41 A.2d 917 | N.H. | 1945
There is ample evidence to support the Court's findings. Manchester is an industrial city. It depends mostly upon the industries located therein for its existence. As stated in the findings plaintiff acquired the area involved in 1936. Prior thereto it had been the property of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, which had gone into bankruptcy. It was salvaged *338 through the efforts of a group of substantial public-spirited citizens who raised the necessary amount ($550,000) to finance the purchase of the property, through the assistance of the Public Service Company of New Hampshire who purchased the water power development for $2,250,000, and of the local banks who financed the balance. The total purchase price was $5,000,000 and the sale was made through the trustee in bankruptcy. When the plaintiff acquired the property, there was no one employed on the premises except watchmen and maintenance workers. The city was then faced with complete liquidation of a plant which had at one time employed when at its peak as many as 16,000 persons and had assessed valuation of $35,500,000. The value of such an asset to city is apparent and a paramount item in its livelihood and economic life. Were it not for the efforts of the citizens who came forward and saw to it that such a valuable plant should not be lost, but should be developed and again serve the city in its most useful agency in its existence and prosperity, Manchester would have found itself in dire circumstances. Is it then of public necessity that the streets petitioned for should be laid out and the whole area covered thereby become a part and parcel of a very important portion of the city and located in the heart and adjacent to the business section thereof? We think an affirmative answer is mandatory.
Police protection is imperative. Regulation of traffic and protection of property is required. So is fire protection, lighting, sewerage, scavenger, snow removal service, etc. These services, normally a public function, cannot be supplied unless the area is served by public highways. Sherburne v. Portsmouth,
Exceptions overruled.
All concurred. *340