PUBLIC MEETING AT LYTTELTON.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 87, 10 September 1874, Page 4

PUBLIC MEETING AT LYTTELTON.

A public meeting, aa advertised, was held in the Colonists’ Hall, on Tuesday evening. There was a large attendance, the Hall being nearly filled. • On the motion of his Worship the Mayor, Mr H. N. Nalder -took the chair, and proceeded to read the advertisement calling the meeting. He explained there were four candidates for the three vacant seats. He believed the first on the list for election was his Worship the Mayor, and he would therefore ask that gentleman to explain his views to the meeting. [Cheers.] The Mayor, amid expressions of approval and disapproval, then rose to address the meeting. He said that it had been his wish to retire, at this election, and let some fresh blood be introduced into the Council. He was not forced to resign his seat, as it was a moot point between himself and another candidate who should retire, and he had volunteered to resign. He had hoped by this means to slip out of the service quietly, but had allowed himself at the last moment to be nominated, and he need hardly say that now he was determined to stand, he wished for their votes. He had already given them several years of his services, and he had explained his views to them so frequently that he was certain they all knew what he would do in the case of his re-election. They were able to judge whether he had done well or ill in the past, and to judge his future from that. He supposed they would expect a few hints as to the more prominent things that were going on. He had taken a considerable part in getting up the Fire Brigade, It was an unpretending institution, but had stood longer than any similar affair in Lyttelton, and was still full of vigorous life, and be believed that next time the Provincial Council met a substantial grant would be made, and they would be placed on the same footing as the Christchurch brigade. As to the water supply, many thought that the money that it would take to support it was too large a sum for the ratepayers to pay. He also alluded to the part he had taken in inaugurating the system of house drainage. He might say that the services of the hard labor gang had been procured through his means, and he thought if their work was worth a penny a week to the borough it was worth £4O. [Cheers.] He was afraid he was deterring the serious business of the evening; but he must allude to one more subject, viz, the formation of a public pleasure and recreation ground. He had already explained his views on this subject in the Times , he was afraid, at almost a wearisome length. He had since made more enquiries on the matter, and thought that if the people of Lyttelton showed a strong interest in the matter the Government would place a handsome sura on the estimates for the purpose. It was possible to got a place which, if not Al, would at least be suitable for a cricket ground, a-nd for other purposes. But the people must sho-n- interest in the matter or nothing would be done. They might have a place where those Wn-a did not go to church might have some innocent enjoyment on Sunday. He was sorry was so little competition ; three out of the four candidates must be elected. If he explained his views fifty times he did not think it would add to the good understanding existing between them at the present moment. If he was thrown out he would only say he was glad they had found a better man to fill his place. [Applause.] The chairman next called upon Mr Buist to address the meeting, and that gentleman mounted the platform accordingly, amid a variety of ejaculations. He said he hardly knew what he had to say to them, or why he was there. They knew what he had done in the Council during the past two years. He might say he had never missed a meeting, but had always attended to look after their interests. He should be happy to answer any questions they might wish to put to him, Mr Agar asked what was his opinion regarding the water supply ]

Or Buist said he had voted against the present (Mr Higginson’s) scheme. He thought if it were adopted the people would not be able to support the annual charges. He thought far better of the Charteris Bay scheme. It was an absurd idea to bring it through the tunnel. He had heard that some people did not mind paying £5 or even £lO a year for their water, but for his part he considered ilOs quite enough [Cheers ] The chairman then called upon Mr W. Holmes to address the meeting, and that gentleman went upon the platform amid a perfect storm of cries. He said it was the third time he had asked them to elect him. There was an old song that said, “ Never give a sigh,” and he agreed in the sentiment of forgetting the past. If elected, he would do his best for the interest and welfare of the population of Lyttelton. He would answer any questions they might wish to ask him. Mr T, V. Whitmore asked his opinion of the “ Gas Company.” Mr Holmes said he was of opinion that it was all gas and no pipes. [Loud laughter.] Mr Whitmore asked what was his opinion of the water supply. Mr Holmes answered—He thought they were nearer it than they had ever been before, but it was like the gas, all blow and no wet. [Loud cheers.] Mr Whitmore asked Mr Holmes’s opinion opinion on the subject of prison labour being employed in the borough. Mr Holmes replied that he thought it of great advantage to the town—they could get plenty of prison labor if they would properly apply it. He thought it would be a good thing if the Council got two more warders to look after two more gangs and so get more of their roads made. Mr Whitmore would ask one more questiod. —“Was he in favor of a free wharf for Lyttelton 7” Mr Holmes said that as to the matter of a free wharf, he thought this was the best opportunity that had offered for securing one during the sixteen years he had resided in Lyttelton. There was a really good chance of getting one now. At present, even if he wanted to ship a bag of spuds, he had to pay for the wharf, and he thought they ought to have one, and that the Government would benefit and not lose by it. [A voice—- “ Where ought it to be ?”] He thought it should be in Dampier’s Bay. [Here there was a perfect storm of cries and hisses.] He did not care, he knew that was the place where it would be of most service. It could be easily made while the contractors were at work at the breakwater. As to its being of any personal benefit to him, they were quite mistaken in that, as, if the wharf were erected, it would cost him at least £2O a year to get sand from other places. He studied the public, not himself, and if elected they would find that he would be always more careful for their interests than his own. Mr Agar insisted on his giving a more definite answer about the water supply, he had got into a hole and must answer it. Mr Holmes said, if he got into a hole he always managed to get out again. He thought that the least expense at first was not always the best. They should try and get pure water straight away from the ele ments. [lmmense noise and laughter,] They should try and get the water conveyed there by its own force without all this engineering. Lyttelton could not pay such an enormous sura for water. Engineering and force were dear. [A Voice: And bricks too.] [Laughter.] It was all rain water that they got wherever it came from. It must come from the clouds first.

