WHEREAS in the early days of the colony the volcanic hills in the neighbourhood of Auckland were reserved, either in whole or in part, as places of public resort, and as such the summit of Mount St. John was so reserved until the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, when the Superintendent of the province issued a public notification to the effect that the summit of Mount St. John—consisting of seven acres two roods and twenty-one perches—should inter alia be temporarily reserved for the purposes of the Provincial Government, and the same was subsequently included as an educational reserve in the Schedule of “The Common Schools Act, 1869,” of the Auckland Provincial Legislature:

And whereas such piece of land is now vested in the Auckland School Commissioners, and has been leased by them to Captain William Henry Colbeck for twelve pounds per annum without reserving the right to the public of having access to the reserve:

And whereas the School Commissioners for the Auckland Provincial District, recognising the public claim to this reserve, are willing to accept land of equal value in exchange for this reserve, and the tenant, Captain William Henry Colbeck, is willing to surrender his lease of the said land in order that this reserve should become a recreation-ground for the use of the public:

And whereas the said Mount St. John is situate in the One-tree Hill Road District, and it is desirable that the land above mentioned, and described in the Schedule to this Act, should be brought under the management of the said One-tree Hill Road Board: