one of the parties having a direct interest therein. The Town Council had before then given notice to Messrs Job and Parks that the Board would proceed to acquire the land under the Local Government Act of 1858, and in reply to that notice, Mr. Henry Chandler had offered to take £200 for the said land, to avoid further litigation.
At a later meeting of the Council a Government Inspector’s report was received, in which the opinion was expressed that sanction should not be given to put into force the provisions of the Act [Lands Clauses Consolidation Act of 1845] until it is shown that the said land is not already dedicated as a part of the highway. After the receipt of that report , Mr. Beecham, as solicitor to Wellsted’s executors, was asked that the claimants should show the reasons why the property should not be considered to be already dedicated to the public? In answer to that question Mr. Beecham produced a conveyance of the land in 1846, in which Messrs. Wellsted and Chandler had 16 feet frontage. The Government Inspector having also stated in conversation that it was a question to be taken up by the St. Leonards Commissioners, Mr. Putland at the Council meeting, stated that the said Commissioners had no power to purchase the land, as it was in the district of the Local Board. It was then resolved, on the motion of Mr. Howell, that the executors of Mr. Wellsted be asked the lowest price they would take, and the St. Leonards Commissioners be also asked if they would contribute anything towards the purchase? To the first question the reply was £200, a sum previously named; and to the second question was that although the Commissioners could not endorse the Government Inspector’s opinion as applying to them, they would nevertheless guarantee £25 towards the purchase. It was resolved by the Council to offer £150 as the maximum price, and that to include the Commissioners’ £25. This sum was, however, declined, and at a later meeting of the Council (as will be seen in the next chapter an additional £25 was offered and accepted, making the Commissioners offer altogether £175.
Roadal and other Improvements
The above described purchase of land was, of course, for the purpose of improving the thoroughfare, and there were at the same time negotiations being carried on between the Local Board and other land-owners for similar purposes. These are detailed in the Council meetings in the next chapter; but there were also private speculations of a like tendency to improvement simultaneously in operation. For the extension of buildings in the direction of the Warrior-square Railway Station, Messrs Putland and Son were constructing a roadway from the Western road to the summit of the railway tunnel and extending towards the Wheatsheaf Inn in Bohemia road. The land was laid-out in building plots, and thirty or forty residences -
