DUNEDIN: ITS TOWN BELT AND RESERVES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12158, 26 September 1901, Page 2

DUNEDIN: ITS TOWN BELT AND RESERVES.

THE RESERVES.

The reserves set apart hy Mr Kettle on the original plan o[ tlie town, and the purposes for wliieli they were dedicated, and those subsequently appropriated before and after the constitution, now claim attention, and, fortunately, " A return of the whole of the reserves of the City of Duncdin for which Crown grants have been issued, the purposes for which they wcro reserved, the uses to which they aro at. present applied, and tlio authority for any deviations from theso purposes," was ordered on the motion of tlio Hon. Major Richardson, session 22, 1873, and laid on the tuble of the Council by Hie Provincial Secretary, 13th May, 1874. This return will be taken as reliable, and to it are added the purposes to which the reserves are now appropriated as follows:

No. 1: 2 acres 1 rood 20 poles.—Public hospital; changed to market and drillslicd. Now Municipal Buildings. No. 2: 1 aero 0 roods 14 poles.—Public gardens, Octagon. The monument to Captain Cargill was placed in the centre. The exigencies of public traffic requiring, it was removed, and thostreet line carried through tlio centre. No. 3: 1 acre 1 rood 9 poles.—Gaol; first courthouse added. Now Police Station, Gaol, and new Law Courts.

No. 4: 4 acres 3 roods 5 poles.—Site for First Church. Macandrew street formed on Bouth side and church built.

No. o: 2roods 25 p'olcs.—Church and schoolhouse. Now Dunedin Savings Bank and Alhambra Theatre, Dowling street. No. G: 5 poles.—Mechanics' Institute. Now part of streets and Monument.

No. 7: 3 roods 33 poles.—Provincial Buildin"s. Now Post Office and Law Courts. No. !1: 1 rood 20 poles.—Public store, near Jetty street. Now sold.

No. JO: 2 roods 32 poles.—Manse for minister, Presbyterian Church, Jetty, Princes, and Bond streets. Now occupied for business purposes. No. 11M acre 2 roods 31 poles.—Wharves and quays. Now transferred to Harbour Board. Reserve of 2 roods i!fi poles.—Quarry. Reserve of 18 acres 2 roods •! poles.—Wharveß and quays; part occupied hy Port Chalmers railway; balance Harbour Board.

Several other small allotments are given, also a list of the sections contained in the municipal endowment previously detailed with .this exception, that section 30, block VI. Hopkins's, corner Manse street, has been overlooked.

Cattle Market: 9 acres 1 tooQ 2G poles, top ot Mnclaggan street.—Kow laid out in sections and leased.

Old Cemetery. 15 acres 1 rood 12 poles.Kow occupied ns Arthur street School, High School for Boys, recreation ground, through which ftaikorai tram runs. This piece of ground (no interments made in it) was first used in ISGI. as a barracks for a detachment of the 70th Regiment,' and also for temporary lunatic asylum. Market; .1 acres 0 roods G poles, Princes street South.—Now laid out as a garden. 'iov.'tl Belt; 500 acres.—Xow intersected by roads, drives,.trams, a large piece as the Jubilee Park, and other portions planted with trees. Sections 21 to 40, block XXXI, North J)unedin Becreation ground.—For a time granted to the Caledonian Society, on which their grand stand was first erected, but, not being allowed to charge admission to the grounds, stand and iron fencing were by tliera removed. Sections 21 to 40, block XXIX, on which was erected the Stone School (Union street), in which the M.H.R. for Wailiomo received' his elementary education, from, I think, our mutual and distinguished friend Sir Kobert Stout. It also contains the North Dunedin Post Office and Police Station and the Museum, the balance—fully one-half—being laid out as pleasure grounds.

Sections 11 to IS, block XXVII, were utilised by the Provincial Government ar, a botanical garden, but unfortunately were destroyed by freshes in the Water of Leitli. These sections are now added to the University reserve, making its area 8 acres 0 roods 14 poles. _ Sections 21 to 40, block XXIII, containing 5 acres.—Oil this the P.C. designed to buiid a public rjiavket, estimated to cost iSoOU. This intention was altered, and the Industrial Exhibition buildings was decided on, which cost £18,000. Aftorwards the building was converted into the Hospital. Draining, reclaiming, and fencing the remainder of the ground for the use of the patients cost £2500. The foundation stone of the exhibition was laid with Masonic honours on February 17, 180-1; completed and opened by Superintendent John Hyde Harris on January 12, ISGS. Sections 1 to 9, block I, fronting Maitland street, were intended for a cemetery, but were (•ranted to the City Corporation.

Sections 1 to 23, block X.-Dosigwd for resmoir, now leased by the cornoration and uuiit on.

n^oSHi^£i kxm - EteiM "; Sections 12, 13. 17 to 51, block XXIISchool site, York place ami Stuart street- now vacant. '

Canongate Reserve; 8 acres between Canongate and -.taclaggnn streets, through which Se> Jieiitinc avenue litis been farmed, the remainder laid off :a sections, and niost'y built on.

Other sections Were set aside for educational purposes, such as the Girls' High School, t but as these have passed from tha control Of the corporation they need not bo particularised.

