THE CITY LOAN

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2158, 26 May 1914, Page 6

THE CITY LOAN

REVISING THE SCHEDULE

TUNNEL SCHEME POSTPONED

ORIENTAL BAY ESPLANADE DROPPED

TOTAL AMOUNT: £239,508

The loan proposals recently submitted to the City Council and tho people of Wellington by the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) wore discussed at a special meeting of tho council last night. There were present: The Mayor (Mr. J. P. I.uko) and Councillors G.' Frost, W. H. V. Barber, H. Buddie, W. J. .Thompson, L. M'Kenzie, E. Tregoar, M. F. Luokie, J. Godber, H-. A. Wright, T. C. A. Hislop, A. H. Hindmarsh, and J. E. Fitzgerald. A Wadestown Grievance.

The claims of AVadestown to the expenditure of some of the loan moneys in that district wore advanced by a numerous deputation. Mr. A. E. Joplin said tho Ratepayers' Association of Wadestown wished to p protest against tho allocation of the moneys to* bo borrowed. Out of a total of £338,967 of proposed expenditure not Ono shilling was to bo spent in Wadestown, while large sums were to be spent m South Wellington—on a new tunnel under Mount Victoria and on a number of works in Oriental Bay, Roseneath, Vogeltown, Brooklyn, and Island Bay. And tho roads of Wadestown needed tho expenditure upon them of at least some money. Tho roads in wet weather wero ankle-deep in mud, and there was not a footpath in tho district that was in decent repair. Ho complained that tho exclusion of Wadestown from these benefits was particularly unfair in view of the fact that the district was paying special rates for drainage and tramways. He urged that it' was the bounden duty of the council when considering the; loan proposals to put on the estimates of expenditure some such sum of money as would put the streets of the district in good repair. Mr! E. AVylioalso supported the plea that Wadestown had been neglected by the council, and urged that some' money should bo spent to give the people of tho suburb reasonable facilities for getting to their homes. The relations of Wadestown with the city had not been fortunate for Wadestown,' and he regretted to have to say, becauso he.had been one of the strongest advocates of'union with the city, that tho union had been a mistake.- He would suggest that cither the council should authorise the expenditure of;a sum of money on tho Wadestown roads, or,merge the Wadestown tram with the city system. They would like to have both concessions, but he urged that they had at least a right or the other.

Mr. J. Goiden spoke of tho need for cheaper tram feres on the Wadestown line. A Pretty Cood Slice. The Mayor pointed out .to the deputation, that many of their, complaints, were matters' with which the present council had nothing to do, and that tho present council had given AVadestown some consideration out of the. general rates. Last year thoy had felt that it was necessary, in the interests of .AVadestown, that the drainage works should be pushed on, even before tho much-needed repairs to the streets, because in any case the .drainage works would cup up the roads. All this work was carried on out of revenue. In all £5364 was spent on drainage, and £1680 on other general services, and this was a good big slice out of tho revenue for one year. Tho council had no desire to favour one end of the city of tho other, but tho growth of tho oity was in the south end. The case for Wadestown was not closed, however, and it would still be possible to make some provision for Wadestown in the loan proposals. The trams were a burden on the ratepayers in that district, at present, and would remain so until tho route becamo morn thickly populated. What they wanted there was population. '

Mr. Wylie: Our train sections are so unfair th'atwe can't get peoplo._ Tho Mavor concluded by saving that tho council would give tho Wadestown case full consideration, and endeavour to do what was right and just. Councillor Barber pointed out that Wadestown was not omitted from the loan proposals. In the schedule was an amount of £2000 for the erection of a fire brieade station there. Mr. Wylie: Put it on the roads. Mr. Barber: If vou think it is better to have roads and to allow your buildings to bo destroyed, all right. I think tho first necessity, next to water and drainage, is tho protection of life and pronerty. The deputation then withdrew, after thanking the council for having heard their case, and the Mayor, went on to Bpeak generally of the loan proposak. The Mayor Explains.

