commenced. Locally, the full stretch was known as “The Beach.” Along the quays the water at high tides in many places covered part of the roadway, and probably it would be to form the roadway in one of these bad places that the breastwork was required. Even in 1850, Carter tells us, there was not room in some parts for two carts to pass. In 1854 Carter constructed for the Provincial Government another breastwork, 600 ft. long. It was constructed of brick, and, he says, was built with the object of widening the beach to a width of 60 ft. This contract, which also included the formation of a footpath and cross wood drains, cost £832. Mr. Edward Roberts was instructed in 1851 to prepare a scheme of reclamation. The Spectator proposed that it should extend from Pipitea to Clay Point.

In 1852 the Government of New Munster, which comprised the southern half of the North Island and the whole of the South Island, called for tenders for reclaiming a part of Lambton Harbour. This reclamation is generally known in legal circles as “Sir George Grey's reclamation.” It ran from Customhouse Street (now usually known as “Old Customhouse Street”) 360 ft. north, with a depth towards the harbour of 100 ft., the frontage being to Willis Street. Mr. Roberts was Engineer, and C. R. Carter secured the contract, his tender amounting to £1,036. Work was commenced early in April, and was completed early in October. Apparently the land was offered for sale as it became available, for a block was put up for sale by public auction on the 21st July, when a 50 ft. frontage was sold to John Harding at the upset price of £6 per foot. On the 11th September another block, of 60 ft., was sold at the same price to S. Cimino. There was to be another sale on the 30th October. I can find no record of the sales on that day, but through the kindness of Mr. Maurice Smith (Chief Draughtsman of the Survey Department), I learn that the total sales to the public amounted to £900. This accounts for 150 ft.; 182 ft., with an area of 1 rood 25 perches, was granted by Sir George Grey as an endowment for the Wellington College. There was a cross-street from Willis Street to the waterfront (now part of Mercer Street), of a width of, say, 28 ft., which would account for the full frontage of 360 ft. as per contract. The value of the College Reserve would be £1,092, making a total value of £1,992 against an expenditure of £1,036. The cross-street was officially known as “College Passage,” although later it was known as “College Lane”—now Mercer Street. Carter records that during the progress of the work a heavy sea carried away part of the wooden wall; he also records that his profit amounted to £212, although the Engineer assured him before he signed the contract that he had underestimated the work. During low tides the water would probably not be near the wall.

By the Public Reserves Act, 1854, the Provincial Government was granted the right to reclaim part of the harbour below high-water mark from the “reclaimed land” to the foot of Tinakori Road. “Reclaimed land” would, of course, refer to the 1852 reclamation. A definite scheme of reclaiming land from the harbour was asked for, when the Committee on the Harbour Reserves Bill reported to the Provincial Council (1st February, 1856), as follows:—

“Your Committee has been unable to obtain sufficient information to enable it to propose any specific plan for the management of the harbour reserves. It therefore contents itself with recommending that the Superintendent should invite, by competition, plans and specifications for the reclaiming of the land and building retaining-walls, and having especial reference to the practicability of carrying out the works in separate blocks,

such plans to be accompanied by a plan for laying off the reclaimed land in streets, and for drainage. That in all plans a continuation of Willis Street and a quay on the water side be made main features. That the Superintendent should offer a premium for the plan which he may consider the most practicable. That blocks of the land be sold unreclaimed under a condition that the purchaser shall reclaim within a certain period, according to the adopted plan, or the Superintendent should contract with persons willing to do so. To reclaim any block or blocks, the contractor receiving payment for so doing on sale of the land, the amount of the contract being added to the purchase-money as for improvements thereon or, if the block be sold in lots, apportioned among the purchasers accordingly. That sufficient reserves be made for public purposes. That all land alienated, except that hereafter referred to, be absolutely sold, and that by public auction. That those persons who have erected wharves along the beach, extending unto the reserved land, should have the right of pre-emption over the allotments comprising such wharves, at the average price of the adjoining land.”

An Act was passed during that session enabling the Superintendent to act as suggested, also giving him authority to grant a lease of a section with 80 ft. frontage to Willis Street, at such rent and on such terms as he might consider expedient, to the Tradesmen's Club, which appears to have been an institution of the nature of a Chamber of Commerce. It proposed to build a public hall, and also to erect and maintain an inner harbour-light, “the water frontage admitting of so useful an appendage,” there being no harbour-light at the time. The suggestion to have a quay on the water side was not adopted, thus giving purchasers the water rights at the rear of their sections as far as the Willis Street and Customhouse Quay sections were concerned. To extinguish these rights the City Council had to grant compensation to the owners at the time of the Te Aro reclamation. Apparently it was proposed to erect a stone wall, for tenders were called during 1856 for the conveyance of 2,000 tons of stone from Somes Island to where they might be required between Bowler's Wharf and “Noah's Ark.” “The stone will be put on a jetty at Somes Island, alongside of which there will be a depth of 5 ft. at high water. Deliveries to be of not less than 200 tons per week, to commence 18th December, 1856.” Engineers may be interested in the subject of Somes Island stone, though this scheme was not proceeded with. Carter writes: “Towards the end of 1857 I succeeded in getting a contract for building a long length of brick-in-cement sea-wall, which commenced at the north end of the wood retaining-wall I had previously built (Chew's Lane), and extending into water 3 ft. deep at low water to near Clay Point at ‘Noah's Ark.’ My contract for this (which included 172 ft. of brick sewer) was £3,343. In the year 1861 I obtained another contract for continuing this sea-wall on to a point in a line with the northern side of the block of land on which the Oddfellows' Hall is built. Both of these contracts, though very difficult to execute, proved to me very remunerative. The ‘gossipers’ said I would have to go to the expense of coffer-dams in order to lay the foundations under water. They were mistaken. I devised a plan of building (out of water, but over their sites) large blocks of brickwork loosely keyed together, and then lowered them into their position or site under water. I then keyed them with large bricks, and as at low water the tops of the blocks were about 6 in. out of water, I built upon them without much difficulty except when the water was rough.” The filling-in of this space was carried out by day

labour at a cost for the first part of £2,237, totalling £5,580 for that block. The first sale of sections was advertised for the 14th May, 1858. It covered twenty-five sections with frontages to Willis Street, Harbour Street, Customhouse Quay, and what is now known as the Bank of New Zealand corner. The total frontage offered was 844 ft., costing approximately £6 10s. per foot frontage. Sections in Willis Street were priced at an upset value of £12 per foot, Harbour Street at £4, corner sections £8, Customhouse Quay £15, while the Bank of New Zealand corner was fixed at £8, totalling £9,712. Nine out of the ten Willis Street sections were sold, three out of the eight Harbour Street sections, while none of the Customhouse Quay sections, nor the corner, were disposed of. The unsold sections were offered again on the 1st September, 1858, but apparently none were sold, for they were offered yet again on the 5th March, 1862. The size of the Bank of New Zealand section had been increased to 70 ft. or 71 ft. to Lambton Quay with 100 ft. to Customhouse Quay. The upset price was £8 per foot, Lambton Quay frontage, at which price the Bank of New Zealand was the purchaser. It should be noted that the law provided for the sale of the reclaimed land by the Provincial Council only by auction and for cash. It should also be noted that in the March, 1858, session of the Council Mr. Richard Barry, a member for the City of Wellington, proposed that the land should be leased, but he received no support.

In February, 1866, Mr. W. Tonks, who had secured the contract to reclaim 13 acres of land from Panama Street to the north of Waring Taylor Street, including the construction of a sea-wall, for the sum of £24,792, commenced the work, which was to be completed in June, 1867. The area of the 1857–63 reclamation to Panama Street was 7 acres 3 roods 34 perches, the total cost was £15,443, and the proceeds of sales amounted to £37,529. The area of the 1866–67 reclamation was 12 acres 3 roods 29 perches, the cost £25,028, while the proceeds were only £8,923, but to this should be added the amount paid by the City Council for the unsold sections.

Soil for filling in the different reclamations was obtained from the hillside at the rear of the Quay sections, Kumutoto (Woodward Street) to Boulcott Street, Mr. Tonks even proposed to lay a tramway by way of Manners Street and Cuba Street to Webb Street to bring spoil from there. Permission was granted by the Town Board, but he only used the tramway from Willis and Boulcott Streets, also a tramway from Kumutoto. The 1857–61 reclamation was filled in with spoil brought in carts. In the original plan there was no street running parallel with Customhouse Quay, but in July, 1864, the Council decided that such a street should be formed, opening in front of the Supreme Court, Lambton Quay, to be known as Featherston Street, in honour of the Superintendent.

In addition to the public reclamations, permission was granted to the Oddfellows to reclaim a section fronting Lambton Quay. This section was recently sold by that body. The foundation-stone of the Oddfellows' Hall on the reclaimed land was laid on the 21st May, 1859. The Foresters were also granted a site in 1864—the next section to that now occupied by the Government Fire Insurance Building, which, by the way, stands on a section, 100 ft. by 100 ft., reclaimed by Messrs. Joseph and Co. in 1865, at a cost to the firm of over £300. The Freemasons were also granted a site for reclamation, but apparently they did not take advantage of the grant.

In 1864 it was decided that in future all streets should be 100 ft. wide, which accounts for the extra width of a part of Lambton Quay.