CITY MAYORALTY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1415, 16 April 1912, Page 8

CITY MAYORALTY.

; MR. BISS AT NEWTOWN. I BROAD VIEW OF,CIVIC. MATTERS, ; PROGRESS AND-FINANCE. Mr. A. S. Biss, a candidate; for, the 1 City Mayoralty,, delivered his inaugural ■ address at tho "Newtown "Library Hall ; last evening. Miv B. Jγ Collio / presided, : cud briefly introduced the speaker.] [ Recent, Tightness of Money, : In opening his address, Mr. Biss ex- , pressed n hope that the contest would I bo marked by au avoidanco of pwsorinl- ! ities. In the past, Wellington had been i fortunate in its Mayors, and the standard i established should, he thought, be maini tained. During the past year or two i there had beou a rogrettablo tendency on the part of those entrusted with city man- : agement to allow matters to drift.' This tendency had been partly due to a tight- ! ness 'of money, but he considered that ■what. had been called "tho ,'ilump" had ' : reached its limit. There were now few empty shops in tho city whereas, only a , little time ago, .'there had been dozens. I This supplied a reliable indication of tho | general trend.. In a great measure the tightness of money, in New Zealand had ■ been diio to a boom in Australia, but ! values in Wellington to-day were normal. i They would in fact now .show an upward • tendency. • I But Why Sit Still? I It was a mistake to suppose that because i E depression had existed,councillors were ; justified in merely sitting down and doing : nothing. During his previous term in the council a boom hud been in progress, and : Works had consequently been carried out • nt heavy cost. During the past two years ! the Mayor and council had neglected their' opportunities. For instance, much might ■ havo been dene to improve. Adelaide Eoad ! by removing ramshackle buildings which belonged to the city, and creeling better !■ buildings. Neglect of this work had lost : the city some thousands of pounds in : interest. Technical education also had been neglected. When ho was in the council ■ho had held the idea that a site for a : Technical College could bo found in i 'Adelaide Eoad. Other members had : favoured ,',insteud a. site in John Street, '. but, so far; nothing had been done. Happily, however, there- now seemed to be a prospect that proper accommodation for technical instruction would be provided. J In this connection it wa3, perhaps, neces- \ BaTy to point out that the high cost of I importecf raw material, and the lower rato of wage 3 that ruled .abroad, made it abso- ; lutely necessary that: local workmen ; Bhquld be well trained, i It was' constantly being pointed out that i tho general public in Wellington took no [ very keen interest in municipal matters. '■ Such an attitude- was unwise. A Mayor ; and council had it iii their power to make ' or mar a. city, and citizens should take a i broad view;of their interests"and responsibilities, anil should givo' their earnest at- ! tention to such matters as tho : managei ment of city services, the npkeep of reserves, and the advancement of technical education. - ! The question had been raised, Mi. Biss 1 remarked, whether a candidate for the Mayoralty should represent any particular class. ■ He had not consented to ■- stand, until he had ascertained that a request that he should do so ha/1 come from all sections of the community. Ho etrongly objected to being considered tho i representative of any particular class or I section. A Mayor should represent the : city in general. It was most undesirnbie,'lie thought, that the election of Mayor should bo an annual one. If it ' was right that councillors should sit for a term of "two years, it was equally right, he thought, that, a- similar term should obtain in the-casei of the Mayor. . .' . A Year-For Looking Ahead. During the coming year little would have to bo done in tho way of developing new works., No considerable work would have to be! undertaken immediately, nor was it advisable, to-advocate the immediate undertaking of nny work involving borrowing. Although he had said that money was going to be cheaper—it would not b« dearer at auy would bo ''' advisable (on account of disturbances at Home, due to 'the'coal strike and other causes) to attempt to raise loans upon ; the London market or any other in