MUNICIPAL YEAR.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 85, 11 April 1911, Page 8

MUNICIPAL YEAR.

WHAT HAS BEEN DOME. STEADY PROGRESS TOWARDS IDEALS. STATEMENT BY THE MAYOR. The financial year of the Wellington City Council came to an end on the 31stMarch la6t, and in the space of a few days now the municipal elections will take place, and the electors will have the opportunity of choosing their representatives for two years' term, of office. Under the circumstances a review of the municipal year, 1910-1911, comes apropos. The Mayor (Mr. T. M. Wilfard), at tho invitation oi a Post sreporter, consented to summarise the work of the council during the twelve months just over. "I think I can, in all truth, say," declared the Mayor, "that the past year has been one of steady progress. There has been no standing still, no idle gazing backward over what has been accomplished, but a steady march towards an ideal municipality. LAND AT LYALL BAY. "One of the first things I was called upon to deal with, in conjunction with the council, was the purchase-of a block of land at Lyall Bay, 24 acres ia area, from the Crawford Estate, for the purpose of providing a recreation (reserve at this favourite seaside resort and a road along the. beach. This transaction, was, after much discussion, brought to a satisfactory conclusion. Since then we have arranged to-purchase an additional area of 10 acres of land at this place for the purpose of erecting car sheds for the tramways, and yards for the use of the City Engineer's. Department. I consider that th*be purchases will prove more and more valuable to the city as time goes on. During the year the necessity for appointing a custodian to take charg-e of the Lyall Bay beach became obvious, and Mr. Minnie was appointed to the position. WATER SUPPLY. A maiter which has engaged the public attention for many years is the duplication of the Wainui 'main. This year the matter received earnest consideration at the hands of the council, with the result that the ratepayers were approached and authorised tha raising of a loan. A sum of £133,000 was raised at 4 per cent, at par, with the special provision that the city should only pay interest as it drew the money for the work. The terms of the raising of such loan are exceptionally good. The money raised not only provides for the duplication of the Wamui mam, but also for other important works "in. connection with the water supply — viz., provision of a distributing reservoir, the construction of bridges over the Wainui-o-Mala River, the extension of the reticulation of the city, and the diversion of the existing main to new Hutt Raver bridges, and it also covers the Wadestowu tramway undertaking. MILK SUPPLY. The milk supply question has been before the council for a considerable time, but it was only during the lasi year that a Bill dealing with the question reached the Statute Book. Under this Bill we have power to esXa-blish a milk station for testing, treating; and distributing the milk supply of the city, to buy and sell milk, and to sell cream, and to manufacture and sell butter and (Other milk products, and ice, to. provide for storage in cool chambers of milk, butter, and other p v oducts of milk. The council still more recently advanced the matter a stage by resolving to promote a Bill giving it power to combine with the milk station cool chambers for the storage of perishable products. The question of a. site foi 1 the proposed milk station is difficult, but will, I have no • doubt, be solved. ■ CHARLOTTE-STREET IMPROVEMENT SCHEME. Another question of importance that has been satisfactorily dealt with during my term of office has been the widening and improving of Charlotte-street, Bowen-street, Museum-street, and part ff Sydney-street by the Government at the expense of the Government. This work, when completed, will enable the Council, if it to resolved, to run. a, tramway service either up Bowen, Charlotte, or Hill-streets. Legislative authority has been given to this proposal in an Act of last session. Provision is also made by the Government for theclosing of part of Sydney-street and for the vesting in the Corporation in trust as a public recreation ground of a 12acre block of land at Lyall Bay belonging to the Government. . HARBOUR BOARD EIRE ENGINE I AGREEMENT. A long outstanding source of trouble has, during the past year, been satisfactorily settled. I refer to the agreement between this Council and the Wellington Harbour Board with respect to the housing, etc., of the board's engine. A new agreement has been entered into between the two bodies. Under this agreement the board agrees to pay, in addition to the £100 paid for the housing of the engine by the Wellington City Council, the actual wages of the firemen, damage to all plans and uniforms of firemen whilst engaged at fires on the board's propeity. This is a fair arrangement fox bcth authorities. ABATTOIR, During the past year some necessary works have been carried out at the abattoir at Ngahauranga, in order to enable the work to be carried 1 out in an efficient manner. The Lower Hutt Borough Council, a few months ago, made application to thib Council for the inclusion of its borough within the abattoir area. This Council acceded to this request, the Government approved and issued the necessary Gaze-tie notice. This will msan increased business for our abattoir, and guarantee a disease-free meat suppiy to the Lower Hutt borough as well. FIRE PREVENTION. The council has not neglected fire prevention matters during the peiiod under review. The Fire Brigade has been kept well provided with everything necessaiy to enable it to deal effectively with fire suppression, and the council have authorised the purchase of a new motor fire engine, which will arrive before very long, and bo a powerful adjunct to the fire-fighting plant of the- cily. It has been resolved to connect the house of the foreman of the brigade at Island Bay with the Newtown Fire Station, and to place call bells in the houses of the firemen. TRAMWAYS BILL. During the past session of Parliament, an amendment to the Tramways Bill was, passed by the Legislature despite a vigorous fight on the part of the minority. The powers of the local authority, dehpite a, vigorous opposition, have been much curtailed, and I do not believe that such curtailment is for the benefit j of either the citizens or the employees. LIBRARIES. The Libraries Department h?s bsen efficiently (supervised by the> Libraries Committee, but a new step, and 1 hops one that will tend to the development of I the institution, has been the appoint- I ment of an outside Advicory Committeo of Citizens to assist the committee in , their work in 'connection v ltli the Mv- <