The Mayor said that the last loan ta go before the city ratepayers was when Mr. T. \V. Bislop was in office, in 1906. Tlio proposals were submitted to the ratepayers, under 15 heads, and 11 out of the'ls items were agreed to, which meant that £135,000 was authorised out of" a total proposed of £'274,000. At that time the feeling was that Wellington'had arrived at a stage of development which demanded that further works should bo undertaken. A similar stage had arrived now, for certain works had become necessary to provide for the , expansion of the citv. He thought the prooosals he had submitted hid. met with general approval. Ho was in favour of submitting the scheme to the ratepayers in globo. If the several items were submitted separately there was danger that by tho lack of'community of interest among the outlying parts of the city, and perhaps by jealousies among districts, certain necessary works might be vetoed. Ho had never' suggested that all the money should he raised at once, but that the'loan should be spread over .i period of at least five years. If tho loan was sanctioned, lie would urge that the duplication of the Constable Street line and the extension of it to Kilbirnio to relievo the pressure of traffic on the tunnel should be tho first work uiitlertakeu., The finances of the citv, he said in conclusion, were absolutely sound, and lie hoped that it. would bo possible to provido for tho interest on the loan out of increased out of tho saving in tho upkeep of citv streets, and cut of tho saving to bo effected by tho discontinuance of certain payments now being made, which would no longer bo neccssarv. So that the increase- in .tho rates need not be heavy. He moved that tlio proposals be open for discussion. Councillor Thompson seconded this proposal. Councillor Luekic at once moved that tho loan schedule be discussed in committee. This was seconded bv Councillor Frost and carried, Councillor Barber dissenting. Tlio council resumed at 10.4? p.m., and immediately adjourned after cpnfirmins the work done in committee. COUNCIL'S REVISION. SCHEMES TO HE SUBMITTED ■.SINGLY. Tho Mayor stated after the meeting that the following proposals had been adopted by. tho eoungil A and that they.

would be submitted as separate issues to the ratepayers in this order. — (1) Tramway Loan ... £82,330 The original estimate of the-tramway loan was £98,850, but two items in it, Hill Street route £10,000, and duplication of tho Thomdon track (about) £1500 arc deleted. The duplication is held over for further consideration, and the proposal lor the Hill Street deviation is struck out, councillors being of opinion that they were not supplied with sufficient c/ideuco that it was tho best possiblo route. Apart from additions to buildings, machinery, and rolling stock, tho only important itecn now provided tor in the loan is "duplication of Constable Street track and extension to Kilbirnie £25,000." The duplication lias been approved, but a further report is to be obtained before tho question goes to tho poll as to tho route to be followed from tho top of Constable Street into Kilbirnie. (2) Wood Blocking ... £61,558 (3) Fire Brigades £18,000 This item provides for new fire brigade stations at Brooklyn £2000, Island Bay £200, Roseneath £2000, Northland £2000, Kclburno £2000, Wadestown £2000, Constable Street £3700. There are also amounts totalling £2300 for miscellaneous alterations and fittings, mostly required for an improved tiro alarm system. (4) Baths, £8300. 'J'his is really a grouping of firo items in the Mayor's proposals—Bath House, Lyall Bay, £3000; Swimming Bath, Island Bay, £3500; Kilbirnie Bath, £750; Bath, Ballina Bay, £250; Bath, Brooklyn, £800. (5) Island Bay improvements £2,300 (6) Vogeltown Road ... £11,500 (7) Roseneath Road ... £13,500 (8) Brooklyn Road ... £3,500 (9) Central Park £13,000 (10) Kilbirnie Reclama- . tion and Recreation Ground ... £19,000 (11) Extension of Ccntral Library £3,500 This makes the total amount which the ratepayers will be asked to authorise £239,508. Rejected Proposals. The most important decision of the council last night was that for the postponement of the undcrtaking of tho traffic tunnel through Mount Victoria to Hataitai, tho estimated cost of which was £70,000, and the deletion of tho item of £10,000 for tho completion of the Oriental Bay Esplanade. The -traffic tunnel is "held over" merely, but it is considered extremely improbable that the scheme will over appear on this loan schedule again. The council decided to postpone tho building of the tunnel until arrangements could bo made with Miramar borough to contribute towards the cost of construction, and until a special rate could be levied upon all that part of the City lying east of Mount .Victoria,- which would be' constituted a special rating area, to provide its proportion'of the cost of tho tunnel. It,was. decided further that the. engineer be,instructed to bring'down'another, report on'the tunnel scheme; in which ho should, inform the council as to the possibility of cutting' a traffic tunnel without cutting through private property adjacent to the Basin Reserve, or making inroads into tho Wellington College ground. The procedure to bo followed before the taking' of the poll need' not affect the council's decisions. A public meeting must be called, to which the proposals must bo submitted, but even a hostile vote on the proposals need not deter the council from submitting tho issues to the ratepayers. If, however, tho council should deem it advisablo to withdraw the proposals after the public mcotiug it could legally do so.