THE DUNEDIN WATERWORKS COMPANY.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2660, 26 August 1871, Page 2

THE DUNEDIN WATERWORKS COMPANY.

I'UBUC MEETING AT TIIE MASONIC HALL. A large meeting of citizens was held in the Masonic Hall lash evening, according to announcement,'' for the purp isc of considering the proposed amendment of the Dunedin Waterworks C mpany Act. His Worship the Mayor was voted to the chair, and read to the meeting the alterations proposed by the City Council to be made in the Amendment Bill almut to hs intro luced into the General Assembly. These a'tcrations were to the following effect: —That the justices appointed to hear appeals against the company’s rate, should have no interest in tbo company; that section 8, which repeals section 28, sub-section 4 of the old Act, and interprets the meaning of the word messuage should be struck out; also, where the messuage occnn in the amended f ill, the word “house” should he substituted. In section 9, that the words “ public baths ” and “ornamental purposes” should be struck out, and the following substituted : “ The Corporation to have the free use of water for public baths, wash bouses, fountains, and for watering the streets.” in place of section 13 of the Amendment Bill requiring the payment of rates half-yearly in advance, that section 38 of the old Act should be retained. That clause 14, which reads as follows :—“The warrant authorised to be issued by any Justice of the Peace under the 45th section of the said Act, may be issued er, parte, and without notice or summons to the person or persons whoso goods are to'be restrained and levied upon,” be struck out; also section 15, making untenauted messuages liable for the water rate. His Worship farther explained that the Company’s original Bill made provision for the Company being entitled to cl urge “ more ” in cases where there was more than the ordinary consumption of water by the ratepayer, and the ratepayer to be assessed at a lesser amount when his consumption of water was less than the ordinary consumption. In the Amended Bill the word “less ” was carefully eliminated; but the Corporation insisted on the retention of the original clause. With respect to (lie clause relating to public baths, Ac., if the Company bad met the Corporation in a liberal spirit s me time ago, public baths in the City would now have been an established fact. Seeing the large powers and privileges the Company had obtained, and that it was in receipt of a subsidy from the Provincial Government, tbe City had a fair right to ask for a return in the shape of the free use of the water for public -ath*. As to the words “ for ornamental purposes,” from conversations with the Company’s secretary, he was led 1 1 believe that the words were not intended to convey the meau'ng the committee of the City Council thought they wore, and their inclusion in the clause would not be insisted on. The Council also recommended that the charge for private baths Ac., should be reduced from L 8 to L2 ; and the Provincial subsidy should cease when the Company’s profits reached 12 percent, instead of 2tJp.r cent, as stated iu the old Bill. Mr B. Paterson, moved the first resolution, which was as follows :—“That iu the opinion of this meeting, it ja not desirable that the powers and privileges of the Dunedin Waterworks Company should be extended beyond those given by their present statute; aud this meeting hopes that their Representatives iu Parliament will, by every means, oppose the further powers of taxation and increase of monopoly which the

