PROVINCIAL COUNCIL CHAMBERS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 116, 22 June 1914, Page 5

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL CHAMBERS.

CITY COUNCIL'S APPLICATION FOR SITE. CANTERBURY'S CLAIM. With regard to the City Council's application to the Government for the site on which the Provincial Council Chambers stand for the purposes of a Town Hall site, an application which was discussed between the Mayor, the Hon. H. D. Bell, and local Parliamentary representatives last Friday, the Mayor had produced a copy of a letter written by him to the Minister of Internal Affairs on May 8, and a copy of the Minister's reply thereto, dated May 13. It will be remembered that in the report of the discussion published in THE SUN last Friday, the Minister agreed to give the site to the council provided the city gave the Government an acre and a-half of level land within the same approximate radius from the Square, and would not consider that the land taken from the city for the hospital site shoxild be regarded as a return for the land on which the Provincial buildings stand. THE MAYOR'S VIEWPOINT. In his letter, the Mayor points out that, "the Provincial Council site was reserved for a hospital site, and presented to the Provincial Government by the Canterbury Association in 1854. Ten years later it was found to be too I small for a "hospital, and five acres of I Hagley Park was taken. The Provincial Government of Canterbury erected the buildings thereon, so that neither the Provincial Government nor the General Government has ever been put to any expense in acquiring this land, and more than 22 acres has been taken from the people *out of Hagley Park, for which they have received nothing in exchange. The Provincial Council Chambers stand on about 1£ acres of ground. '' The City of Christchurch was originally one mile square, of which more than half was city reserve, the idea being that the rents from this endowment would ultimately provide all necessary revenue to maintain the city without any rates. The Provincial Government being hard pressed for money in those days, sold the whole of these reserves for the small sum of £20,0°0. This money was spent in the completion of the Christchurch-Lyttelton tunnel and the General Post Office, both of which belong to the General Government, and the city has no direct interest in either. The point I wish to make clear is that the city has lost all this valuable endowment which would have rendered it quite unnecessary to rate the people at all, and nothing has been given in exchange, and we ask that this property should now be restored to the people of this -city, as a small compensation for what the city has contributed to public works now vested in the Government of the Dominion.

''ln the matter of endowments, Christchurch is the worst endowed city in the Dominion; indeed, many small towns have much larger incomes from endowments than this city has. For example, I believe Lyttelton receives about 75 per cent, of its income from reserves, and Akaroa is in a similar position. Many others could be mentioned. While Dunedin has an income of £10,024 from endowments, Wellington £17,990, and Auckland £13,474, Christchurch has only £1478. Our total does not nearly meet our annual expenditure on reserves. Had we been allowed to retain our reserves set apart in the early days, Christchurch to-day would have been the wealthiest city in the Dominion, and there would have been no rates, whereas we have to raise £55,000 by rates. The Dominion has got the benefit of these reserves and hospital site, and has given nothing in exchange." "Going back to the year previous to the abolition of the Province, I find in the ' Gazette' for 1875-6 the following interesting statements: —

The gross revenue was no less than £916,208 The gross expenditure was .. £760,862 The nett revenue £155,346

Amongst the items for expenditure were: —

Land survey .. .. .. .. £21,028 School buildings £30,000 Education maintenance .. £29,465 Railway works .. .• • £124,747 Hospitals, Supreme Courts, gaols, and asylums .. .. £43,801 Bridges £59,739 Roads £20,779

All these are now Government properties, and, besides this, a cheque for £IOB,OOO was handed over to the General Government., In addition to all this 246 miles of completed railways with rolling stock were included in the assets handed over to the General Government. The value set on the works completed was no less than 3i millions Stirling and £IOB,OOO in cash, all of which is now the property of the General Government. The result is that Christchurch is left the poorest endowed city in the Dominion.

"It would be a graceful act of the Government at this juncture to present this old property to the city for a Town Hall site on which we propose to erect a building to cost £IOO,OOO. I would like to suggest, in the event of this application being granted, that the Government should stipulate f<?r the preservation of the old Council Chamber for all time.

"I have had a plan made of the grounds, and have satisfied myself and my committee that there is ample room on the site for a Town Hall and the necessary offices, and additional land in the vicinity could be provided should it ever be required." MINISTER'S REPLY. In reply the Minister wrote as follows: — '' The case based upon the acts of the Provincial Government of Canterbury before the abolition of the province cannot, I think, be relied on in support of your request. Those matters were Canterbury matters, and dealt with from the point of view of Canterbury only by the Provincial Government. Precisely the same questions have arisen in other provinces—for instance, the General Government, on the abolition of provinces, sold a part of the reclaimed land in the city of Wellington which had been reclaimed by the Provincial Government for the purposes of a city, and there are many similar cases." "The Government, of course, bas no power in the matter. The question as to whether Parliament should be asked to consider favourably the request you make on behalf of your city must, I think, depend entirely upon consideration of advantage to the city and Government respectively, and be unaffected by matters which took place undor the Provincial Government —unless, in-

deed, you can sliow that the Provincial Government would have surrendered its Council Chamber and its buildings to tlio city for civic purposes, in consequence of certain portions of Hagley Park having been taken for a hospital. - "I trust you will understand that in thus attempting to define the position I am not assuming an attitude hostile at all to the proposals which you make, and which I do not doubt the Government will speedily consider upon their merits. I will bring your letter before the Prime Minister and Cabinet at the earliest opportunity. I personally sympathise (as I think every member of the Government does) with the desire of the people of Canterbury that nlie historical associations of the Provincial' Council Hall should be preserved; but iigain, that is equally possible whether the Government or the city controls the eito upon which that building stands."