THE HAMILTON BOROUGH LOAN, PUBLIC BUILOINGS, &c

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2125, 20 February 1886, Page 2

THE HAMILTON BOROUGH LOAN, PUBLIC BUILOINGS, &c

His Won-lliP the Mayor of Huniltoii ieturned lioin ) ji'-t-iilay -'ft i tmon fioni Auckland, wliitli- 1 In) went fm the ]mjp<>-e r>f teeing tha Colonial Ttca-uiei and the CJrown Land- authoritk*, m fm»h >i <. .cc of tlie >clkmii.' for-rftWn^- 'i I'if i in.; m-c lion of public h uliliii/- «i. tin 1 nnpiow>" m< nt itf t!)i> (imn mi 1 tii'l , Hid tn ha-teri tli > -tej>> lit'in,; 1 11.1.11 f'>r voting tlii- 1 aids in tin- l>"i 'U^li In tin iMih p.ut of the weilc Mi Gi iliun («iiiiiiiiiM.cit d uitli the Town (Mi lk by wue, lmt a- thine. (i( i i- h en mi meeting of the On'inul no <itfici.il <u reliable nifot m ill- >n i >m, nrng the in-nlt nf the M.i> i>i -. v lilt tit Auckland .Hid W iivveia li.i- Ikmmi iii uh' imli'.c. Mi Gi id ii» aiiivcd in Auckland on Wedn- >d ly, the 10th. On the f.illn a ui^ div ln> h.id m interview with Mr Tole, the Alini«stor <if Ju-tice, to whom lie -'low.d the -ki'ti i. pluis of the piKpKMMI p-iblic building- and c\|)lnini>i] tin* aotion ti'd-n by thu i.ite. payeis. Mr Tole waimly approved of the schenu*, but thought there wore objection', to the Government becoming tenant- of tho borough, though not in-uporable one-". It would be better )f the Govern mont elected the nece--uy building in conjunction with th" b trough, n- l- being done in Dunedin. In .my case ho thought tho buildings should be of a substantial character. Ho authmiscd .Mi Grahun to convey to Sir Julius Vngel hi- opinions. Subsequently the M iyor waited on the Commissioner of Clown Lands in rcfeience to the domim laud- to be handed o\er t<i tho borough, and .i>ceitii:ied that •jo far as the Depiitiucnt m Auclvhnd is concerned eveiything nectary had been done, and the plan- forwarded tr» Wellington. Mr D. A. Tole advised Mr Giah.un to remain in Auckland fm a few days in order to see the Under Secretary for Linds, which the Mayor did on his return from Waiwera, and as a lesult of the mtnview with Mr Elliott, matters were fmther facilitated, and placed in such a position that nothing lemains to bo done save the u-ual loutino required dining the time noco-san to elapse befoie there»"ive- cuibe 1 iwfully ve-ted in the bomugh. On the llth Mr (Uaham proceeded to Waiweia and had a long interview with Sir Julius Vogel. Ho fully explained «vll matteis connected with tho piopo-al-, and left with the Tieasnrer all plan- and documents connected therewith for his peru-a). At Sir Julius Vogel'-i request the Mayoi bub e equcntly leduced the matter to writing as follows :— WaIW kka, February llth 18Hli. Silt, — I havo the honour to .set before you the matter which has led me to seek an interview with you and to respectfully solicit a leply. The subject i- in connection with the proposed improvements about to be undei taken by the Borough Council of Hamilton. In order to be buef I would beg to refer you to my letter to the Hon. the Minister for Lidd-, and the conespoudence which has pasted relative to the handing over to the Borough of Hamilton ceitam lauds within the Borough as Domain Land-. lam convinced that Hamilton i» the most suitable administrative centre for the Waikato "\ud adjacent settlements. And that tho time has at rived for the erection of suitable public buildings for district -nrvey-<, lands, justice, and registration and stamp pm poses, and that it will be gieatly to the advantage of all paities if co-operali\o action were taken by the Government and the Bnough rtuthouties in the election of a block of building- to provide accomodation for Borough and geuei.il Government purpose-, such a- specified in my letter to tho Hon. the Native Minister and the Mmi-ter for Lands. In appioachinsr you I beg to state that 1 do -o as Mayor of H imilton, acting with full eoncunence of my Council; but at the same tune alsi> h* a resident of over 20 yeais in Waikato, and having the luteieit- of the whole widespread district in view, and nioi cover, a thoioiigh knowledge of locuhtie-. I feel the uln>o-t confidence in uiging the advisability of e-tabli-liing Govemnit.i)t land-, survey, registration and stamp oitice- in Waik.ito, and I am -upported in this view, I believe, by the Hon. Mr UalUnce and the Hon. Mr Tole ; theieforo 1 ask your co-operation with the borough authorities. At present I am authorised by acclamation of my biuges-e-in undei tikmg for the b.nough a block ot buildings (to co-t not more than two thousand pound-) upon a -lie the property of the borough. Tin- sum would necessitate tho buildings being of timber. But the question has now arisen as to whether it would not be better for the Government to undertake the erection of the buildings upon a -ite of their own, to include a Di-tnct and Re-ideut Magi-tiato Court, the building.