BOATING-SHED SITES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 5730, 27 October 1905, Page 2

BOATING-SHED SITES.

DEPUTATION TO THE BOARD. SHUTTING OFF THE HARBOUR FROM THE PUBLIC. THE BOAT HARBOUR UNSUITABLE ME H. D. BELL STRONGLY PROTESTS. A very largo deputation of members of tho-two city rowing clubs and. the Wellington Naval Volunteers waited upon tho Harbour Board at its meeting hold yesterday afternoon to protest against tho Board's proposal to shift the boating clubs’ sheds from thoir present sites at Jervois quay to the now boat harbour at Clyde quay. The Star Club was represented by Messrs H. D. Bell (president), O. A. Knapp, A. S. Bins (captain), Mcnzies. 11. E. Richards, J. AViddop, A. H. Barnett, S. Wheeler, O. Pearce. The Wellington Club was represented by Messrs J. Duthic, M. H. R., W. H. P. Barber, AI.H.R., E. Read, C. W. Nielsen, Shilling (captain), and Ganelin. Captain E. D. Bell represented tho Wellington Navals. Air 11. D. 8011, president of the Now Zealand Rowing Association and president of tiro Star Boating Club, stated that if the Board would defer tlio matter, ho and another gentleman interested would test tho sense of the city by becoming candidates at the next election.

Tho chairman; At the next Harbour Board election?

Mr Bell: Yes; I myself would become a candidate, with another gentleman interested, and would test the strong sense of the city hi respect to the closing up of this corner. Mr Bell put the case as follows:—In tho year 1887 all tho land fronting and under tho sea, from the Queen’s Wharf to Oriental Bay, except only the block between Hunter street and the .wharf, was vested in tho Corporation, which held it under the To Are grant. In that year tho Harbour Beard, fearing that the Corporation might reclaim the land comprised, in tho To Aro grant to an extent which would injure the harbour, procured an act to he passed called tho Reclamation Within the Harbour of Wellington. Act, by which a line called “tho defined line,” within the limits of the To Aro grant, was laid down, beyond which no reclamation by the Corporation might bo carried out. At the same time, it procured tho vesting in tho Board of tho site for the graving dock. Tho act provided that the Corporation was to reclaim along the lino of Jervois quay, and tho Board was to erect a staging along the defined lino to a point 1900 links from tho Queen’s Wharf. Tho Board at that time was desirous (first) to limit tho powers of tho city, and (secondly) to make proper provision for boating clubs, and accordingly, at the Board’s instance, section 12 was passed, providing that the Corporation might let to boat clubs, for tho bona fide purposes of boating or yachting, at a low rental, lands .between certain points defined in tho fifth schedule to tho act having a frontage to the defined line. Tho whole of tho land between the points so defined is, I understand, occupied now by the three _ boat clubs. Tho Board itself, and in its own act, provided as follows; —“The Board shall grant to all lessees under this section licenses, freo of rent, to occupy, for boating skids and other boating purposes, parts of tho land and water abutting upon the defined line where such lino hounds their 'respective holdings under the Corporation, .sufficient for the duo and proper enjoyment of tho land held under the Corporation.” Leases were accordingly granted by the Corporation at low rentals to tho Star Club, the Wellington Rowing Club, and the Navals, and these leases do not expire until 1903. It was, therefore, in an act promoted by tho Board, and carried through at its instance, when the defined line was laid down, that this specific portion of the defined line was appropriated for boating, and the Board bound itself to grunt tho necessary rights outside the defined line to the heating clubs for tho purpose of enabling them to enjoy tho lease. It is the right so conferred at the instance of tho Board that the Board now seeks to .abolish. The desire of the Board to promote boating in the harbour, which was then so emphatic that the Board in its act mad© specific provision for tho purpose, is apparently no longer in existence. The Board-would have no power to interfere in any way I#*. t for the fact that in tho year 1898 by agreement between the Corporation and the Board, carried into effect by the Wellington Harbour Board and Corporation Empowering Act, 189 S, the Hunter street endowment of the Board was exchanged with the Corporation for the whole of the rest of the land comprised in tho To Are grant, so that the Board became the owners of tho land np to tho defined lino and beyond it to the limit of the To Aro grant. All at once tho necessity which the Board had emphasised in 1887 that there should bo no reclamation beyond the defined line, disappeared, and as soon as the Board became possessed of tho To Aro grant, it provided by section 5 that tho lands comprised in tho second, fifth, eighth, and fourteenth, schedules should cease to bo subject to the conditions and restrictions imposed upon the Corporation by tho act of 1887, and they went on to provide for powers of reclamation by tlio Board outside the defined line. I do not say that the Board was wrong in this, for I have no means of judging, but it is curious that the limitation of tho defined line, which was considered so necessary in 1887, when tho benefit of the reclamation would vest in the Corporation, was found to bo no longer essential in 181®, when the benefit of the reclamation became vested in tho Board. Tho Board are now the landlords of the land demised by the Corporation to the boat clubs. Whether the -Board has power to interfere with the boat clubs’ rights during the currency of the leases is a legal question into which I do not _nropose to enter, but it must ho understood, that we do not adm t the Board's right in that respect. The leases will, however, shortly expire, ana the real question is whether the Board does desire to occupy this corner, which in 1387 it considered so suitable for the purposes of boating that it itself defined the points for the purpose within which tho leases were to be granted. Wo submit to the Board that the conditions which the Board laid down for tho Corporation when tho Corporation were the owners ought in fairness to bo observed by tho Board when tho Board aro tho owners, and that what was essential then is no less essential now. It cannot he denied that the site of tho pro. sent sheds is by far th - most suitable

