THE MAYORALTY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17120, 15 April 1921, Page 9

THE MAYORALTY.

DR. THACKER AT WALTHAM. —— £ Tho retiring Mayor. Dr. H. T. J. riiocker, M.P., opened his campaign jn the Mayoral election last night, when he addressed a well-attended meoting in tlio Waltham School. Mr G. E. Good, the chairman, said that at all times it was important in elections that the electors should he ns much interested as the candidates. In introducing Dr. Thacker, tho chairman said that evidently the Mayor had riven at least fair satisfaction, because be was not on either the Labour or the Citizens' Association ticket. (Applause.) Dr. Thacker said ho would first of all • civo a few of the tilings which had happened during his term of office as Mayor of.tiio city. In the last two years ho had tried to do his best. At first when he became Mavor ho crossed swords frequently with the Council—perhaps he I ffds too severe—but now it was not the Mavor who caused trouble across the table. Tho first big thing that had been done was the purchase of His Majesty's Theatre block and site at £16*,000, which was to be turned into an administrative block for the city. The people knew of the congestion in the- present buildings, and when the administrative block was built, by June • next vear. he hoped, they would have the finest municipal administrative block in Australasia. Tho Town Hall site tiould be in Victoria square. Four or fit p different associations had ask- j ed to be allowed to take over tho present Council Chambers. He considered that His Majesty's Theatre site could | not bo secured by others for less than £25,000— and the purchase by the Council nt £16,000 meant a saving of j £IO,OOO. That was one of the things which ho worked for and brought about. There «ere also the purchases of Elmvood Park of 18 acres, Waltham Park of 8} acies, and Lancaster Park, in connexion n ith which ho had been instrumental in putting a Bill through making it a public park. Workers honsos n ere being erected in Huxley street fcpieydon had been amalgamated ttith the city, .The electrical department had been revolutionised, and motor buses were all over tho city now doing electric haulage. As soon as he became Mavor ho asked the Tramway Board to have the lines put level with tbc roadi, and another thing, he "tackled" was .the getting of an lmnrQ\cd railway crossing at Colombo rtrcetr-and here again Cr. Langley was vers wtive md helpful. "Now the - Zealand blanket fund is my fund while I am Maw. I have had that fund administered most judiciously,'' declarv ed Hut Major. "I got 1000 bankets " bought at 3s. 4d each and they are now m our stock. I. am tolling -vou these things straight, , hecauso 'there are a lot of kite balloons going up,, and I am hitting out straight—l am out to win the. cup. (Applause) There was nobody in the f cityf he added, who could not. say thatn') the-Peace celebrations were> not a I:tilF i.mph, and the \ame applied, to the If Royal reception.. In 1911 he stood ior W Mayor, but he was beaten-for n time. i If ho got back ,as, Mayor this year he would take a much stronger stand. Iho 'doctor then proceeded to discuss tli«: JLake Colondge question, and said that Christchurch "was being penalised by ' a vicious Government." In support or .this allegation he nlso. instanced the housing of the railway engines at tuiwood. If Lake Coleridge supply stop'pod, industrial power, cooking, and domestic arrangements in the city stop'ped. What was £SOOO, expenditure on the Harper diversion, compared to that? "Tho next point discussed was tho "silent policeman," or. the polo which he had set on Worcester street at the corner of Oxford terrace. That idea had been ridiculed at first in.the Council, he said, hut now the wisdom of it was seen, and .j>,ivas.no»v intended ;to- have several pother such poles erected. The reserves ' been lmprpved, and on Bottlo Lake 'there fluid been thousands of trees ' planted. The health of the city depend-; '«d on sewerage. Tho Drainage Board did splendid work, but. the ..trouble was t 'that the storm, water went into th<» 'Avon, .and the consequence was that the driver was silted up.."They wanted that i river improved so that boats could come; ;up it—he had not forgotten about Port Christchurch. (Laughter.) Another . necessary thing for the health of tho „' community was a good,'clean food sup* > ply—tho meat was : satisfactory, as th,ore was the city, abattoir and the I fish was also good". A fresh fruit; and vegetable supply was. wanted, and- he would also like to sec proper lavatory, conveniences in tho city. A referenco 'to the Waltham i School grounds -wa* / sandwiched between the latter sentences, '-and the Mayor then tarried on to disA j cues what lie.termed "transportation," .and ho spoke for five minutes, in sup> ✓port of the Port Christchurch scheme. Proceeding to. discuss city traffic, tiho /.""Mayor sfud that,.better regulation wan , , required, and tho hou6o numbers should vheshown more distinctly. Coming to i. v tho matter of,rates l he said that peo- :, plo complained .that, the rates wero.go- •• rag up, but they .should remember •.thai ;r they >wero getting better facilities. Ho , trjuuf a. place which was valued onco at ■ Now, it was, valued at £7OOO, - .and the enhanced value was communityr£ created. The total. revenuo was *j£l66,oQO odd, and distributions were )>wade as follows: ; and Charitable Aid... 18,402 ! Prainago Board - ... ...' 