IMPORTANT PROPOSALS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 241, 5 July 1919, Page 8

IMPORTANT PROPOSALS

INIFMG FOUR MUNICIPAL DEPARTMENTS

PROVISION OF COLD STORAGE

CITY COUNCIL ASKS FOR REPORT

A special; meeting of the City Council, E resided of-er by. tho Mayor (Mr. .1. I'. uke,. MJ.), was held yesterday afternoon to consider, inter alia, several notices of motion that had been held over for some time past. There were present Councillors R. A. Wright, M.P., P. Eraser, lIP., J. M: Daw, J. 0. Sho.-land, 11. F. Luckie, L, M'Kenzie, T. Forsyth, W. H. Bennett, C. B. Norwood,'. J. Thompson, and G Frost. Councillor T. Bloodworth (Auckland) was present as «■ visitor. Councillor Norwood moved:— "That the Finance Committee invest!-

gate and bring down a. report as to th* v adyisapjltiy of acquiring more land adjacent to.the milk station for tho follow- ■■; ing purposes:—(e) To erect, thereon suitiftWe'bmldinjrs for the receiving and.mora economical Handling oi parcel delivery services of the tramway system, (b) That the.necessary siding which must bo run ! into tie] milk staiton for the purpose <.f handling;, many tons of milk in and out of tlie/.'statwn daily be made to serve tho dcaible purpose and lessen the aggregate oQst.'to hotli departments.. ( c ) That tho present freezing and cool storage plant , and building at the milk -station be considerably enlarged to provide for the-stor. ; ' age of perishable goods in tho city, (d) That the cold storage bo designed to meet . tho rea.uiremer[ts o't the abattoir for tho . etorage of meat in euch a. way as will not "contaminate the milk supply, (o). ■ That provision be niadb when acquiring the land for iish markets, as these must ■when'installed be near the. freezing chambers, aid that provision be made in fixing- the site and designing the cold storage to make it possible to store fish without the' possible contamination of tho milk supply, (f) That the.tramway sid-j ing referred to in (b) be .designed to meet all the requirements of all the above departments, (g) That h distributing stal . tion bo established in each economic centre in the outlying districts." . Benefit to the City. ] ;. In support of his proposal, Councillor Norwood said: "In introducing my notice of motion I must of necessity touch hriefly upon four departments of-the conn- ! cil's" activities. 1 trust my proposal will commend itself to the council, as it must n'riify the several departments in 60 far as they can lend' help 'one to the other, and . by so doing afford a -great public benefit upon the city. r: "Some time ago,.onr councillors will ■"'■ remember, the council purchased for the milk.department tho premises known as ;" the Fresh Food and Ice Company's premises in Dixon Street. In these premises there was limited provision for cold stor'age. This, however, was taxed to.its limit, ind owing to the lack of steam power duo to the size of the plant wo have had to turn away a considerable amount .of cold storage service, and the nnraber of applications received for space in .cold stornge lias'been such ae to leave no doubt in niy mind that tho.conn', cil should proceed immediately with tho erection of buildings and plant that will look-after the"requirements of the city

: for'somo'considerable timo to come, and provision could be made in the work to provide for future extension. It cannot '•'ha denied that cold storage can be made 1 to bring about a greater preservation of j perishable foodstuffs and reduco; Waste, i It is also conceivable that cold storago i ', can be made to equalise market prioes .of I ' perishable goods throughout the yean especially is/this so wjth tho fish business, which by reason of the.:weather

conditions must always bo more or les* irregular, as supplies cannot be brought in with certainty from day today. However, the same applies, mora or less, to a number of.other foodstuffs wbich it is ■unnecessary for me to enumerate at this, time. At the present time this property is in the hands of the milk department, and certain land adjoining has been taken under the Public Works Act for

extensions to this department;. The matter I now bring before-"the council in this connection is Whether considerably more land should not be acquired that will make provision: (1) For iish markets facing Dixon Street; (2) for general cold:storago; (3) for a central depot or

transport store for the receipt and dispatch of parcels; in fact, to act as the general..centre of the parcel delivery ( "I:.«ra not particularly wedded to this

site; although I am wedded to the idea that better public service could be maintained were these several departments able to-associate themselves within one block.' " ' .

