CAMP TREE PLANTING

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1935, Page 9

CAMP TREE PLANTING

BLOCKAGE OF THE VIEW I /' BELT ROAD RESIDENTS’ PETITION. STRONG OBJECTION TO SCHEME. Twenty-four ratepayers of the seaside district about Belt Road motor camp protested strongly to the New Plymouth Borough Council on Monday night against a resolution previously, passed by the council authorising the planting of approximately four acres, of trees on the railway reserve to provide shelter for the camp. The objections, based mainly on the depreciation of .the. capital value of the land as a result of interference with the view, were set out in- summary in a petition to the council and Mr. C. _H Croker was retained by the ratepayers concerned to elaborate their case verbally to the council. As a result of the deputation’s representations Or. F. LStaintbn. gave, notice of his intention to move the rescision of the tree-planting resolution,' and, after the. council had discussed the matter at . some length, the indication was that the motion Will meet with success when it comes before the council at its next meeting. The only dissentient- was Cr. J. Brown, who said that he would strongly oppose the abandonment Of the planting project and stated, that ; householders had not seen the sea in the past, anyway, because there had been lupins eight feet high on the area of land in question. ’The petition was accompanied by a letter from Messrs. •Croker and McCormick, solicitors,' urging that tfie petition should be heard before the work, already started, had been completed. The petition protested against the council’s intention to plant high growing trees on the railway property, west of Belt Road, and on the south side of the railway line. Trees such as pinus insignia would absolutely block out the view of the sea, shut out the sun in winter, litter the grounds with leaves and have a marked adverse effect on .the values of properties. The plantation would also bi come’ a harbour for undesirables, and. a fire danger from the engine sparks. “We believe the' intention is to shelter the camp- site,” the petitioners stated. “As this is only occupied in the summer months, we cannot see that it-is necessary. Surely the .interests of. ratepayers should' come before those of a few nomad campers. We. have paid high prices for our sections, on which we have built a good .class .of .'house,, each designed to gain the best, advantage'.of. spn and view. AH Will be'lost'if the council persists in planting high growing- trees.” If file council insisted; on placing campers’ interests first, the . petitioners suggested - laying out the: area in . shrdbs and lawns for tenpis; courts.: or in some other manner beautifying the area. As an asset to. the town, the- scheme would have the whole-hearted' support of the petitioners. ■ REPORT OF..INSPECTOR. A report from Inspector ’Day on the petition suggested that the petitioners were more alarmed than necessary. The site , had for years been a Wilderness of lupin and blackberry arid as .such represented a greater fire danger and harbour for ■undesirables than the trpe planting would be. It had never been intended to plant.pinus insigpis, the idea being to plant a line of inacrocarpa. 10 feet from the' neighbours’ boundary, ngaips near the railway- line and patches of other trees such' as tree lucerne for birds. Some pines: were required for shelter and the others could be varied/ ■ To the suggestion of the residents that a tennis court Should be laid, Inspector Day considered -a more suitable site for a court was on the piece. of land between Belt Road and Kawaroa Park. The town clerk, Mr. F. T. Bellringer, said he had given instructions for the planting to be not proceeded. with. The penalty for planting without the consent of the owner of the neighbouring property was, he said, £2O, and the adjoining, occupier might dig up the trees and recover the cost from the council if the Fencing Act was not complied with.

Mr. Croker said the ratepayers concerned had paid, between £260 and £4OO for their sections—a high price merely because they had a fine sea view. They had bought the land in the knowledge that the area between them and the sea was railways reserve but had never thought that anything would be done to offset the value of the elevation. Every section had been built on and every house was a credit to the town. Not one of the ratepayers concerned, although they had suffered heavily as a result of the depression, had applied for reassessment for rating purposes of the capital value of their land., They had taken the good with the bad and paid rates on the value of the land when they bought it. The capital value of properties involved amounted to approximately £25,000, he said. Another aspect of objection stressed was the council's right to expend money on land of which their tenure was insecure at possibly no ultimate benefit to ratepayers whatsoever. It was realised that the petitioners’ criticism to this point was destructive but Mr. Croker assured the council that every endeavour would be made to substitute some alternative scheme for beautifying the area and that any sound proposition to this end would meet with wholehearted support and co-operation. The council, however, should give very- careful consideration before it used citizens’ money to make a present of improvements to the Railway Department. PLANTING IN THE STREETS. Mr. Croker said that the deputation fully appreciated the work done by the council and by Inspector Day in making the motor camp one of the finest in the Dominion, but he did not believe that the- required shelter would be provided by the planting of pinus -insignia. If there was a wastage of trees at the nursery. he suggested to the council with all deference that tree planting in the streets, particularly sue! streets as Kitchener and Short Streets might well be ■. -ried out. Christchurch, Dunedin, Napier and Palmerston North had done much to improve the beauty of their streets by these means. “You don’t have to go out of Nev/ Plymouth to see that,” interjected the Mayor, Mr. E. R. C. Gilmour. “You should have a look at Peace Avenue.” Mr. Croker also suggested that a plantation might be made at the southern end of Kawaroa Park on the site at present occupied by “a few seedy-looking pinus muricata trees.” On the withdrawal of the deputation after its members had been thanked by the Mayor, who stated that he had a good deal of sympathy for their case, Cr. F. J. Hill expressed himself as sympathetic with the deputation also. Cr. R. S. S. Richardson said that he had, at the time the planting proposal was put forward, seen little objection to it but after (hearing Mr. Croker could see the viewpoint of the people concerned. It was obviously the duty of the council to protect the interests of its ratepayers. Cr. G. Fleming said that he greatly appreciated the work of Inspector Day, but thought that in this instance that the recommendation to plant the trees as a shelter had turned out to be wrong. The hand of the exploiter had been visible in making the people pay so much more for their sections merely because they could see the sea, but the council had no right to take away from the value of their properties by any action of its own.

Cr. P. E. Stainton recalled that when the 1 matter had been discussed before he had been doubtful .about the proposition on account of the council’s insecurity of tenure. If.the value of ratepayers’ holdings was affected by the proposal to plant shelter for the motor camp then the project of planting should be abandoned. In any case he believed that it was the intention of the Railway Department to shift the site of its goods sheds to provide more shunting space in the mam yards. That had been in his mind when he raised the question of tenure. He gave notice of intention to move that the wishes of the petitioners should be granted and that the planting resolution should be rescinded. Cr. Amoore also expressed himself in sympathy with the petitioners and remarked that he agreed that pinus insignia would only succeed in creating draught. Cr. F. S. Grayling said that possibly the problem of shelter could be solved by the provision of a low growing plantation that would not be objected to by the petitioners. Cr. Brown said that all the ratepayers concerned had done little but dump rubbish on the railway allotment in all the years they had had their houses on t..e block. He did not agree with any proposal to plant only pinus insignis, but if the area were not planted in some way it would only grow up in lupins and blackberry again. “We have improved that area beyond recognition,” he said, “but these people have not done a thing! They had no view in any case. They had lupins eight feet high growing at their back fences and did nothing about it. How they could see the sea over that beats me!” He intended to object strenuously to the proposal that no planting should be gone ahead with, again emphasising that he did not necessarily favour pinus in-

signis particularly, even though the variety was satisfactory if kept topped. . With Cr. Brown’s expression of opinion the discussion closed until Cr. Stain ton moves his motion of recision at the next meeting.