MIRAMAR AND THE CITY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 30, 30 October 1919, Page 6

MIRAMAR AND THE CITY

UNCONDITIONAL UNION OPPOSED In accordance with a promise mado six months ngo, tho Mayor of Miramar (Mr. S. M. Stone) took tho opportunity last evening of placing his views on (ho question of Miramar amalgamating with tlio city before a representative gathering of residents of the lwrongh. Tho points which, to bis mind, would be to tho advantage of the borough should amalgamation with tho city tako place were that a limited amount of money (.CJlfiO per annum) that the borough had to spend on general upkeop was much too small to take in hand works of any size, nnd tho council had to content itself more in the nature of patchwork and small works of a pressing nature. The amount of labour the council could employ was limited to £2M n?r annum. This meant that the council was not m a position to put on more labour than would use up tho amount set aside in the estimates. Although the cost _of materials and wages were rapidly increasing, tho amount received by the borough in rates had decreased on .incount of the. revaluation of large blocks of unoccupied land. Another advantage would be that the City Council was -.n possession of certain road-makiii" plant which could be used from time to time in the borough and so expedite the works to be carried out. It had been stated that under amalgamation transit facilities would Jin improved, but it was equally curtain that in the near future tho service would have to be whether amalgamated or not, as (lie tramway returns for the borough wero stoadilv improving. He quoted tlio following' figures, showing that the return* were improving:-l>s for half-year In Scptemb?r. IfIJC. £W> 9-*. M.: 131/. .c?M ?* Gri • 1018 .«! 12s. ."id.: Win. £15 ''?• id. For the four weeks to October 13. IMS, loss £50 Is. id.- f nr Uio sumo period. 1919, gain ,£ll Hs. lid. Tinder oitv conlrol, should any lnss occur, the borough assumed that the Ins* would be spread over the whole undertaking, and this would 1« a great «clvnntnge if the city would take over tlio whole of the loan and not make '-ho Miramar tramway loan a charge on the Miramar ratepayers. Under unconditional amalgamation tho borough would still ho called upon to, pay the interest charges on the tramway loan, and it was quilt' certain with the rapid settlement that was taking place in the borough that within a very short time the nouncil would be in a position to increase, the number of cars running into the borough. Another aspect that had to be taken into account was that if the boroiHi amalgamated unconditionally there was no guarantee that the fares would remain as they are. , The policy of the council in the past •'ad been to run the tramways in tho iitforests of the residents even at a cost to the ratepayers of £600 to X7OO a year. The Karak-a Bay bus service was run as a feeder to the tramways and cost last veav .£229. . ' As to rating, He proceeded, tho policy of the councils in the past had been to make the unimproved land in tho dis-M-ict bear a large proportion of the rates. For instance, the whole district; paid the •interest rate on the water supply loan of £23,000, amounting to .£llsO which could be covered by a rate on the annual value which was "very slight; on unimproved land. Tho area of the borough was 220 l acres from which had Ur be deducted for vating purposes, Government 333 acres, narks-GG} acres. Wellington Harbour Board and City Council tt acres, schools and churches i)J acres, streets 200 acres, a total of G45 acres, leaving 1609 acres rateable, of which the greater portion was land in large blocks which had still to lio roaded (at the owners expense) and subdivided, and at present tho value of this land for rating purposes was ver; low, but with the reading and eulkK vision of the land the rateable value won :t greatly increase, and it was safe to si y (lint with a. revaluation of the boroujrli the rate collected instead of being XiliH! would bo nearer .£ll,Mo in about two years. Tin's meant thnt the burden of tf'owould be shifted from the present otf j •' pied land to tho large blocks at preseii : unoccupied. For instance, a block i tho heart of the borough of GO acres nan nt the rate of .£lO per acre against the occupied land which paic. at the rate of .-£22 10s, per acre The interests of the city nnd borough were not always the same, and as a separate body the district, had a tetter chance of being heard. Taking the railway as an instance, he said that tlio nolicv of the city was to have the railway station at the north end of tho citv and the interests of the borough were to have the railway extended as far as ICilbirnio, if not to Miramar itself. Tim extension would have to come in time as Miramnr was bound to be n manufacturing district. Tho want of railway facilities had been very detrimental in the past. The tramways did not "ive Hit connection needed, and in. anv case tliSc was the additional handl(ing of goods. Wellington was not likely to assist in the development of tho tratfin on Miramar Wharf. The Mayor went on to compare tlio present rates with the city rates, and what they would bo under amalgamation. The city rate on a property of a capital value of .£l5O and unimproved value of dEl.iO would be JS2 ss. Id., wlulo present borough rate was M 4s. 5(1.. and #nder amalgamation woulo , bo .!■! ''s Gd The present council was out to do the- best it could for the advancement of the borough, and with thnt view in mind took the earliest opportunity' of considering the question of amalgamation. Some, few weeks ago the council sent a letter to tho Wellington Citv Council respecting- amalgamation, and so, jar no reply had been received, but from inquiries made, and from tlio attitudo tins city had taken m regard to Karori. tho council gathered that tlio onlv manner in which the city would tako the borough in was unconditionallv. and the council was unanimous that it irns not in the interests of tho Mi'ramur borougli to amalgamate with Wellington city unconditionally, and considered that nothing was to be.gamed bv riiShiiip the question when the l»r----oueIi could amalgamate later on if the. electors thought it desirable, and when the borough could amalgamate on much more favourable terms than the city would 1)0 prepared' to give at the present lime. ' , _ _ After some discussion Mr. A. R, l'crston mo\ed tlio following motion:— "That this meeting endorses the views of Mm Miramar Borough Council that unconditional amalgamation with tho AVcllinston City Council is not in tlio best interests of tho borough. Mr. George Day seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously.