DUNEDIN SCHEMES.

Otago Witness, Issue 360, 23 October 1858, Page 5

DUNEDIN SCHEMES.

To the Editor of the Otago Witness.

Sir,— Allow me to draw your attention to a welllaid trap into which the Dunedin Town Board seems very innocently to have dropped. During the Soiree at the close of the Lectures given under the auspices of the Young Men's Association, the meeting were much amused when Mr. Macandrew, in true Micawber style, expounded & theory by which £400 being raised, was made to expand itself by some mysterious process into £2000 —the cost of a proposed Athenaeum. The joke did not end here, for the great Wizard of the South, seeing the meeting in good humour, reflecting no doubt on their own simplicity in not having before seen how easy it is to get hold of capital, goodhumouredly made no objection when he named several gentlemen whom he saw about, a committee for the purpose of developing an Athenaeum a la Micawber.

So far so well: an excellent after-tea-joke had been let off with good effect ; but I was surprised to see in yesterday's Colonist, that the gentlemen so named in a gossipping way considered themselves entitled to take action in the matter, and still more so that the Town Board, on the motion of Mr. Lambert, agreed that one of the sections in Manse Street at present occupied as a lumber and auction yard by Messrs. James Macandrew & Co., be let to the committee at a rental of ss. per annum, for the purpose of building an Athenaeum thereon. Now I do not object to land being granted frea for such a purpose, but I do object most strongly that one of the most valuable sections in Dunedin and in the business centre of the town, should bo given for a purpose for which it is unsuitable, as it is generally found that the bustle of a business street is not conducive to the comfort of a reading, room or the conduct of a deliberative body,— it being proposed likewise that the Provincial Council should meet theie,— a more retired spot being infinitely preferable for a building that is to be used for either of these purposes. It may not be a matter of much importance to the few who have already secured business sites, but is of consequence to parties who have more lately arrived, and who want a good site for a place of business quite as much a 9 the old hands ; to see the land most fitted for such a purpose actually fooled away. The section in question wonld make four or five business stances equal to any in the town. I think if the Board wish to do the generous in the matter, they should offer to pay the ground-rent for a more suitable site for the Athenajum, from any monies in their hands otherwise than those derived from this source. Such a proceeding would prove a boon both to the Institution itßelf and to the trading community, and make a very considerable addition to the income of the Town Board.

My own impression is, that the Athenaeum will prove a myth, and that Messrs. James Macandrew and Co. will continue to have the use of the section, the Committee paying the rent, which will not be a very ruinous affair, as it will only involve an outlay on their part of about eightpence per annum each.

Query— lst, Had the Town Board the right to lease that public property a fraction below its current value ?

2nd, If it has the right, could it be shown that good/Mth has been kept with the country members 6f tno Provincial Council who passed over this property to be administered by the Town Board for objects in which both town and country had an equal interest ?— I am, Sec,

LOOKBW-ON.

Dunedin, 16th, October 1858.