3
(2)
I estimate that the average cost of the reclamations will in no case exceed two dollars a square foot when all expenses are paid, while not a square foot of the new land will sell for less than four dollars a square foot, and by far the larger proportion will realize from twelve to fifteen dollars a square foot. I am sanguine, therefore, that if the Government were to lease to the Marine Lot-owners the areas which they would be able to reclaim under the present project, they, or the majority of them, would be willing to come forward, and by carrying out the work at their sole expense, achieve free of cost to the public, the greatest sanitary improve- ment of which the Colony has ever stood in need.
To secure the co-operation of the Marine Lot-owners, however, in a great health reform like this, it would be necessary that the Government should, con- sistently with its practice in all previous cases of sea reclamation by private enterprise, not surcharge the new land to be made with any premium. To levy a premium on ground made artificially by them at so heavy a personal cost, woulă be to deprive the Marine Lot-owners of the fruit of their labours, and might throw cold water on a project from which so much good is to be anticipated to the whole community.
His Excellency the Acting Governor will, moreover, recognize that in surren- dering to Government a large proportion of their reclamations, for the purposes of roads and streets for the general use of the public, the Lot-owners would be pay- ing more than the equivalent of a fair premium. But the Government would not remain pecuniarily unbenefited from the labours of the Marine Lot-owners, for the yearly Crown Rent of an area so large as to extend from the Gas Works to the Cricket Ground, would amount to a very large sum, and in addition, the rates and taxes to be derived from the buildings that would soon cover this great expense of new land would create a still larger annual revenue. Viewed financially, therefore, the reclamations would be no less beneficial to the Public Treasury than they would be from a sanitary standpoint to the community generally, and it is this combination of advantages to the Government, to the Public, and to the Marine Lot-owners, which convinces me that the project must compel His Excellency's hearty approval.
I will only add that, in the event of these proposals meeting with a favourable reception from the Acting Governor, I would be happy to give any further expla nations that may be required on the details of the project, or to assist in furthering it by placing myself in communication with the Marine Lot-owners interested, and obtaining their co-operation on the terms which I have here set forth.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
C. P. CHATER.
(2.)
(Surveyor General's Report.)
1. I have carefully considered Mr. CHATER'S scheme, and have prepared a plan of it to accompany this report, shewing tinted red those reclamations which would devolve on the Marine Lot-owners and tinted yellow those which would devolve on the Government. From the first I have thought Mr. CHATER'S project deserving of favourable consideration, for it holds out, as he observes, advantages to the Government, to the Marine Lot-owners, and to the Colony generally.