SLOT TELEPHONES

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1907, 15 November 1913, Page 3

SLOT TELEPHONES

MUNICIPAL RIGHTS INVADED. THE MAYOT? PROTESTS. j _ 1 Power to install slot telephones in a i borough without consulting the local ] authority in regard to the selection of i sites is trfken by the Government in i the Post and Telegraph Amendment j Bill, now before Parliament. Tho ■ Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) objects strong- 1 ly to the Government taking this 1 power, and is moving in the matter with i a view to having tho proviso in ques- I tion eliminated from the Bill. "A ( copy of the Bill only came into my ; hands yesterday," iho told a Dominionreporter last evening, "and with Mr. < O'Shea, the City Solicitor, I at onco i called upon tho Hon. 11. H. Rhodes i (Postmaster-General), and asked him ] to put a proviso in tho Bill that tho 1 Government should not have power to ! install slot telephones without consult- i ing the local authorities. The section, ! as it stands,' gives the Post and Tele- I graph Department power to install slot j telephones in tho streets without the . consent of tho local authority that is i supposed to control them. Under these- . circumstances, the telephone cabinets ' might bo installed where they would interfere, either immediately or in, i future, with traffic, and the local au- : thority is obviously in a bettor posi- .< tiou to select tho sites than tho Department can bo. Tho Department naturally would not bo acquainted with prospective street or building alterations which might materially affect the position. "The Postmaster-General, when I saw him yesterday, said that ho would consider the matter, but ho has since communicated with me, saying that he is not in a position to meet my request. Last night I brought the matter before ' the City Council, and it passed tho fol- , lowing resolution: — " 'That this council welcomes the proposal contained in Clause 10 of the Post and Telegraph Amendment Bill for the extension of the facilities for the erection of telephone cabinets in the streets; but. is strongly of tho opinion : that tho consent of the local body (as the authority which has the jurisdiction over tho streets and a special knowledge of the local conditions) should bo necessary before any site is selected for tho erection of such cabinet. . ' .. " 'And that the council wait upon the Postmaster-Gonoral by deputation in order to urge the amendment of tho clause.' "The resolution has been Bent to the Postmaster-General," continued Mr. Luke, "and I have also put myself in communication with the Mayors of Dunedin, Auckland, and Christehurch, ' asking for their co-operation so as to prevent the clause being inserted in the Bill in its present.form. In my opinion, the nutter should be rectified Bill is before tho Legislative Council." Mr. Luke remarked in conclusion that he was strongly opposed to the Government taking arbitrary powers in this way in dealing with affairs which properly lay within the province of a local authority. The slot telephones so far installed in .Wellington had been installed on approved by the City Council. Every facility had been given to the Post and Telegraph Department in the matter, and there seemed no reason why tho powers proposed in tho Bill should be sought.