THE DOMAIN QUESTION

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6788, 27 February 1890, Page 4

THE DOMAIN QUESTION

The action of the City Council at its last meeting, in endorsing the opinion of its Committee that the Park and Domain should be controlled by a Board elected by the local bodies, may be considered the first practical step towards the removal of a state of thinga which arc admittedly unsatisfactory. It may be of interest to our readers to learn the reasons which actuated the Committee referred to, more fully than they were given at the meeting of the Council. CAUSES OF THE PIiESENT MOVEMENT. Councillor Gray, Chairman of the Committee, in conversation with a member of our stuff, gave some information on the subject which has not, heretofore, been made public, and alao reviewed much of what has been published. " The matter was suggested to me," he 6&id, " by noticing the untidy and dilapidated appearance which the Domain has presented for some time. In years gone by the citizens were proud of the Domain, but latterly anyone taking a stroll through it could not fail to be struck with the desolation which appeared to prevail. One noticeable act of vandalism was the wholesale destruction of the trees opposite the bathing place. Some few months ago there was a good deal of writing in the papers because the City Council had the willows along the river banks trimmed, but this felling of trees in the Domain was, I consider, much more deserving of reprobation. I have been informed by a gentleman holding very high testimonials as a practical forester, that some seven hundred trees have been 6old by the Domain Board ! for firewood, many of which, such as the J ash treeß, would have brought £3 or £i each if sold as timber. In fact, it is well known that a carriage-builder in the city bought a large quantity of this ash timber for use in his work for as many shillings as it was worth pounds. "I admit that the Domain Board are not burdened with too much money for carrying out improvements. The revenue they used to get from grants in the halcyon days of Provincialism has long ceased, and they have to be content with a very small income derived partly from the interest on .£3OOO held by trustees for their benedt. They amo receive nearly .£250 a year, made up by pasturage fees, rents of cricket grounds, and occasional sales of plants and trees. " One great objection in the minds of the public to the Domain Board is that the members are nominated by the Government, and responsible, apparently, to no one. Their statement of accounts ib never published, and it is very difficult to obtain the smallest item of information regarding their operations. Some of the members live so far from town that they are almost inaccessible, and the management virtually falls upon the Chairman and the Secretary. DOMAINS ELSEWHERE. "Since the City Council passed the resolution appointing the Committee to tafee into consideration the advisableness or otherwise of obtaining from Parliament the necessary power to enable the Council to have control of the Park and Domain, letters have been received from several places, within and outside of the Colony, showing how domains are managed elsewhere. The Town Clerk of Sydney wrote stating that the largest park there, Moore Park, is controlled by the City Council, and that the Domain and Centennial Parks are in the hands of the Government. There are several Email parks immediately under civic control. " The Town Clerk of Melbourne informed us that the parks and gardens within the City are vested jointly in a Government Department styled the Board of Land and Works, and in the City Council, and are controlled by a Committee composed of representatives of those bodies. Government and the City Council contribute each .£3OOO a year for maintenance and improvements, and this amount is supplemented by about £1000 a year derived from an agistment upon cattle. " To come nearer home, the Town Clerk of Auckland writes : * The Auckland Domain used to be under the control of a nominated Board, and parks and reserves within the City have always been under control of the Council. The Domain Board powers are now vested in the City Council, and the work much better and more economically administered than was formerly the case, by a body representative of the citizens, which the previous Board was not. It is, however, only proper that, instead of holding delegated powers, in my opinion such domains should be vested in the elected representatives of the city. "The Auckland City Council only required an Order-in-Council to give them control of the domain. It was not necessary to go to Parliament for a special Act, and I know of no reason why an Act of Parliament should be required to transfer the control of the Cbristohurch Domain from the present Board to another one. "The only reserve at Dunedin which can come under the category of domains is the Botiinical Garden, near the Water of Leibh. It is under the control of the City Council, and is a credit to that body. "Perhaps one of the strongest arguments in favour of transferring domains from the control of nominated Board 3 to j that of elected bodies was the excellent article in the Ly Helton Times on the condition of the Ashburton Domain under the old Board and under the Borough Council. REASONS FOR THE COMMITTEE'S PROPOSAL. "The Committee found that, in regard to nearly all the domains throughout Canterbury, the Borough Councils, where such bodies existed, have the functions of Domain Boards. Notwithstanding the consensus or evidence in favour of the City Counci' having the control of the Park and domain, there appeared to bo some objection to it in the minds of a large number of the ratepayers, based on apprehension that perhaps some future Council might seek to alienate portions of the land in order to let or sell itfor raising revenue. The Committee also thought that it would be better to have a more thoroughly representative Board than even the Council to mannge the Domain. Accordingly they decided on the scheme laid before the Council on Monday night. A Board constituted as they suggest will give fair representation to every part of the district to which the. Park might be supposed to belong. I think, from what I have been told by ratepayers, that such a Board, being more popular than a nominated one, would receive more assistance in the way of donations, both of plants and money. Another argument in favour of a combined representative Board is that if it should be found necessary to expend any small sum, in addition to ordinary income, in improvements, the amount to be expended would be divided among so many local bodies that it would fall very lightly upon each. At any rate, I do not think it possible to have a much worse state of affairs than at present, and all the evidence the Committee could get seems to show that it is almost certain the proposed change would lead to a great improvement in the management."