It may be added that for any portion of this reserves the corporation was deprived of by transfer to the Harbour Board as wharves and quays a much more valuable equna.ent was given on the cast side of 1.1 inces street, from John Kdmond's warehouse to Manor |ilaoc, including the west side of Bond street, from which a verv large sum is annually received by way of rents. Now coining to the ADMINISTRATION' '

of the Belt by the Provincial Council, The hrst application made tor the use of the Belt, for recreation was by the Dimedin vi icfcjt Club, which, by memorial to the Superintendent m April, 1860. asked that tlio portion betweeu the South road and Anderson s Bay road he fenced and planted ti ' disposal of the club. The Council resolved that the club be permit ed to fence m a portion of tho Ba id land at their own cost, but. that no exclusive right lie granted. Nothing was done with this portion of the Beit with the exception of planting (rets aroimd and in it until tlio Mauri prisoner.-) wore set to trench and drain it. Thereafter arrangements were made with the Dunedin and Citizens' Cricket. Clubs for enclosing the Oval, but no chaige c'OiiUl be made for entering it. The «aroe remark applies to the North Recreation ground, King street, to which the Town Hoard granted a right to tho Caledonian oMPiely,

Representations were made tn (he Provincial Council regarding encroachment made by private parties on the Belt, and these being investigated, wero found correct, and immediately orders given and enforced for the removal of the encroachmeats. Ihe opinion of Mr Premlcrgast. reeently Chief JuPtice of |he colony, was asked and given as follows:—- The purposes lor which reserves were originally appropriated, if Unreserves have been con\o\od to tho Superintendent, he appropri:'Cd to a dillerenl purpose of public utility t! ' l ' '7«i;en"tendent and Provincial Connw lcL"-,"'n.i Vc ' ; Amendment *U't, Kb.,), the re-appropriation mav ho matte in the manner pointed by the aforesaid acts or by an act of Ihe Imperial Legislature or of the General Assembly. No importance 19 to be attached to the fact- tKat certain land* were reserved for special purposes on tho original settlement of the province. Even II such an appropriation amounted to a contract, the Legislature would readily reappropriate such reserves where and when tho interests of tlio puhlio at largo made it expedient. In attch a caso thfi common law maxim is Mains populi supremii est lex' (Which, interpreted, is 'The health, life, and safety of the people is the supremo law')." following oil this opinion many alterations have taken place which, need not be here enumerated.

11l the 18th session of the Council the fol.owing resolution was carried:—"lt is expedient that a portion of tire Town Belt 1)9 Set aside, for a limited period, for tho use of the Acclimatisation Society, subject to such rules ami regulations as will secure the rights of tlio people on the one hand and the objects of the society 011 the other, and that a rc3pectiul address he presented to his Honor to give effect hereto." A vote of £250 was agreed on for the society for general purposes, am! the portion of the Kelt now occupied as a garden was set apart for the purpose, and at considerable additional cost the Government- fenced in the ground so allocated.

In 1871 the Provincial Government deternimod the grant to the Acclimatisation {society,_ providing for it lands in other parts 01 the province, and thereupon this portion was, at the cost of the province, formed into a Botanic Garden, as it now stands, contributing largely to their maintenance and management, .mtil the Abolition Act effaced the provinces and, as has been ehown, the Crown grant vesting the Belt and other reserves in the Corporation of Dunedm, and by it the Gardens have been since controlled.

The testimony of John M'Glaslian, secretary to the Edinburgh Association (afterwards Provincial Solicitor), and of William 11. Cuttcn, Crown lands Commissioner, is recorded that 011 the original plan of the town exhibited in tint New Zealand Company s office, London, only five reserves are marked, and these luivc been carefully guarded—the one marked for fortification being island opposite Port Chalmers, and a portion of land at Taiaroa Head. Tlie last matter that needs to be alluded to is the fact that the Harbour Board willingly conceded their right to tlio Triangle—a portion of their endowment,—and gave it for tho adornment of the city, and there is no probability of its ncing interfered with in the future, as the railway station is to be removed and 110 new building sites available. Looking dispassionately at' the whole matter, there is 110 ground for the declamatory harangue of the members for Bruce and Waihemo anent either alienation or spoliation. It is well known what has been done, but not so well what has been resisted. For instance, the Octagon was in early days desired by a email section of the Anglican community as a site for a cathedral. The proposal was supported by llr Mantell, then Chief Commissioner of Lands, but successfully opposed by the residents, with the result that tho general 'public raised a fund, headed by Mr John Jones, and purchased the sections on which St. Paul's Cathedra! and rectory now stand. 111 1863 a largely signed petition was presented to tlio Provincial Council asking that a public market should be erected -thereon. This also was rejected. Both the Provincial Council and the corporation have been very conservative in (he administration of the public reserves, and tlie.ro is neither rhyme nor reason in the proposed clause to hinder the corporation dealing with the Belt. It is absolutely the property of the citizens, as much as if it was in the hands of a singlo individual, and neither inherent nor constitutional power entitles the Assembly to interfere so long as no trespass is committed or law infringed. I. 11. I.