THE MAYORALTY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 785, 7 April 1910, Page 6

THE MAYORALTY.

'MR. CRAWFORD AT BERHAMRORE

JIILK, TRAMWAYS, AND WATER; - - . SUPPLY. !;

, WILL NOT COUNTENANCE "PICKINGS." '

•.Mr. C. J. Crawford addressed 1 a large .' oflumber of electors iii the-Masonic Hall, .'Adelaide. Road, last support of his candidature 'for/'the. City Mayoralty. Mr. W. J.: Patience",yras chairman. ; In commencing: his. address, on' the ;'"broad policies of . the city," .Mr. Crawford remarked tliafhe had known Berhampore when only one' house stood in the district..".Ho could' claim to have a thorough knowledge of Grea!ter WeliingIton. Wellington had spent large sums ■of money in up-to-date sanitary services •and in other important matters, and was i now settling down to that solidity so necessary to prosperity. ' • . ;

. Turning to tramway matters, Mr. Crawford explained the .position 'of Miramar,: and pointed; out :tliat £ there' ; rniist be permanency about a tramway' policy.. Every time alteratipns;.were made,-.an.; injustice, real or imaginary, was caused-to somebody. In some of the "larger ;cities of Great ■ Britain, '- the tramways paid so .well that grants.,could ibe •; made from them in relief -of the'general rates. That was possible, because. of-;;the ; dense population, even with Cmitiimiimjfaro, of id. Wellington, however,' was a'growing city, arid-ratepayers could not expect the tramways to pay~in such a way as to relieve the general rate of the city. The tramways ought to be run so as enlarge the residential area, and' reduce tho rents for those who could not afford ito pay high rents. ' The tramway section leading into Berihampore was a comparatively short one chains), but he would not pledge himself to alter any. section until the whole tramway system was reviewed. The whole of'ithe existing anomalies might then be removed. \

The depreciation ait present written off by 'the, Tramway., Department -vwas 1.4(1. per. running cur mile, as compared. with . 1.9 d. in Edinburgh. . Until-he were placed ■in a position to kiidw all the' facts, he, was "not .prepared 'toV say-whether the ■ amount allowed for depreciation in Wellington was sufficient; The question had !been debated as to whether the City .(Council was charging higher fares on ■the cars than were necessary. The total expenses per car mile,.(including interest, sinking fund, irad depreciation were .14 l-5a., and the' income'was 14.846 d.,. ■leaving a credit-,, balance of J.only- 2-3 d. .per car. mile,' under '5' per cent.'- There was, therefore," n'ofroom for' reduction in jth'e fares, because the.cars must be made tto pay. • - ' , Itr. Crawford went'-on "tb'*eay that |Be ''lad noticed that work ' .in connection with'the Island'. Bay' Esplanade had not "been completed, and, if elected, lie would rsee that this and all similar, improvements, within reasonable financial 'liounds,, were carried out as soon as possible. i

Adequate arrangements, : .be said, had "been made for, the water-supply of the city, and when the Wainui Reservoir was completed, costing JE46,000, there Ttould be room , :i for the-, storage- of 248,000,000 - gallons, of water, sufficient to snpply double, the population of Wellington during .83 days'-of', drought. .-. (Applause.)- >■' ' ;-. -. '• Commenting on the finances'- of the ■city, Mr. Crawford said that,there .'must be no increase, in the'rates. .Yaluations had increased of late years, and. the people i-weire , paying ..as much :as' -they could afford., :-. If - it; was found-, possible to reduce ;the..Tates, by. all means, let them be lessened. .

,The 'Bill,; as .prepared ' by-.the City. , Council,a. .year. .ago, ,to. regulate the -milk 6upply of, the/city,' was discussed by the. candidate. . .Mr.i-Qrawfoyd, said, that .ifv.the special conferred upon, the council ; as Ipiropoied 'by- : "th6 Bill, he hoped that 'it'would not use them. The City .Council, 3>y that Bill, was to be given power to go into the milk-vending trade, and he was opposed to-that kind of thing. Most -of the milk distributed in Wellington was 'train-borne, and the'difficulty had been to get properly-insulated railway cars for "(its transport; •. Of -late -year's,; > however, ; the' Government had done a .good deal to 'r£et rid of'that reproach. He did not i consider that the proposed system of in-' rspection was a .workable plan—GovernI.ment and:.municipal . inspectors sharing ) the work". What he; suggested , was that Ino milk should bo allowed to be sold i.unless the ; source from -which it. came Twaa inspected, and the'seller was lioensed by the City Council. ("Hear, hear.") '.If-municipal depots were established in ; the city, • they ■ should, be -simply clearinghouses, where the milk could be kept cool i until the carts called for it.

Going on to describo his relation with Miramar, : Mr. Crawford said that he had , commenced the present campaign ; only lafter the repeated requests of citizens, both last year and this year. It had -been -suggested that as he had been Mayor of Miramar' for three years,,:his chief interest, if elected Mayor of the city, would be in the welfare of Miramar. Miramar was not likely to come into the city, as ■ the rates of the borough would probably be reduced during the coming year. When questions were invited, a rate--•payer asked what Mr. Crawford would do about supplying gravel to the, city, if he were, elected as .Mayor. Mr. Crawford promptly informed the inquiring ratepayer that lie had struck 'a-mare's nest ' "I have never, supplied the city of Wellington, either now or at any with one yard of metal or anything.. else. When the quarries at. Seatoun came into' my possession, I told the Miramar Borough Council that I would not supply any metal, but that if metal- was required for the. roads, the borough carts could go along and take it. Some hundreds of loads were removed, no tally was taken, and the coun.oil was not charged one penny-for it. (Applause.) I acted honourably as Mayor of Miramar, and I will act quite as honourably if I am elected Mayor of Wellington." ..(Lou'd applause.) . When asked if he favoured handing the .control of the Zoo to a committee, Mr. Crawford said that it might be well to'put the Zoo under the care of men possessing special knowledge, but he would hot give an > opinion absolutely - in . favour of the proposal because he did ' not wish to be discourteous to those members of the. City . Council who had been ..doing their best for the Zoo. Mr. Crawford, intimated, that at his . meeting '.. at 'Kilbirnie. to-night, lie - ■would deal with the' proposal, which lie favoured, of'. 'connecting' Newtown and Kilbirnie by tramway ;route.' A vote of confidence in Mr. Crawford was proposed by Mr. A. Eamsay, 'and - was, heartily endorsed by the meeting.

Mr. Townsend's supporters for the Miramar Mayoralty.'are asked meet him at the office of Messrs. Eichardson, Blair, and M'Cabc, Nathan's Buildings, Grey Street, to-day at 1 p.m. Lady helpers at Worser Bay are asked to meet at the residence of Mrs. J. Paul to-morrow at 2.30 p.m. Mr. Crawford will address the electors it O'Dounell's Hall, Kilbirnie, to-night, and at Fullford's Hall, Brooklyn, tomorrow.