CITY ELECTIONS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1730, 22 April 1913, Page 6

CITY ELECTIONS.

MR. M'LAREN AT TOWN HALL.

CITY FINANCES. . CAUTION ADVOCATED. , • ■ 'i i Mr. D. M'Laren addressed a meeting in : tho Concert Chamber of the Town' Hall j last evening iri support of his oandidAtiire' . for reflection to , tho Mayoralty. Mr. J. Hutcheson presided over an attendance of -about two hundred eleotors. Mr. M'Laren ; was given an exoellent hearing and was ! frequently applauded.

In tho course of his speech Mr. H'Lnren ;enid that thero hnd been no borrowing j.during his year of ofHco and no inoreoso: in rates. The year's working had resultled in a credit balauce of ,£1637. Had expenditure been in accordance with do;«iands there would.have been a deficit of [*-C 11,554. A-city improvement loan of Mloo,ooo would fall duo for renewal durcoming year and arrangements fJiad already been made to pay olf .£2.5,000 ■or this amount through tho Sinking Fund {Commissioners, Mr. M'Laren stated that' jJie had kept'a .careful watch.,upon, the, pnances ot tlio city during .his-term--of i" , SS;. " le coming.year. a. number"of •additional liabilities wquld hav,? to be ; met and it was necessary ;'to .bear' this in DMnd. Ho regretted to observe .'that a -.number of candidates, lii 9 opponent :Jimongst the number,' wero, making promises without paying necessary regard to financial considerations. For hospital and charitable.aid an addibional.sum of .£3OOO S o 'ii d -r," 5 required, a.similar sum for tho ;.Hutt Road and about ; for street improvements and other, necessary works.'Altogether somo .£IO,OOO of additional expenditure would have to bo met during tho coming year and the credit balance ironi the past year was ,£1037. .Mr. M Laren reviewed the power and lighting .account in detail and-contended that the position was eminently satisfactory. : No reduction .in, charges for power and lighting was in immediate prospect, but if it Jiroved necessary in order to meet competition and retain, customers ho Would favour reductions in somo instances. ■ -

! J The Tramways, . • c ' The Mayor remarked' that there was no department, of city affairs to which he mul • -paid, more attention during cue year than that of tramways, ti \?? cy 111 re Sfrd. to concessions was t lat they should increaso in nrooortion to the distance travelled. The board had ust iproppsed that tickets' for ;U iM iides sho.uld be sold for two shillings. £• sll »B es tion another system under ivmch the concession was in relation, to the distance travelled had been adopted. Official figures showed.that the total eapiuu expended to dato on the tramways imounted to 121. , The increaso. in She .traffic receipts for the year was £11,217; the increase in total revenue for tlie year was expenses had increased l>v .£2419, but there was o, decrease in expenses of repairs and maintenance and- general maintenance, so that :otal expenses had increased by only £1219. The net surplus for 1913 was .£11,900, as against <81M2 in 1912, an iniroase in net surplus for the year just jnded of .£10,858. Tho net surplus on the wwer supply account also showed na in-'. >rease. A sum of .£IO,OOO had been prorided as a renewal fund. With n'creditif =610,500 in hand, they had faced the natter of -granting additional concessions :o tho people. Concessions bad beon)mado lot/with. respect to one or two districts to the wholo' residential area, granting concessions according to the distance travelled, it would be possible from Sins to time as thoro were credit balances to make concessions to peoplein geaeral interfering, with'thb' tramways nanagement or dislocating finance.

Projected Extensions. ; Dealing tramway extensions, Mr. 11'Laren said thai somo candidates, his ipponent amongst the number, wero prriUising extensions in nil directions without i-egard to finance . Personally 'ho favoured ill necessary extensions when the money lonld bo found to carry them out, but i't lid not follow that they could be carried mt during the coming year. In his opinoii, this was not a favourable -juncture it which to raise a loan. ' In .reports vliich had been supplied to tho' council •lie total cost of tho .various extensions Srojecfed was variously estimated at from £1H,123 to .£114,165. His hearers would jgreo' 'that out of £1637 they could not P'd *£111,000. Those who wero promising •xtensions in all directions should bo canlid enough to tell the people whether they proposed a loan or not'. In his opinion lie most urgent extension was that over tansjablo Street.. As to some of the other. lish'icts which were crying out for extenlons, 'ho considered that power should' >e sought irora -Parliament to inn motor imnibuses.' i ■ ' : r - M'Laren claimed that during his erm there had been more amicable agreements between the city authorities and lie Government than in any previous P 1 , ,9 instanced in this connection no fact that the city had obtained from to Government an addition of 0500 acres, o its catchment area at Wainui-o-mata.' ipart from his. position as Mayor, his ohtical views did not coincide with those f the members of the Government, but lie cknowledged freely ajid candidly that ,in :is interviews with Ministers ho had revived nothing-but courtesy and considertion, and they had met the city in a fair 'ay in regard to matters that they had lficussed. .

