D.—B

4

City Council, explaining that this is the extreme limit to which reclamation should be carried. I have marked the modified line referred to in brown colour on the first plan submitted to you (M.D. GOG), and a tracing on an enlarged scale will be prepared to accompany the memorandum to be sent to the Harbour Board, should you approve of this recommendation. John Blackett, Marine Office, 14th February, 1882. Marine Engineer.

No. 8. Mehoeakdtjm for the Hon. the Mintstee, Marine Department, by the Maeine Engineeb. I beg to recommend that copy of my first memorandum on the above, with plan sent to the City Council, be also sent to the Harbour Board along with the second memorandum and plan which you have authorized to be sent. This, if approved, will put the Harbour Board in possession of all correspondence connected with above, and will assist them materially in considering the question at issue. John Blackett, Marine Office, 15th February, 1882. Marine Engineer.

No. 9. The Secbetaby, Marine Department, to the Chaieman, Harbour Board. Sie, — Marine Department, Wellington, 16th February, 1882. I have the honor, by direction of the Minister haying charge of this department, to forward herewith copies of two memoranda by the Colonial Marine Engineer on the proposed Te Aro reclamation, together with tracings of the plans referred to therein; and lam to request that you will furnish me with an expression of the Board's opinion on the matter, as suggested by Mr. Blaekett in his memorandum of the 14th instant. I have, &c, • • H. S. McKellae, The Chairman, Wellington Harbour Board, Wellington, For Secretary.

Enclosure to No. 4. No. 7.

No, 10. The Haeboue Boaed and the Te Aeo Becxamation. [Extract from 'Evening Post, 21st February, 1882.] A SPECIAL meeting of the Harbour Board was held yesterday evening to consider communications received from the Marine Department relative to the Te Aro reclamation. The members present were Mr. Levin (Chairman), W. V. Jackson, J. Nathan, S. Lancaster, G. Fisher, E. A. Krull, and Captain Bose. Mr. Jones (Engineer to the Board), Mr. Baird (City Engineer), and Captain Holliday (Harbourmaster) were also in attendance. The Chairman said it might perhaps be convenient that he should say a word or two in reference to the position of the Board, with a view to preventing any wrong impression, and to do so he would have to refer to the negotiations which, had taken place between the City Corporation and the Board. The members of the Board were aware that the communications with the Corporation were initiated by the Board. Having noticed that that body were going actively to work to reclaim a portion of the Te Aro foreshore, they thought it would be desirable that at the time the work was being contracted for the contract should also embrace a portion of the foreshore to which the Board were entitled, and they asked the Council if they would include this portion of the foreshore in their specifications. The Committee of the Board had several interviews with the Committee of the Council, and some correspondence took place; but he (Mr. Levin) was perfectly certain he spoke the mind of every individual on the Board when he said that the Board's estimate of the meaning of those interviews and that correspondence was that they were joining with the Corporation in a reclamation of which they were to own a part, and that the Board's approval of the plans was an approval in conjunction with the Corporation of the reclamation, but not in respect of the reclamation of the whole, as it affected the well-being of the harbour (hear, hear). Whether rightly or wrongly, it appeared to the Board, after reading the Act, that the question of how this reclamation affected the harbour would bo decided, at any rate in the first instance, by the officers of the Marine Department; and the Board assumed, and he thought with good reason, that if their opinion on that matter was desired they should be asked to give it by the officers of the Marine Department. He said that much because he Bhould be very sorry indeed that there should be any even apparent difference of opinion between the two bodies whose sole business was to promote the interests of the inhabitants of this city; and, as a misconception had apparently arisen, it was best he should state how he conceived that misconception had arisen. He said again that they, as a Harbour Board, were under the impression that they were giving their approval for one thing, while the City Council thought that approval to be in another direction. Now, in respect to the object of their meeting that night, he would only say this much : that, as a member of the Harbour Board, and as a citizen of Wellington, he conceived that the same interests should be guarded by the citizens and by the members of the Board. Clearly, to his mind, what would damage in any sense the harbour in its navigation would damage the advancement of this city and its inhabitants. He ventured to think the harbour had been, and always would be, the greatest and most valued possession the city could enjoy. He felt they had a most important duty imposed upon them, and'that they must discharge that duty in a calm and dispassionate manner. All they had to consider that evening was the one question: Will the plans, as proposed by the City Engineer, do anything to interfere with or damage the harbour, or affect its navigation ? If the balance of the evidence that they would take that night, and any that they might entertain hereafter, inclined them to think this, they must unhesitatingly say so; if, on the other hand, it did not bear this out, then with equal clearness ought they to express their opinion. He had asked the City Engineer to be good enough to attend, with a view of explaining his plans, and to offer such explanation and evidence as he might think fit; he had also asked the Harbourmaster and the Board's Engineer to attend for the purpose of giving their opinion upon the question under discussion, and to answer any questions that might bo put to them. It would be best, he thought, to hear what evidence there was, and then to consider it in committee, and prepare a report for the Marine Department. At the request of the Chairman, Mr. Lyon read the communications from the Marine Department. They were enclosed with a letter from the department requesting the Board to furnish an expression of opinion on the question in dispute between the Corporation and Marine Department. One of the documents was Mr. Blackctt's first report to the Minister of Marine, the substance of which has already appeared in these columns. The second communication was a memorandum to the Minister from Mr. Blaekett, relative to the interview between himself and Mr. Baird (the City Surveyor), and the Harbourmaster, the latter being called in at the desire of both parties. The memorandum states that " the Harbourmaster, after being informed as to the several points, gave his opinion in a manner most clear and precise. This was to the effect that no part of the harbour affected by the Te Aro reclamation scheme should be encroached on beyond the limits of 8 feet to 9 feet soundings at low water; that the line of reclamation proposed by the City Council would cut through a moßt valuable and