LOGAN PARK AREA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19107, 28 February 1924, Page 12

LOGAN PARK AREA.

THE SCHOOL SITE, DISCUSSION BY EDUCATION BOARD At yesterday’s meeting of the Otago Education Board the offer made by the Otago Harbour Board of a site on the Logan Park for a new school came up for discussion. The resolution of the Harbour Board was:—"That the Harbour Board offer to the Education Board the eight-acre site on the Logan Park area •with a 500 ft frontage to Union street, as shown on plail No. 1992, dated January, .1924” (except that the area is 500 ft instead of 527 ft as shown on the plan). The Harbour Board also intimated that the area will not be available for school purposes until after the close of the Exhibition. The Chairman (Mr J. Wallace) said the Education Board has asked for five acres in exchange for the present site of the Albany Street School, those five acres to be at "a spot as near as possible mid-way between the quarry and Harbour terrace. At that time the suggestion was that the whole area should be given up for budding purposes. Had that been carried, they would have got their eight aqres with out*any trouble at all; but, when it was decided to make a reserve of the area, they raised no objection to the shifting of their site to another spot. After the board had consulted with the Harbour Board engineer a plan was marked off. It was understood that the Harbour Board had agreed to give them the frontage they de- • sired, but the board carried a resolution cutting it down to 300 ft to Union street. A frontage of 300 ft was of no use to them for their purposes. Fortunately the Harbour Board had now agreed to give them a frontage of 5.00 ft. This was practically what they had asked for at the conference. He wanted to say—and it was what he had said all along—that if the Harbour Board could give them a s : *e equally good lor a school on the other side of Hie road they would have been quite willing to consider it; but at present no one had shown them a site mere suitable tor a school The Harbour Board had submitted no plan of a site on the other side, "i don’t think it is fair,” continued Mr Wallace ‘‘to sav that the Education Board is blocking anything. We want a ste for a school; we must have a site foj a school. This site was chosen 15 years ago It has been a matter of negotiation with the Harbour Board for five of six years, and the Harbour Board has never yet said it was <ming to back out of its bargain. Continuing, Mr Wallace said the site selected was an ideal one for a school, probably the best in the dominion. The Hon. D. T. Homing said he die not think sporting bodies would object to the Education Board securing its area on the reclamation , The Chairman said the late headmaster of -\lbanv Street School was very muen opposed to taking a site on the other side of the road for the new school. Hie present position of the school was most unsuitable as it caught all the wind which swept up the harbour. Those who had anv interest in education and who took an unprejudiced view must be satisfied that they were asking for the best site for the* school. It had been stated in the newspapers that 95 per cent, of the people were against them. He had been stopped in the street twenty and more times and told that the board would be foolish to give up the site. The man who made the statement with regard to' the bo per cent, was not correct. * Mr L. Sanderson said that, roughly, they were asking only for an eighth of the area. All the rest of it, including the 20 acres for the University, would be used for recreation. ' Mr J. H. Wilkinson stated that the chairman had put the matter very fairly before them. He thought the Education Board had already made a v my great concession when it agreed that- the site should fee shifted from'where it was originallyfixed right up to Harbour teirace. He congratulated the Harbour Boax*d for desiring to abide by the agreement ‘entered into with the board. He moved that the oiler of the Harbour Board be accepted; also that a request be made that, if later on, before possession was taken of Hie site, the houses fronting Harbour terrace were removed, the sites be extended to Harbour terrace without increasing the area. ...

>lr R. H. Todd seconded the motion and remarked that it was difficult to understand why such strong opposition was made to the Education Board acquiring % site for a school. He did not believe in having one very large area for recreation; he would rather see half-a-dozen ten-acre blocks scattered about the town. The Chairman: I would point out that fa the exchange we are getting nothing for nothing. We are giving the Albany Street School site, with all the buildings and drainage add everything connected with it, for five acres of the reclamation. For five acres unimproved we are giving ane and three-quarter acres with a good many valuable buildings upon it. For

he other three acres we pay £IOO a year. The motion was carried, the Chairman remarking: I sincerely hope we have leard the last of it. It is, however, out p hope. It is not the easiest thing to :eep your back up when all the opposi-ic-n is out against you.