STRONG OPPOSITION TO ESTABLISH SALEYARDS AT WANGANUI EAST

Wanganui Chronicle, 17 January 1948, Page 4

STRONG OPPOSITION TO ESTABLISH SALEYARDS AT WANGANUI EAST

Opposition to the establishment of stock sale yards on a site within the city at Wanganui East will be as strong as it was on the last occasion, if not stronger. This was indicated yesterday by Mr. D. H. Hopkirk, who was one of a number of Wanganui East people who successfully opposed the project last year. It is argued by Wanganui East residents that the 11 acres ot city land on which it is proposed saleyards should be established is land ideally suited for building purposes, and if the city is to expand, as they are sure it will do, then that land will he required for building on. Perhaps even more land than that will be in demand in the near future for suburban homes. At the present time, it is pointed out, the demand for suit, able land for home-building sites b accentuated by the present housing shortage, and it is difficult to obtain areas such as that in issue at Wanganui East. It is held by many residents in the suburb that the establishment of saleyards will have a depressing effect on values in the near neighbourhood of the yards. Thev go so far as to say that values will fall by at least a third as soon as a decision is made to put yards there. Danger to children from stock, the detrimental effect of such yards on health, and the handicap to city home building are three points which will be stressed very vigorously by opponents of the yards. It is stated that opposition is being fostered not oh' political lines, but entirely from a civic point ot view. Opponents of the scheme are emphatically opposed to city land being taken. If yards' were being established outside the city they would feel that they had no say whatever. It would not be within their jurisdiction to oppose. Similarly, they look for fair play on the part of those seeking the yards, that they should not try and force the city to accept them. ,-<V Residents of Wanganui East, while they are definitely opposed to yards within their own suburb, are also opposed to yards within the city proper at all, believing that in theae days ot easy motoj transport stock activity could be kept outside the oity limits as much as possible. They particularly oppose the yards at Wanganui East because that is the natural way in which the city will extend, and land ot great, value will become lost to this and future generations.