"I cannot think that any councillor is proud of the present parcel delivery system provided t>y the council. I am not sore who .was responsible for its inauguration and organisation, but there is little doubt that, it is being conducted at a loss to tho city and is not performing any great service to the masses of people. I wish to say briefly how this caii bo remedied. If the council makes its own carrying systeni such that it will do the councils own carrying, then it will be t»mpetent to do carrying for the general public, but not until then, in my vfcv. Commencing with the milk department: At the present time this department is <«lle4 .upon to handle anything from IV to 30 tons of milk daily in and out, and to this must be added, if in tho future milk'/is to he delivered in containers,

somethjng like approximately 10 tons of bottles'as well every day. 'This milk will in future arrive in the city by train, and I believe arrangements with the railways ,r*rg" possible whereby we shall be able *"' to link up and get tbe_trucks run direct from the railway station into our own premises. When this milk has been treated and'is ready for distribution to

tho public, it has got to be carted or railed to tho economic distribution centres in all parts of Wellington, otherwise the block system would not afford its full economies. I want councillors to

notice here that these centres would bo good centres to send parcels in bulk for distribution to tho respective districts, and as it will bo'essential to have soiiieono in charge of tho.centres where this milk is taken, they could bo maiie' also to take charge of other goods and foodstuffs that might be sent in for distribution. If wo take for Maniple Island

Bay; in the initial stages it may be unprofitable- to have, more than, say, three, distributions a week of' parcels, hut immediate delivery could bo made of parcels culled for at tho district! depot. Councillors will fee, if they study this position carefully, that the economic development of the outlying districts will be assisted materially by the ability of residents, wherever they might live, of heing able to mako their purchases in tho best, markets and liavo their goods delivered at their doors.' "In my view tho abattoirs should bo connected up by tram/ This would relieve the roads of an immense load of traffic, and would bring about economic handling of a very important article of There is not a butcher's shop in Wellington that is not on tho tram line, «nd if the whole system weru carried into force the freezing chambers would, become ?. central distribution cen-

tre for the, meat of the city, and if this could prove'to be so in reality, what will it represent in returns and in public service to our tramway parcel-delivery system? U is not a good thing to allow meat to hang too long in the srramortimo in the butcher shops, and this is a. dena.rtment under tho new syotem which, could also be looked after by the tramway freight system and the cold storage department. "In my view, the cold storage and ilia tramway freight system could be mads the two main factors in solving Ihis more or less awkward problem in Wellington. My view is that Ibe council should endeavour to make an arrangement with the military authorities for the use of a. section of the Military Heserve across Evans Bay. Fish could be landed there in all weathers-boats could lay in comparative calm water. Manuro works could bo erected dealing with tho by-prodncts, and only cleaned fish be allowed to como into the city area. A tram linßrcfflrtimiing along- tho- waterfront - In ths^woilKVcould /.deal /with; the" freightquestion.-:; The fresh fish could immediatelyhe run to the fish-markets in Dixon Street for sale, and the surplus packed into cold storage immediately adjacent. It is not my purpose to deal with the fish question in this notice of motion, out; merely to say th'fof. provision sbrmld

ho mado "bemuse b.v this scheme llm price of fish could bo regulated upon' i.he cost of handling, and the traders in foil within tlio city could lie allowed u. fixed price for the- retail sale, while, t-ho supply from cold storage could look uller (ho days when, owing to Tough weather, no fish lauds, while the by-product works a.t the Military Ttcscrve, it thai site is possible, would be a big factor in contribul.ing to the reduction in co?t of fish 10-t'no public."

General Goods Delivery. ' Councillor M'Kcnzio (seconded Councillor Norwood's motion, lie wanted to hcc oven a. better parcel.''' delivery iprviee than that proposed by the nioier; he would like to see (ho parcels delivery e.\tPiiderl to ho a. general poods delivery. Councillor Forsyth regarded the suggested investigation of the parcels delivery proposal as a waste of money. J'ho council could not. provide a. parcel deliv r cry system capable of superseding other systems at; present available in the city. Witb l regard to tlje milk question, liu wished to sec a report subinittcd wliioh would enable new councillors in particular to judge, upon the past activities- of the Jlilfc Committee, whether it was advisable to extend the present venture.

Councillor Fraser supported Councillor Norwood's proposals. He thought' thai, the parcels delivery scheme could bo made a great success.

Several councillors showed an inclination to discuss the motion at some length. The Mayor reminded the council Hint the motion merely asked for a report, lie wished to see the discussion shortened a little, if possible. ■ The motion was carried -without opposition.. Other motions adopted by the council were the following^— "That the council a«ree to immediately proceed with the e'rectjon in central and convenient situations of two rest rooms for women.'' (Moved by Councillor I'raser.)

"That the Engineer he instructed It immediately prepare a scheme to extend the present public convopieiiceß for both men and women; to establish new one; where; those existing are obsolete, inadequate, and insanitary, and'rt such other places in both city and suburbs where considered necessary.'' (Moved by Councillor Frnser for Councillor .Glover.) "That the council fake immediate steos to provide a mechanical point-box at the Royal Oak comer similar to those in use in other up-to-date tramway ■ services. (Moved by Councillor Vrasar for Coun- ' cillor Hutchison.) ". ■