WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 889, 15 March 1889, Page 30

WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL.

An ordinary meeting of the City Council was held last night week. Present—The Mayor, and Councillors Seed, Moeller, Willeston, Harris, Heaton, Muir, Chapman, Brown, Fraser, Brandon, Williams and Smith. THORNDON BATHS. The City Surveyor reported that he had made an inspection with a view to obtaining a suitable site for saltwater baths at Thorndon, and' he recommended the site between the present baths and the concrete wall. He estimated the cost of enclosing an area 200 ft long by 100 ft broad, with all necessary buildings, at LBBO. Consideration of the report was deferred. TELEPHONE ALARM. A communication was received from tlie Post and Telegraphic Department that the following buildings had been placed in telephonic communication with the Fire Brigade Stations for the purpose of fire alarms. —Government Printing office, Government Buildings (north and south wings), and Parliamentary Buildings. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE. On clause 9, adopting for the city clauses 5,6, 7,8, 9 and 13 of the Public Bodies Powers Act, 1877, Councillor Heaton opposed the clause, and said the ratepayers would be wise to watch this matter, and see that under the Act named the reclamation leases were not operated on without reference to them. Clause 12 —That the Finance Committee be instructed to consider and report as to what remuneration, if any, should be paid to the Government Actuary for his services in connection with the reclaimed land leases, —Councillor Heaton moved that this clause be struck out. The Mayor urged, in the discussion that ensued, that inquiry should be made into the matter for the credit of the Council. The Council was not in any way pledged by such an inquiry. On division the clause was struck out by 7 to 6. Councillor Fraser: This does not prevent application being made in tlie proper way. The Mayor : Well, I suppose people have their feelings. THE AMATEUR ATHLETIC CLUB.

The Mayor mentioned that a deputation had waited on him from the Amateur Athletic Club, asking that the charge for the Basin Reserve to tlie Club should be reduced, A discussion took place as tp whether the charge should bp reduced. Councillor Williams moved that the application for a reduction be refused,— Carried.

Councillor Brown mentioned that a sum of L 39 was in the bank to the credit of former trustees of the Basin Reserve. It was decided to draw the attention of the Reserves Committee to the matter. A UNIVERSITY FOR WELLINGTON. Mr W. T. L. Travers waited on the City Council with reference to the recommendation of the Public Works Committee that a deputation be appointed to wait on the Government, representing the necessity for establishing a University College in Wellington. Mr Travers’ object was to point out that already a very considerable endowment was provided by statute for such an institution. He explained that in 1871 an Act was passed vesting in the Corporation of-Wel-lington what was left unappropriated of the Town Belt. In 1872 the Superintendent of the province, with the concurrence of the Corporation, proposed that a portion of the Town Belt, about 143 acres, should be set apart, half of it for the lunatic asylum, and the other half as a site for a University College affiliated to the New Zealand University ; and accordingly in 1872 the Wellington City Reserves Act (the measure to which he had alluded) was amended in that direction. The University land was held by trustees until the Wellington College was established, when they handed it over to the College Governors in the district, understanding that it should be for the purposes of an affiliated college with the New Zealand University. That was carried out, but subsequently the affiliation was withdrawn, That withdrawalj however, had

nothing to do With the fact that the site was appropriated for the express purposes of a university and no other. He pointed out that two attempts had been made by means of the Special Powers and Contracts Act to convey these endowments to the College Governors. He had petitioned the Legislative Council against it on both occasions, and that Chamber had rejected the proposal. The land had been conveyed by Mr H. Bunny, when agent for the province (soon after abolition) to the Governors, as he (Mr Travers) thought, quite illegally and without authority. Mr Travers left with the City Council all papers available in connection with the matter. On the motion of Councillor Fraser, a hearty vote of thanks was given to Mr Travers for his explanation of the position. Subsequently the recommendation of the Public Works Committee was adopted, the Mayor remarking that there was no chance of its clashing with the matter mentioned by Mr Travers. Mr Seed suggested that the deputation should also ask for unallocated reserves in the city, and an amendment to that effect was made in the clause, Councillor Seed undertaking to look the reserves up.