endeavoring to obtain by I Mr M. Moss. JSpitKS observed that he could ena Jmrlion of the resolution, but he would jsHb3 doing his duty if he did not remarks upon it. As the meeting wag- Sware he was a director of the Water* works Company—oue of those horrible individuals who were to be cried down and hooted at.—(Confusion and uproar.) He had no intention of wounding the feelings of anyone. Had the promoters of the meeting or the Corporation Waited a little,'there would have been no neoos ity to have called the meeting. The draft-Amendment Bill had been sent into the Corporation two months ago, but it was'only within the halffortnight that the Company had received any intimation that objections were to be ma le to it. The Company suggested that a _ meeting should take place between-its directors and the Corpora’!-n, in order that the provisions of the Bill might be .explained, but they were informed that that meeting could not take place, as further amendments were. to be proposed. And it was only two days ago that the Company had received the Corporation’s further amendments.. How could they tell what the Company rea’ly intended f He heartily endorsed the first part of tiuTTesolution. The Company dll not want to ext nd its powers and privihges. The Company stood upon this footing—lt was /started, not as a commercial speculatl m, but as a great public boon. Men put tbjir hands into their pockets and )ai 1 out t’.eir money on an undertaking, which -was for the public benefit, flic first document issued by the Company did not say a word about its being uncommercial «-as ttarteil were stated to “be—oa ncjouut of the enormous incre.sa in the rate of mort li y the dange • from fire, the. high rate of insurance charges, and for'the in:provement of the health of the City. When the Company was started in 1864,: the shareholders were promised the payment of the Provincial guarantee from the timethey sub« scribed their capital ; bat they did not receive a single sixpence until 1867.—(A Voice: Whose fault was it?) It was certainly not ihe fault of the Company? i uder these circumstances, be failed to see why au effort should be male to takeaway the powers already possessed by the Com", pa-iy. The shareholders had laid out their money, and had wait :d long enough for any return. Was it fair or. just to turn round and say now, “ We must take away thore power-, ” 1 He, for one, said it was not lair that the powers possessed by the Company sh ukl ever ha ve been give i to it ihe and several of the directors stated at the' time that they should noo have been given; the directors did everything they could to get the Provincial Government and the Corporation to take up the undertaking, bgt they" would not. The undertaking was offered over and over again to the Government, aid'afteiwards to the Corporation, but the C ty Corn:, oil of the day would not entertain the pr - posal. He venturin'! to aay a greater nv - take was never made. The Company had to make other arrangement?, in ln just.ee to tho-e who came forward and assisted the Company in its diiiiculty, he asked that their rights should be pr. taete i • nid he felt sure from what he knew o the eitiz i s of Dunedin, that'they would not refuse to respect the rights of aiiyo ie. He asserted that they had no rig ,c to take away the existing priviligcs of -,. Ie company. Xay more, it was impossible they could be taken away, and any atte npt to'interfere with them would only result in additional taxation to the citizens.—(Cries of “Noose ise ” ani dissent) It was all very well for gentlemen to say “nonsense,” but he would show the meeting that it was nothing of the kind. Under its existing Act, the Company received a certain am mid; from the Provincial Government. The p.-ii - cipal reason why the company had gone in for the amended Bill was to relieve the Pros vincial revenues of that sum ; and there was the additional reason that hundreds of people were crying out to have the wat r, and the Company was unable to give it to them. Any attempt to interfere with the Company’s privi eg s would result in no practical benefit to the City, As soon as opposition was manifested the Company would drop its amended Bilk The ci izens could pot get a private Bill—they must either leave it op take it. The directors would have to. be content with things as they were; for his part, he was satisfied with them, and he thought the Company was also. But the Province could still be bound to pay the guarant c, aud the citizens would see that in the next session of the Provincial Council additional taxation would be imposed on the City to recoup the amount of the guarantee. The attempt had been made already, and it would be made again. He would now state the reasons why the meeting should hesitate before it passed the resolution. If carried, it simply took away from the Company the power to raise a iditioi a’ capital, which it stood much in need of to enable it to extend its main. Therefore he would advise them to s’l ike out the latter pqrt of the resolution, cirry the first part, aud adopt any other resolution afterwards. As to the obnoxious clause regarding distress warrants, it was not the intention of the Company to carry it out liberally. (Cries of ’* Oh, oh.”) Except on one or two occasions the power hid been always held back. (Disent, and a Voice : “Not in my case at all events.”) lb could have been exercised in cores of cases ; but was not, and if that was not holding back the power, he did not know what was But the clause had been struck out by the directors before this meeting had been called. As to the payment of the rates six months in advance, the clause was inserted at the request of several householders, (Cries of “ Name.”) Well, himself for one. (Oh, oh.) But he nee I not dwell on that subject, as the clause had been struck out by the directors. As to the message clause, he asked was it fair that Tom Strike, with a cottage and little garden, should have to pay the full rateable value ; whilst Timothy Snooks, Esq., with his three acres without any building upon it, got off “scot free?” Besides, it was the only way in which absentees could be got at, and the citizens of Dunedin should be the last persons to object to a method by which absentees were reached. He concluded by impressing upon the meeting that the Company. by reason of its undertaking being a public boon, -was entitled to their protection. He moved as an amendment, tfyat the last clause of the resolution, from the words, ,f And this meeting hope*, l ’ See., to the cud, should be struck out. Mr Barton was the next speaker. He referred to the action of the company in its dealings with tbo citizen", at d condemned the manner in which the Company assessed the properties of ratepayers

