“THREATENED WITH DEMOLITION”

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21360, 1 June 1939, Page 11

“THREATENED WITH DEMOLITION”

To the Editor of “ The Timaru Herald ” Sir,—ln connection with the problem now confronting the Waimate Acclimatisation Society and the Waikakahi Domain Board, I should like to make it clear that the area of 10 acres at the Reserve was secured through the efforts of the Society in 1898. At that time, 10 huts were on the site and the land was part of the McLean Estate. The reserve was fenced in 1899. In 1900 it was gazetted as a recreation reserve. It is hard to understand why this was done because private building on a reserve is not permissible. Actually the hut holder in 1900 should have been ordered to get out. and if that course had been taken the reserve would have existed in name only, and would have been overrun with gorse and broom and of no benefit to anglers. No one was placed in control, and as the years went on a tew more huts were built.

In 1909, the Socletv appointed a caretaker and shortly after secured a lease from the Land Board. This lease, and also a subsequent one, was irregular. Since the crisis of tire affairs was reached the Society has done its utmost to reach a satisfactory solution. Purchase of the land was tried (valuation is £3O, the Society offered £5O). Permission was asked for half the area to be made available for hut sites so that any member who had contributed to the assets of the Society could if he chose take advantage of the facilities provided with his own money. Representations made to the Minister of Lands (the Hon. F. Langstone) in 1937 by a disgruntled angler have been the cause of all the trouble. These were that the general public were being prevented from obtaining the full use and enjoyment of the reserve. This charge I definitely deny, as the public have had the facilities available on equal terms with the members of the Society.

Campers to the locality have been almost non-existent; a matter of a few shillings a year is received from them. There is ample room, -.part from the reserve for all who care to go to its vicinity and reserves nearby are being farmed. However, the Hon. Minister of Lands decided to make the area a public domain, controlled by representatives nominated by the Waimate County Council, local residents, and in a private capacity, by members nominated by the Society. Neither of the two former bodies desired representation and by force of circumstances, the Board is composed of members of the Society. If further private building was permissible to the extent of half the area, an agreement would have been reached, but this was not allowed. Had the control of the reserve been vested in the Society in 1900, all would have been well, but as this was not the case it meant that the Society had no right to have any assets there at a later date. However, without a Society, there could have been no reserve. The area has been utilised to meet the needs of the district, providing anglers and their friends, also casual daily visitors, with facilities to meet their

needs at little or no cost. The Minister of Lands considered a Domain Board necessary in the interests of the general public, and those who arc likely to use. the area in future. Surely, if this is his view, he does not expect the Society to provide him with a properly equipped reserve witiiout granting compensation on at least a 50 per cent basis. The improvements have been created with money from which the majority of tire Society members can get no benefit. The Minister should either have sold the area to lire Society, or been prepared to grant it compensation. The former course was the better because the Society’s management satisfied everyone satisfiable. The cost of a Domain Board will be greater than if the area was run by the Society because it is impossible to overlook the fact that the divorcing of the "camp” from tire Society's control must, unconsciously, perhaps, take away the pride of something created or partly cren'ed, or the initiative of those responsible for its management. Furtherfore, there is ample cheap land in the locality, some of it unused, and so plenty of scope for the Minister of Lands to provide at the country’s expense, such facilities as may be needed to give the public access to places to which they are entitled.—l am, etc., SYDNEY COX. President of the Waimate Acclimatisation Society. Waimate, May 30.