tho ; immediate, future. At'tho same time, the ensuing year would be an excellent timo in which to consider and' lay th* foundation" for works which would havo to be gone- on with in the following year. The completioh/Df; street-widening, bperf' , ntions in'Willis Street had been unnecessarily delayed. The, council was waiting until certain leases had expired, but it would be wise to negotiate at once, while things were quiet" in the" city. ' Tenants '■■■•• might be induced to come to terms if it were pointed out to them that, if they (had to move out a year or two hence, , they would probably have to pay "higher Tents than" at present. It was necessary that the best men available sfiould be ' elected to tho council. Otherwise citizens would find that they, were paying too :..-,much for. the strips required for street.ividening. ; The congestion of traffic in Manners Street demanded attention. To widen the whole street might be difficult, .but kinks in tho street-lino should be removed:Where the properties could not be acquired at once, options should bp secured, so that the land could eventually be obtained on the best terms possible. Much would bo done to relieve congestion in •Manners Street if Mercer Street were widened with a view to diverting traffic into Victoria Street. . , The Revenue From Leases. The Increased revenue that would accrue to the city,from the falling-in of leases in -1913-M might be gathered from the fact that the rental on a : few leases recently renewed had been increased from £715 to .£2136. Thirty-eight leases would expire in.'1913-M, which now returned a revenue of about JIGOOO. When they were renewed the rentals should aggregate . something like £18,000. In addition, there were a largo nnnber of perpetual ' leases, tho :Tcnt.Ms of which were reassessed every fourteen years. It would be a sound; policy on tho part of the council to m.-iko immediate arrangements for the renewal .of these leases wherever it was possible. •■ Otherwise the market might bo'.'sorioiisly 'disturbed by the ' throwing , ut>d:i it at ono time of so many city properties... . . -.• , . Tramway Finance Criticised. Briefly reviewing tho position pi the tramways, Mr. Biss statod that in the previous year tht-.y had returned a profit of =£5016. 'This was reduced to .£IO9O after charging up certain expenditure, which, perhaps, wn, l ; not a fair charge again?!: Tevenuc. This was noj a sufficient profit on an enterprise in which capital amounting to .£620,000 had been sunk. The gross r profit on the; tramways Inst year was equivalent to 1.83 per cent, mi the capital invested. This was an, absurdly small return from a transport :service that hud several risks . til accident,''etc., attached to it. There was a tendency on tho part of every comwillor Mid- Mayor to concede demands. This was one of the risks- that a city took flj. taking over such a service as the tramways. Mr. Biss declared himself ' particularly" anxious to sec the newly constituted Board of Control given every chance to prove its capabilities. Mr. Morton, who was at the head of tho board, was saturated -with enthusiasm, nnd was confident thnt good results would bo shown at tlitf end of the year. The electric lighting p\'nnt .was paying a fair profit, and had Ifivge possibilities of development. Thero Vas a good prospect of eventually liavinß the cost of light in tho city reduced. Tim tramway depreciation fund existed only on paper, and practically the whole df it had been used for capital expenditure on the tramway service. Already rails at some of the city corners required re-laying, and before long the Mayor ohd city councillors would have to raise money by loan to refund the depreciation fund. A similar position existed in connection with the lighting plant: the total sum involved being something like £100,000. k portion of the city sinking funds irere invested in Wellington Corporation Debentures. This was not right, and eliould be ratified nt onco. Itavins answered ft. number of questions. Mr. Biss was unanimously accorded a vote of thanks and confidence SPEECH BY MR. M'LAEEN. Mr D. M'Laren addressed an open-nir niwiting in Post Office. Square, yesterday, - in support of his candidature for theoity Mayoralty. He gave an emphatic denial t/j a rumour which h« said had been oir-