eeum. Within the last month or two the i Philosophical Society has, at the request of the council, appointed three of its members to assist in the work of classification of the specimens in the Museum. STREET NUMBERING IN OUTLYING DISTRICTS. The city — that is, the* original city of Wellington — has had its street numbering in force for many years, but this has not been the case in the outlying districts. Up till recently it has not been possible to do much in this direction, owing to the scattered way in which the bouses have been erected, but this year the .council has authorised the work of street' numbering in the suburban parts of the city to be carried out. DUPLICATION OF STREET NAMES. For many years the trouble caused by the duplication of street names lias been before the council, but of late years the difficulty has greatly increased, owing to the inclusion, within the city of the Melrose borough and other areas. • The council lias now, however, dealt in a complete and comprehensive manner with the problem, and I think thai when the altered names become better known citizens will more and more realise the advantages of the changes brought about by the present council. « HOUSE-WIRING ON DEFERREDPAYMENT SrSTEM. An important step has been taken by the council in authorising the Electrical Department to take in hand the wiring of houses on the deferred-payment system. The actual work of wiring is not undertaken by the department, tenders being called for same. I think the council can be congratulated on having adopted the system,as it has greatly increised the number of electric lighting • connections, and has assisted those desiring the current to obtain the same on terms. The council has also given substantial encouragement to the use of electricity by reducing the charges for current for heating. Previously, the charges were 3d per unit net, but now that has beeu altered, the charge being 3d per unit for the first 20 units and l^d for every additional unit. QUEEN'S STATUE. , The council lately authorised the romoval of the Queen's statue from the Post Office-square to Kent-terrace. 2 think that the citizens generally will approve the council's decision in this matter, as there can be no doubt that traffic in the square has increased to such an extent that the present position of the statuo is, if not actually dangerous, highly inconvenient, especially when the Aro-street and Brooklyn tramways make their start at the Post Office. TRAMWAYS : WORKERS' TICKETS _ The alteration in v regard to workers' tickets would before long be brought into operation. At present only one workers' car leaves each terminus" every morning, and one from the main terminal points for each sectional terminus every evening. Under the new system every person boarding the cars ur, to 7.30 in the morning may purchase workers' tickets available for return on any tram up to 6.30 p.m. on ordinary days or 1.30 on Saturdays. This will enable -casual workers to come down to town and, if no work is available, to return -to their homes at a reduced fare. The age at which children are entitled to be carried on the trams at reduced lates was, during the past year, raised from 12 to 14. NEW CARS AND FREIGHT CARS. lh& council recently authorised the uuilcl. ing of six cars during the present financial year, and has also authorised the construction oi two freight cars for use on the Kilbirnie section. This is an entirely new departure, as far as the City of Wellington is concerned, and he thinks that it will be found to answer th& public conveniences to such an extent that it will be necessary before very •long to extend the working of the system "to every terminus in the city. In connection \vith the Oriental Bay section, it was deemed necessary to authorise the construction of a tramway loop at Hay-streel. Plans for this -work, have been prepared, and are now in the hands of the Department for Public Works for their approval. One portion of the Kilbirnie line from. Boyd's corner to Nelson-street has reJ cently been duplicated, and provision is to be made in the estimates for the current year to provide for further duplication from. Nelson-street to Goa-street. WILLIS-STREET WIDENING. T.he widening of Willis-street was advanced a stage during the past year, the council having arranged for the acquisition of a strip of land 10ft deep along the land owned by Mr. Thomas Coverdale and lying immediately to th» south of Old Customhouse-street. The question of the amount to be paid for the land has yet to be settled" OTHER EVENTS OF THE YEAR. The Mayor mentioned other important events in the municipal year. It was regretted that the council had found it necessary to curtail the expenditure on the Zoo, but, with the'expert knowledge of Mr. Le Soeuf, of Sydney, the council might be in a position to deal with the development of the Zoo in a satisfactory manner. At the Mayor's request, the Reserves Committee has undertaken to elaborate a scheme for the improvements of the city reserves at Lyall Bay, in order -to make more ample provisions for the convenience of the public visiting the beach, provision for which will no doubt be made in the estimates for the currentyear. The land at Adelaide-road, on which the old tramway sheds formerly stood, will be sold by auction. A loan of £20,000 was raised for the purpose of purchasing the old horse tramway system, and to provide a sinking fund for this loan, the council at its last meeting resolved to set aside & cum of £500 per annum to enable the loan to be wiped out. It is proposed to make a start in a small way with the paving of Feather-stou-street. The Government has offered to contribute towards the cost of paving with woodblocks the portion of the street to which the new Post Office building will have a frontage. A separate means of communication between the city and Kilbirnie for pedestrians and vehicles and the Con-stable-street route would have to be considered during tho year The Wadegtown tramway will probably be opened for traffic before the end of next month. The question of public markets was before the Markets Committee, which has been instructed to bring down a report on the same. The reserves in the city and suburbs had been well cared for during tho past j year, and the playing grounds were well utilised by the various sports bodies. The Superintendent of Reserves had carried out a considerable amount of treo planting on the Town Belt. During the year a number of the most important streets in the city had been treated with the new tar-spraying machine, and the work had undoubtedly been of considerable benefit in minimising tho dust nuisance. It is understood that one of the Conciliation Commissioners appointed under the Act of 1903 has been appvoachod t with, a view to his accepting a lucrative pecition in tho Department of Labour, New South Wales. A private hotei for sale is adrerciaed by licssrs. Longmore and Co. The annual meeting of the Chamber of I Commerce will bo held to-morrow. The ' luncheon will start at 1 o'clock.