33,974 , v Domains rate . ... ... 1,572 * Uniform fees > ... ..... 3,616 , ,Watw rate ... ... 17,462 Y Various loans • ... ... 8,649 "i'/ m /';;.- £166,763 , f'' From the £83,(300 obtained from the rate there was over 60 per * <£ Wnt. spent on staff and labour, and -i &stoJy about 20 per cent, was available 1 for such extra expenditure lis improv--St, Albans Park, or extending tho Baths. . Tho City Council had able to pay up every temporary when it felbdue. Cr. Cooke had . f r fuggo&ted tho other night that small ''. loans of a pound or so should be acf ,-icepted, but this would not he practic'a able, a3 it would involve too much "Ojerical work. The Movor also made i reference to the scheme for the harness- ; \i iig of the. Wainiaknriri, and to minor ) ; worka, which had been carried out dur- ; ing the year. Jn concluding his address the Mayor said he desired to be '-" elected again so that ho could carry op the works ho had in mind, but he thought that four years' office as Mayor was quite long, enough. Later, if the pcoplo wanted him, and he was still - alive and wetT, «•» and tho Mayoress J would come back. A number of questions were asked at j '; the conclusion of the address. i An elector asked what Was the causo '" of tho failure of the muuicipal coal supply. * » Dr. Thacker: The cause of the „'' failuro was that certain coal magnates the city municipal supply cut off *. as we hmo getting into good ground.- , J Another resident asked why tho » League footballers could not. get the - * use of Lancaster Park. This question - caused a discussion on the League's rights. Tho Mayor advised the League*s ' to "got up a, great by; petition, with publio opinion behind it, and thev would got their right*." Tha Mayor ' added that the Rugby Union knew that the League had a-Hbotter game, and it > v and always been jealous of tho League. w , Mr Butterfield (a Labour candidate) > wanted to know the Mayor's opinion as - ' x ,to which party in tho Council h«4 shown the most constructive policy, Tho > ~ Mayor said this was an. iimHioua ques- ', *\out straw, but he thought Cr. Langley ■'; had made the best suggestions in tha 1 - Countil. Several othor questions wero answeri e d, and, amidst loiid applausi*, a motion thanking Dr. Thacker for < ,i|t..hi3 address, and . " in him jaa. Mayor} i

CR. BEANLAND AT ST. ALBANS. Cr. J. W. Besmland, the present Deputy-Mayor of ■'Christchurch, and a candidate for tho Mayoralty, addressed a well-attended meeting of electors in the "Winton street Hall last night, Mr A. S. Taylor, a former member of the Council, presided. Tho chairman said that Mr Beanland had always been a hard worker in the City Council, and had always done his utmost in the interests of the citizens generally. With a seven years' experience as City Councillor, Mr Beauland was in every way qualified to discharge the Mayoral duties. Mr Beanland j who was warmly applauded on rising to speak, said he made no apologv for his candidature, although the present Mayor thought he (the speaker) should not oppose hira. for the Mayoralty, but should wait until the office was vacant. Ho did not agree with that view. Ho had been a member of tho City Council for the past seven years, and during four years of that time he was chairman of the Works Committee. For tho past two years he liad been Deputy-Mayor. Consequently, he knew the inner working of the Council, and was in a position to safeguard tho citizens' interests. Tho next two vears would be years of difficulty, not "only for Christchurch, but for the whole Dominion. All one could do was to face the situation resolutelv ;ind do one's vei-y best to carry on the business of the city successfully. The present Council had been accused of extravagance, but if they had carried out all the Labour schemes the overdraft would havo been considerably more than it was at present. Iho causo of the heavy overdraft was eaty to explain. During the past two years buying had been dearer than ever before, and the Council, not being able to pass on the cost like a business firm, had been compelled to do tho work of the city and make up the leeway later. He could assure the citizens that the Council had made every effort to keep the rates down. Tho chief causes of the overdraft were the high cost of road material, metal, tar, cement, and wages. Our metal cost in 1918 was 7s 63d per ! vard: in 1919, 7s HR; in 1920, 9s 3id: and last year, 12s 3id. As the Council used about 24,000 yards each year, the ! cost was £4OOO more this year than lit 191 S. The wages bill for the work nlone increased from £23,880 to £40,156 during tho period. The workmen in 1918 wero receiving from £2 13s 6d to £2 18s Hd. Now they were receiving £4 53 to £4 15s, and also worked less hours per week. Tar also had been a bier, factor.. The Council used to buy tar at 5d a gallon; now they paid <U for it, and were: using very large quantities in the construction and maintenance of the roacis. 