! The City Reservos/ On the subject of reserves, Mr. M'Laren Hd fhat»ho had held all along that in pganl .to the Town. Plan it should bo adlinistered and improved on a general lan. Thousands, of pounds had eon frittered away •on tho Town ; clt for lack of a comprehensive plan. forester had -now been employed to deal ith the planting .of- the Town 'Belt in 'a; •stematifc ivay, and lie . considered thafc enceforth distinct- anmiql" lotild lie made in fiu-U'iarimi-e oF this nrk. Much had bqe'n Ojiliil. about*} lip aplication of the Kelburiio'f :liib for an rca of tlis Town Bell-. His view was Hint . applications of this character were to p ontei'tained it should be doiio oil sonio jncval: system mi that people in, all parts : the city might be treated alike. Ho as absolutely against any proposal to ?st public grounds in private* .trustees.. :is policy was to avoid any creution.'pf, Bsted interests in any portion' of/ tho üblic reserves. As to the BaVri Reserve, tuate-d in a congested district, it was ot' the reserve that should be turned ito a cricketing oval. Such a reserve lould be used more and more by .women ad children and old ~ pe0p1e.,... Sports ponnOT should be provided, but not . is 10 centre of the city. Large areas were jing opened up at Lyall Bay and Kiliruio which would bo available for purines of sport. The Basin Reserve should" j improved o.nd planted as a recreation .'01111(1.' A new pavilion should bo built ick against tho fence and tho existing ink should be cut down to increase the :ea of Mio ground. This, with the. removal of the present ugly fence and with idioious planting, would make a ground i 'be proud of.

:Mr. M'Laren said that lie had read, his pponent's policy speech,' but liad found j-policy/ His opponent had raised-no-ling against the administration of'. the Ist year. All that Mr. Luko had-done as to enumerate a list of things ho'had >en connected with and to mako pro■ise3 in all directions. The objection to !r. Luke's proposal of a town-planning (heme to extend over three generation's as that most of those to whom it was ibmitted would bo dead beforo it could 3 carried out. It was v;hat could be >no this year that mattered, and what mid be done to deal with congested slum iiarters. Tho City Engineer had ■ slighted some time ago that the city should iek extended powers which would enable ■ to demolish slum structures which were n eyesore. This was much nearer tho : ark than Mr. Luke's fanciful proposal. Mr. M'Laren said that he iced tho electors with confidence. As to ie allegation that the Labour party had itrodueod politics in municipal affairs, e said that tho Labour party li.ad a i-u-nicipnl programme distinct from its tilitical platform. He had never intronced general politics into municipal afiirs\

Having answered a-number of questions fr. M'Lareu was accorded a vote of ranks findconfidence; only one or two uiecs licine raised in dissent.

MR, J„ P. LUKE. ADDRESS AT BROOKLYN. Mr. J. P. Luke, candidate for tlio citj* mayoralty, addressed a urellattendcd meeting of the ©lectors at the Masonic Hall last evening, Mr. A. J. White -presiding. Mr. Luko received an excellent hearing, and at tho conclusion of his address was accorded a unanimous vote of thanks aud confidence.

In the course of his remarks, tho candidate traversed tho main points of his previous sp€eches. Inferring to thollutt Road construction, Mr. Luko considered .that .provision should be inado for tho payment of tho city's contribution over a long period—tlio necessities of tho community could not bo stifled because of its sharo in the cost of this work.

Dealing with tho. finances of the city for tho past year, .Mr. Luko pointed out that tho non-cxpeiidituro of money duly estimated and authorised had resulted in tho year closing with a surplus, as against a debit balance for tho year before. The <lebit balance of that year was accounted far by the expenditure of .£14,000 on the purchase of land at Lyall Bay. What ■'Jiad improved tho, past year's statement was certain- increases of revenue and the non-expenditure, of votes authorised—a very simplo methedof arriving at a surplus, observed Mi'. Luk6. Arrears of rates had brought in .£SOO, ■ rents from the reclaimed land leases had increased by J!1732, "and the Market. Resa-.-o by J3130.; while the Town Hall rents aL-pregattd .£'4oo.' On tho expenditure side "tWv> v a'-, expended less .than was authorised—something liki ■£2080—while the special expenditure was £17,500, as compared, 'with .£21,000 the previous year.