in excess of the. Corporation’s assessment. He pointed out the way in which the proprosed new clauses would act prejudicially to the interests of the citizens, and referred particularly to the clause in which the Company proposed to take away the rebate to citizens using less than the ordinary consumption of water. (Mr Gillies here interjected the remark that the company a solicitor had advised that it could not be done.) He (Mr Barton) advised the meeting to the contrary. Mr E. B, Cargill observed that bis position (be being a director of the company, a large ratepayer, and a member or the Council), entitled him to consider the matt rin an impartial spirit. He was a shareholder to an extent sufficient to entitle him to become a director, and be retained that qualification solely because he did not feel justified in resigning what be regarded as a public trust, until it was brought to a successful termination. He was one of those who some years back took as large an interest in the undertaking on the part of his firm, as he was justified in taking and subsequently took up LSOO worth of shares. He should like to know if any of tho e who talked so loudly on the other side had acted as liberally—(Applause). The bond then made between the Company and the public should be maintained in its integrity. To talk of cutting down the provisions of the old Bill was a perfectly atrocious proposal. The objection did not come from the large property holders, hut from the owners of paltry offices. The only objection to tho amendment was on the part of some lawyers. (Mr Barton—emphatically—“ Never.”) This amendment having been put to the meeting, and negatived almost unanimously, Mr E. B. Cargill th n moved a further amendment, as follows: —“That the Dunedin Waterworks Company has conferred a great benefit on the city in providing an abundant supply of water, and is entitled to the hearty support of the citizens That it is desirable that the Water Woiks Company should obtahi sucb au amend meut of its Act as will permit of its increasing its capital and clearing up any points left doubtful in the existing Act as to the incidence of the authorised rates so that the rates may fall equally upo i all descriptions of property within the rangof the water supply.” This amendment was also lost, and the original resolution carried by a large majority. , . - r ]VJr G, E. Barton then moved, and Mr Hutcheson seconded, the following rc-olu tion“ That the ratepayers comp'ain of the unjust and unfair manner in which the Company, under its present oppressive powers has hith rto assc sed their build uigs at a value beyond the rate of Corporation assessment.” The resolution was afterwards withdrawn, as the Corporation had already taken action in the direction suggested. The next resolution was proposed by Mr Reeves, and seconded by Mr Barnes, as follows That this meeting approves of the amendments and alterations proposed by the t ity Council in respect of tho Dunedin Water Works Amendment Bill, and requests that his Worship the Mayor will take all legitimate steps to prevent the pa-sing of the said Bill in the General Assembly unless amended as proposed by the Corporation.” The following words, at the suggestion of tyfr Stout, having been added to this last resolution, it was carried unanimously: “ That the City Council be requested to ask that Athenaeums be exempt from rate’.” Mr Wilson then moved the following resolution That his Worship the Mayor be requested to forward conies of t m i'i-solu-tions now passed to a’l the members of th Assembly, and to request them to use their utmost influence in preventing the Bill being passed in its present form.” .Seconded by Mr Joel, and carried. A resolution was then proposed by Mr Walter, and carried, affirming the desirability of negotiations being entered into by the City Council with the Water Works Company for the purchase of their proprly. A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the business of the meeting.

The adjourned meeting of the representa' tives of tlie various churches in Dunedin was held in Murray’s rooms, Rattray street, 1 ist evening, when there was a full attendance ; and the following resolution was unanimously agreed to: — 11 that a cleputaioti, consisting of one or more representatives from each denomination, should wait on tho directors of the Dunedin Waterworks Company, with a view to getting a clause inserted in their Amendment Ri 1 now before the Assembly, exemptin'' pi-.cos of public worship and Sabbath schools used as such from water rates ; and that such deputation should, if possible, meet the directors on Monday, at such hour as may be fi.und con, venient.”