BarLLrE.— Early Reclamations and Harbour-works of Wellington. 713 
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 às the Bank of New 
Zealand corner. The total frontage offered was 844ft., costing approxi- 
mately £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 i 
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 
was recently sold by that body. The foundation-stone of the Odd- 
fellows’ 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. 
