to the boat-sheds being erected upon reclamations stand as drafted, but that a -proviso be inserted that if the Harbor Board obtains the consent of the Marine Department to the erection of the sheds on piles, and pays the extra cost (if any) of piles over and above reclamation.i the sheds shall b 8 erocted on »iles, the authority to make such payment Ceing, of course, in the Act of Parliament necessary to be obtained in any case. _2. The Committee will consent to the following words in yourj amendment being restored, viz. :—“ And may erect therein [i.e., on land covered by water outside the agreed line, but comprised within the Corporation grant] jetties or ether structures without any restrictions arising from the ownership of the soil, or other than those imposed under the Harbors Act, 1878, and its amendments.” And also to the two sentences in clause 7 of the agreement (relating respectively to the submission of plans and of handing over half-rents) being excised, on the following conditions, •viz ; —( a ) That a proviso be inserted that the Board shall not reclaim outside the agreed line, save as regards the piece between agreed line and inner south tee. (b) That the agreement, where executed, be accompanied by a memorandum that the same is entered into on the representation that the Harbor Board has no power to create any tenancies over the timber staging or other structures, and that the Corporation thereby reserves the right to oppose any application which may be made by the Harbor 1 Board to Parliament for the purpose of obtaining any such power. 3. The Committee of the Council are willing to substitute for the addition made by the Council to clause 7 (re Harbor Board paying part expense of face wall, reclamation, forming, and metalling) a clause to the effect that the* Board shall pay the difference between the cost of any sea-wall erected outside the agreed line and the estimated cost of face -wall on the agreed line, instead of which the wall outside agreed line shall be erected (thereby putting the Council in the same position as if no .reclamation, were effected near the Queen’s Wharf outside the agreed line), and also a clause that the Board Bhall pay for the forming and metalling, kerbing and channelling, of so much of the 100 ft street as replaces any part of the Queen’s W harf. In reply, the Secretary of the Harbor Board says that the Committee of the Board will re--commend that the terms be agreed to, subject to the Board’s decision on the following two points :—l. That the Committee deem It unwise to load the agreement and the proposed bill with the clauses which would be necessary to embody the question of compensation, if any, to the Star Boat Club for the increased cost of a piled structure above that of the reclamation, when such question of coat, if any, can be rapidly determined with sufficient practical accuracy at the present time, and the Committee therefore suggest that the Engineers to the Conucil and Board should confer together, and, if needful, with the Boat Club, and determine the amount of such compensation, and that Bueh amount be inserted in the agreement and bill. 2. That the Committee cannot approve of the proposal of the Corporation to reserve to themselves for all time the right to lease 25©ft frontage for boating purposes, being of the opinion that the term should he restricted to 21 years from the date of the agreement. The Council’s Committee, in a report, recommend that the Council adhere to the] conditions already stated. Councillor Quick, chairman of the Committee, said that the Committee had done their best to discharge their funetions, and he thought the two bodies ought to come to an understanding. The Committee had done their best in the interests of the ratepayers, and he thought that in meeting the Harbor Board they were acting in the wclfftr© of the citizens# He thoroughly believed that if the Council put its foot down now and said they had gone as far as they intended to go in the matter, the discussion would drop altogether. He would move 44 That the Council adopt the recommendations of the Select Committee appointed to confer with the Harbor Board Committee : that the Select Committee be discharged; that the Town Cierk be instructed to settle the agreement with the solicitor for the Harbor Board on the re. commendation of the Select Committee, « such be agreed to by the Harbor Board. The motion was seconded by Councillor Brandon and carried.