for boating purposes. We ourselves think it is the only suitable ite. Tho special matters which wo re to urge upon tho Board arc:—

(1) The sites reserved by tho Board fronting tho new boat harbour *are practically useless. Iho prevailing wind blows directly upon the entrance to the new boat harbour, and the rough sen will prevent the class of boats used bv the Wellington Rowing Club and the Star Boating Club from being taken out in ordinary weather. (2) Tlio corner whore the sheds aro now is admittedly suitable for tho purpose. Tlio sheds tiro actually upon the defined lino as laid down by the Board in 1837, aiul tlio corner is in such a position that it cannot fairly be said to ,bo required for . any shipping purpose. (3) There is no other site near the town really available to enable men to practice in light boats in ordinary weather.

(4) There is no ether point along the sea front in charge of the Harbour Board where tho public can reach the water. It would bo desirable, in the public interest, to keep at least this corner available for access outside the Board's gates. (5) There aro very few recreation grounds on tho land in Wellington, but tho harbour has, so far, been, available for tlio sport and exercise of rowing. Tlio Board’s present proposal to extend its staging enclosed by its gates from Oriental Bay to Pipitea point is an exclusion of the public from the exercise ground of the city. (G) Tho rents required' by the Board for tho new sites aro prohibitive, and would involve the extinction of all the rowing clubs, except perhaps the Star Club. . THE CLAIMS OF CITIZENS. Air Duthie, AI.H.R., pointed out that thero were very few recreation grounds in Wellington for young men, and recreation was afforded on the harbour in tlio manly sport of rowing. Air Coffey and himself were probably the only members of the original Harbour Board left, but in those days, when the Board perhaps was not so limited for space, their object was to plaoo ho obstacle in the way of boating as a recreation on the harbour. In tho boat-harbour there was no room to provide rowing facilities for tho young men or the place, and by charging £1 a foot for. shed room, it seemed as though the Board was trying to squeeze revenue out of the clubs, an arrangement that was altogether extravagant. Tho Board, ho considered, was overlooking tho legal claims of citizens in shutting off the harbour. Only recently the Wellington Club had expended £2OO on skids, which could not bo put anywhere else.

IT WOULD DESTROY ROWING UN WELLINGTON.

Air Barber, AI.H.R., vice-president of the Wellington Club, and a former active member for many years, said ho knew what an advantage it was for any young man to belong to such a club, and. it was tho duty of every public body to, give them'the facility they deserved. If the sheds wore put in the boat-harbour, it would destroy rowing in Wellington. THE BOAT HARBOUR AN UNSUITABLE SITE. Air A. S. Biss, captain of the Star Boating Club, ‘said that members of tho Star Club had watched tho water at tho entrance of the boat-harbour and tho area available within for some three or four months," and had ascertained that on five out ■ of every six nights it would bo impossible to get a boat out of tho boat-harbour. They had already made two shifts, and, the shed could not stand another; besides, it would not fit the proposed new site. There ,wero no facilities in Wellington for cricket or tennis, and he supposed there must bo altogether about a hundred and fifty men engaged in rowing every fine evening. If they could not get rowing, they would simply have to walk the streets,, to theirs and nobody else’s benefit. THE DEFENCE FORCES.

Captain E. D. Bell, Wellington Navals, 'said when the navals had been shifted from Clyde quay they had at great expense erected a fin© building, -which, could not very easily be shifted to another site. In tho training of his men in their duties, boating was a very, important matter. Tho present site was out of the way, and in a inconvenient place. Tho expense of shifting would kill them.

Mr John Hutcheson, vice-president of the Wellington Rowing Club, said he had no need to draw tho attention of the Board to the cleanliness or manliness of the sport of rowing, and he was sure some compromise could he arrived at whereby the effect of the Board’s purposes would not be diminished, and the rowing clubs would he loft alone. The chairman of the Board said the subject matter of the deputation would receive every consideration, and the secretary would advise them of tho Board’s decision by letter. ‘ Before- the deputation left', Mr Bell mentioned that ho was Mayor of tho city in 1897. -when tho exchange of lands between tho Council and , tho Board was arranged, and ho. desired to say, with Mr Barber, that the City Council would never have agreed to tho exchange if it had meant destroying tho rights of the rowing clubs.