'The salaries of the staff had also increased considerably during thevpast two or three years. The present Council had made every effort to keep down expenses, but the roads and genoral upkeep of the city must be maintained. The Labour candidates stated that the overdraft was £IOO,OOO. As a matter of fact that was incorrect. The overdraft in March, 19a0,waB £64,120, and in March. 1921, and for the reasons-he had stated,.it had increased to £97,89*>. Of that sum £22,488 was money vanced to loan accounts in cases where it had heen impossible to sell tho debentures. Deducting that sum^the .debit balance was reduced to £75,411 l 3 3d. About eighteen months ago the housing problem became so acute that the Council decided to do something to help ■the people to obtain, houses. It had been, said that no member of "tho Council apart from the' Labour members had put forward any definite scheme. As a matter of fact, early last year lie (brought forwolrd a> definite housing scheme which would have provided a large number of houses and materially assisted those in search of homes to rent.- That scheme, was turned "Mown bv tho Council, and the Labour mem-: bers voted against it. Subsequently the' Council applied to the Government for; a largo loan, tho idea being to buy a large block of land and build a largo mvmber of houses. It was found, however, that the Council could only get £IO,OOO from tho Government in any one year;, consequently it was impossible to Ed on with the scheme. The Council then adopted a smaller scheme as the result of which eight houses wero nearing. completion. It would bo necessary in the near future to house the Council's staff in more up-to-date offices. The present offices were perhaps adeqnato twenty years ago, but they had long outgrown their usefulness The city now owned the Canterbury Hall block, and he hoped to see' new offices there before long. On the block there was amnio room for a„fin© "concert hall, and in his opinion such a hall should he b.uilt in. connexion with the new Council offices The raising of money for the hall.should be a simple matter. All. the musical societies of Christohuroh/ whoso membors numbered from 4,C00 to 5,000. would he asked to take up debentures, and. by that means he was certain that'.a'"very fine hall could bo erected. The City Council, 6f course, would issue the debentures. As far ns tho Town Hall waa it would be tjuite impossible even to consider erecting a building during the next two. years. Tho sewering of the districts outside the present sewerage aroa was a work in which every publio man should assist in. He had been the St. Albans representative on the Drainage Board for some years, and knew the work that the Board was doing. Everything; wa3 ready for a .commencement of the work as soon as the Board could get' tho loan carried and raise the money. He earnestly trusted that nil would vote for tho loan, and enable the people to have a complete sewered city. Mr Beanland also spoke in favour of the further development of the municipal parks and gardens for recreation purposes, moro tree-planting on tho Bottle Lake reserve, an adequate supply of electrio current, and the titilisa-; ti6n, when found necessary, of tho municipal quarry at Birdling's Flat. Concerning the last-named he said it was alleged the quarry had involved a gross waste of money, whereas its total cost to the city was only £4OO, and the possession- of that "quarry, which could bo opened up at any time, had tended to keep down the price of metal. In conclusion, Mr Beanland said ho folt ho had earned tho right to occupy the Mayoral chair, and trusted that the citizens would support him in that aim The present Mayor waa popular and given to making promises. He, however, waa not goinjr to make any promises. (Hear, hear.) Ho would do what ho could to run the affairs of the Council aa economically as possible during the next two years, which would bo most strenuous, and full of anxiety. In reply to » question, Mr Beanland sajd tho only method possible for the reduction of the present overdraft was to exercise greater economy, and to sot '■apart a- portion of tho rates for the reduction of the overdraft to what it was | two years ago. On the motion of Mr Joseph Hamlet, seconded by Mr W. E. Simes, a unanimous vote of thanks and confidence j was accorded Mr Beanland.