Sessional_Paper_1889 — Page 20

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As however the maintenance of the new sea-wall when completed will be a charge on the public funds, it has been deemed necessary that its construction should be under the strict supervision of the Government. So that for this reason and on other grounds of obvious convenience the whole of the works will be undertaken by the Surveyor General's Department under a special Engineer appointed for the purpose. Though the owners of frontage-lots, as the Governor is advised on high authority, are not in a position analogous to that of riparian proprietors, inasmuch as they have no immediate access to the sea (the foreshore having for many years been occupied by a wide public street), it is held that what- ever may be their legal rights they have for various reasons, well understood here, a moral claim to compensation in respect of reclamations in front of their land. On this ground, therefore, and in order to avoid the endless litigation that would otherwise arise in respect of the complicated interests involved, it has been deemed right to come to terms with them, under which they will undertake the whole cost and risk of the work, and will receive in return a very large share of the profits, estimated from the present value of frontage land to reach the large total of over $5,000,000.

The Governor was of opinion that this profit on the part of the lot-holders was unduly large; and that either they should pay a considerable sum by way of premium, or the Government should carry out the reclamation on its own account, paying equitable compen- sation for any injury to private rights. The Secretary of State however did not take this view, and has decided that in any case negotiations have gone too far to impose any such stipulation now; and he accordingly sanctioned with some minor modifications the terms provisionally arranged with the lot-holders and approved the draft of the Ordinance now submitted for carrying them into effect.

The Ordinance in its present form has therefore already received the careful consideration of Her Majesty's Government; and the Governor has much pleasure in giving effect to the Secretary of State's decision on the scheme, which, whatever the gain of individuals, is fraught with unquestionably great advantages to the public. These are shortly as follows:-

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(1.) The provision of some 32 acres of building sites, which, when covered with houses (as they are morally certain to be as soon as completed) will afford a substantial relief to the present congested condition of the Town of Victoria or at least will tend to prevent the still further overcrowding of that contiguous portion of the Town which already is probably more densely populated than any other equal space in the world.

(2.) The conversion into wholesome drained land of the present noxious foreshore, which is becoming year by year a more serious nuisance, and involving an ever increasing danger to the health of the community.

(3.) A great improvement in the Port, as regards the conditions of discharging cargoes, arising from the fact that vessels of large draught will be able to lie alongside the proposed sea-wall throughout its entire length, and thus save considerable sums in lighterage.

(4.) A large pecuniary gain to the Colonial Treasury consisting of,—

(a.) The profit from that portion of the reclamation to be undertaken by the Government in front of its own property; the land to be thus reclaimed being estimated at the value of $1,803,956, against an estimated cost of $362,369, showing a probable net profit of $1,441,587.

(b.) A probable return estimated, (according to the low rate of $1 per square foot), at $300,000, from land in Kennedytown now useless, which will be converted into valuable building sites by the removal of rock and earth for the proposed reclamation.

(c.) Rent from the sites last mentioned and from the reclaimed land

estimated at $29,200 per annum.

Briefly summarised the pecuniary profit which is estimated as likely to accrue to the Government from this scheme is $1,741,587 from land-sales and an annual income from rent amounting to $29,200.

الله

It will be observed that in the above estimate of advantages no account has been taken of the large amount, estimated at $100,000 per annum to be derived from the rates that will be payable in respect of the buildings erected on the reclaimed land and on the Kennedytown sites mentioned, the reason of the omission being that it is difficult to forecast at the moment how far this sum will be absorbed by additional charges for Police Stations, Police, Lighting, &c. It is not at all probable that these charges will reach so large a total or anything like it; but in setting forth the benefits of the scheme, the Governor desires to err, if at all, on the side of under-statement.