diluted to the effect that persons not connected with the Labour party were contributing towards tho cost of' his campaign, ■ The only organisation meeting any part of his election, expenses, Mr. M'Laren stated, was the Unitecl Labour party. . 'MB.. WEIGHT AT KILBIENIB. , Mr. R. A; Wright's second meeting of tho present Mayoral campaign was held )ast night in tho Kilbiniio Hall. About 50 people were present. Mr. T. Fathers Svns voted to 'the chair. Tho candidate spoke .chiefly on the lines of his Newtown address, as already reported, but he also dealt fully with tho Kilbimio recreation reserve, congratulating tho residents upon their pwseverruico in keeping their claims for recognition before tho council. He promised' that, if elected, he' would spa that tho money voted to bo expended this year on the recreation ground was not ear-marked for any ether purpose. In answer to a question, Mr. Wright, said ho was in favour of charging only ordinary fares mi tho trams on holidays, and' he believed that this would cause a gain rather than a loss in revenue, because of the increased traffic. The candidate was also asked whether he was in favour of extending the issue of concession tickets to those who started business at 9. a.m. Ho replied that the matter would need to be very carefully gone into, and ho would prefer to wait until the Tramway Board had furnished a report to the council showing the exact financial position of the tramway system before ho formed a definite opinion on tho subject. A vote of thanks and confidence was unanimously accorded to Mr. Wright. ME. JOHN SMITH'S CANDIDATURE. A meeting of tho committee formed to forward the candidature of Mr. John Smith l'or the Mayoralty was held in the Chan/her of Commerce last evening. It was prranged that Mr. Sniith should speak in. different parts of the city, commencing to-morrow evening, when he will probably be heard in the Concert Chamber. ,JHE KARORI MAYORALTY, SPEECH BY MR. CATHIE. At tho Parochial Hall, Karori, last evening, Mr. C. A. Cathie (Mayor) addressed about sixty ratepayers. Mr. H. S. Hart was elected to the chair. Mr. Cathie spoke on the question of a shorter route to the city, and was accorded a good hearing, in opening he said that lie had never before in his lifo contested an election. Hβ had resided in the borough nineteen years, and could claim to know a good deal about it. Ee said that his policy included a shorter tram route to Karori. He then went into the history of the shorter route. Mr. • Cathie said that he was in favour of a shorter route, but not in favour of a line being laid from Kelburne to tho tunnel. A prospectus had been drawn up by some of tho ratepayers of Kelburne and Karori, with tho object of having a line laid from the Kelburne car station to the tunnel. In this prospectus the proposed cost of the erection of the line was mentioned, and it was also mentioned that it would be a saving on the present line. The speaker pointed out that the cost would be considerably more than the prospectus mentioned, as by this route it would mean the cost of running of two lines, one from the Gardens to the tunnel, and the new route from Kelburne. Mr. Cathie said that practically the only concession that had been offered on the new roufo was .£3OO per year for five years by the Kelburno Tram Company. He also said that the city people would benefit by the shorter route at the expense of the Karori people, and that it would not really be a saving to the Karori people. He thought that Karori ought to join with flic Northland ratepayers, in asking the City Council for a shorter route over Hill Street. This line, he said, would not cost inoro than .£3OOO. to make, nnd it would bo paid for in about two years. It would l>9 a saying of about one hundred miles of running per day, as it was half r mile shorter than the present route from the city, and the oar's at present make about 800 return trips (.0 the Gardens per day. Mr. Cathie said that ho had challenged the promoters of tho Kelburne route to support a candidate who held their views entirely, but they had not put nno forward. His opponent, Mr. W. A. Kellow, held the samo views as he did on tho matter, but it suited him at the present tinie lo. support tho scheme, as he hoped to get into the Mayoral chair on the shoulders of other supporters. Mr. Kellovr: That is not so.

Mr. Cathie: Well, it appears so,to me. Ho.is sitting'on a rail, and does not know which side to fall. He will not get down. He will fall down.

Mr. Kellow: Don't you make any mistake about it.

Mr. Cathie remarked: "There is a saying that any stick was good enough to beat a bad dog. I am the bad dog. and Mr. Kellow is the stick that is being used to beat me. When they are done "ith the stick they will throw it away. They will just use Mr. Kellow for their own ends, and then have done witH him."

Mr. E. Hammond moved a voto of thanks to Mr. Cnthie. which was seconded by Mr. J. Ik. Henderson, and carried unanimously.

.., On.Monday next Mr. Cnthie will deliver another address.-"and will deal with the questions of rating, water, drainage, gas, and electricity.

LOWER HUTT

Mr. E. P. Bunny, who is seeking reelection as Mayor of Lower Hutt, will address the electors this evening at St. James's Hall (Lower Hutt). The proceedings will commence at 8 p.m.