- to be of a peuu-uicut character, and the bmough be asked to contiibute. a sum equivalent to the cost of the portion of the buildine- set apart fm their u-e, foi Boiough Council purpo-es. Tho Hon. Minister of Justice authoii-ed me to -ay that he would considei tin- latter plan the most suitable, and lefened me to you foi your views theteupon. The plans which I had the honour of submitting to you ye-.ter-day are, for timber buildings, to cost about £2000. It will be a great saving of money if the Government c mid -cc then way to co-operate \\ lth the borough in the election of a suitable block of buddings for all purposes of a peimanent con-tiuction, and therefore I have deemed it the wisest cour.se to interview you before I commit the borough to any phiis for building- of tluu own. — I have the honour to be, Sn, youi most obedient servant, Wilmvm A. Guuivm Mayor. A couple of day-; afterwards Mr Giahain received the following reply :— Waiwera, Feb. 13th, 1880. To W. A. Gkahvm, E&y., Mayor ol Hamilton. Sir,— l have the honour to acknowledge the leceipt of your letter of ye-teidayS date. I have al-o veiy caiefully lv.id the papers and correspondence you were good enough to leave with me, and coiisideied the representations which you uiJide to me during om interview on the llth in»t. I telegiaphed to Mr Ballance, as I told you I would, but have not yetieceived any reply. I agiee with you that it would be desirable to locate tha i.llke-. for public pui poseunder one roof. So far .is concei ns an y f rc-h offices that require to be erected, I am not able to judge until I confer with officers of the dopaitmeut whether a new post and telegraph office is lequned. It would be a pity to erect .-mall lnteum offices, beciuse if you i" expectations as to theiapid piogre-s of the town are realised veiy con-ideiable offices may shoitly be wanted. Until I know about the post and telegraph office there does not appear to be any of the offices in which my depaitments aie inteiested. I cannot therefore discu-s the ternih on which the proposed joint election should be made. Should the matter come befoie me I will give it not unfriendly consideration. I veiy heartily sympathise with your desire to attend to the progress of settlement in youi di-titct. I cordially agrae with you that this work can be done much better by the local bodies willing to attend to it than by authonties at a long distance. There are limit- of couioe contiolled by distance, size of locality, willingness of local bodies to aid. But -peaking geneially it seems to me that for u di-triut the -i/e of the Waikato, and at such a distance from the central authority "oi eential bianch authority, local facilities should be abundantly given. Of course I can evpre-s no opinion as to the most suitable centie of opeiation- beyond saying that the iea-oii& yon give for the selection of Hamilton appear in the absence of any other .statement to be remaikably foicible and cogent. I ob-erve that you propose to issue <> per cent, debentures, having a cunency <>t fifty years. You w ill excuse me for saying that if the town is likely to fulfil the expectations you foi in of it, it is a cruel thing to father on it so extended a liability at such a heavy rate of interest, one which may effectually stand in the way of other loans for further improvements or for tho-e works which modern thought c.msidei- suitable to luuuiuip il q iv eminent, *uch of the supply of light and water. I am glad to be able to help you in this mat ter, or indeed I would not refer to it. If you obtain the necessary authority to is-ue the debentures, and the security on investigation is found to be sufficient, I will take the debentures for the Post Office Savings Bauk Fund at an interest of 5$ per cent, with the power to you to pay them off at any time on giving six months notice. To save you interest, the debentures can be taken in parcels, as you require the money, or all at once. The cuirency does not matter with the power I propose to concede to give notico to pay the debentures oif. — I have the honour.to ba, Sir, Your obedient servant, JI'LIUS YOUEL.

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