Mr Agar asked if Mr Holmes thought Rhodes’ Bay a good site for a recreation ground. Mr Holmes replied that no doubt Rhodes’ Bay would be a good recreation ground—for the watermen. [Great laughter.] As there were no more questions, he would walk down stairs.

Mr Agar then mounted the platform. He said he had to apologise for the non-attend-ance of Mr Murray, the other candidate ; the fact was, Mr Vogel had telegraphed to him asking him to pin the Ministry as Minister of Supply, [Great laughter.] Still Mr Murray was determined not to throw them over. Mr Murray was not a great orator, but he could give them “ a small touch ”—[laughter] —and he intended in future to give them 41bs in the 4lb loaf. [Laughter.] They might ask him any question and he would answer it for Mr Murray. Mr Murray would do anything they wanted him. As to the water supply, Mr Holmes bad said they ought to procure it from the elements, but bethought that as Mr Higginson’s plan was so expensive, it would be a better plan to bring Ward’s beer through. [Loud cheers and laughter.] He would have no tunnel work. Mr Murray was a good man on select committees.

The chairman said that anyone interested could now address the meeting. Mr Allwright then mounted the platform. He said he appeared before them in a curious state, such a state as he could not have been in if the clerical work of the Council had been done properly. The Mayor had stated that he was almost forced to stand, but he did not think so. It was reported that he (the Mayor) did not intend to go in for reelection, but he had done so. He and two fellow townsmen had been nominated, but, through an informality, had been prevented from competing. The town clerk had been so recently elected that it would have been absurd to expect him to have known the Act, and therefore he should be exonerated from all blame, but the Mayor had been present just before the nomination, and he knew, if the clerk did not, that his proposer, and the proposer of Mr McClatchie and Mr Burnip, had not paid his rates, and that therefore the nomination was illegal. At five minutes to four, when he knew this, ho had put his own name on the nomination paper. Ho ought, had he been a lover of fair play, to have signed the paper himself, and given the ratepayers a fair chance to say whom they choose to represent them. were all aware that the Mayor and himsat had quarrelled, and this ought to have maeva the Mayor all the more anxious to take no advantage of him. If he had been in the Mayv, r ’ s position ho would have come before them, said, now you have a chance of deciding Wi-.n Se right and whose wrong. He had moved a Solution in the Council asking for legal opinw> Q on the matter, but did not know the resaw. [j 8 would not detam them longer, but wo&iq remind them that he had been in the Council seven years. If ho had done anything in the Council it was for the interests of his fellow townsmen and himself. The time might come when he would have a fair chance of fighting out his battle with the other section. He hoped they would elect the three best men, but did not think that any of the four candidates would take his place as leader of the opposition, and there was nothing so ,

much wanted in the Council as a little wholesome opposition. He hoped the Council would not allow their money to be all spent on one place. [Cheers.] Mr Agar said that if Mr Murray was elected, Mr Allwright would get a scat in the Council by an extraordinary vacancy in three weeks. [Laughter.] Cr Kenner then rose, and was asked what reason he had for resigning the chairmanship of the works committee. He said that he considered he had done his duty to the Council in all things for two years, and was for a time supported by the Mayor; but he had withdrawn his support, and went and talked with the Superintendent as a big man should. The Mayor had ordered things to be done without consulting any of the works committee, and had ordered £2O worth of piping for drainage and ladders for reaching houses, entirely on his own responsibility. Mr Agar asked why he had not put the gutter in front of his house as he had promised at last election. [Roars of laughter.]

Mr Carroll said that he heard a drain in front of Dr M‘Donald’s house had been put down at the Council’s expense, and wanted to know why he had to pay for this. The Mayor explained that it was the main drain that had been put down in front of Dr M’Donald’s, not a private one. He must say he had met with great opposition from Councillor Kenner, who said the drain should not go down but it was down. He was sorry Cr Allwright had made such an exhibition of himself. As to the candidates who were disappointed, he had no animus against them, Mr Burnip was an entire stranger to him. Capt McClatchie he had a great respect fo*, and had offered to nominate him, but he had preferred being nominated by another party. It was not his duty to investigate the papers, and this was not the first case of the sort, as Mr Holmes had been before rejected from a similar cause. He would have had to wait seven days to see all the papers were correct as they came in. Mr Allwright said that the Mayor would never have stood again for the Council had he not known of the informality of the three nominations, as he was aware that Mr Buist and himself would have been ousted had he done so. [Row.] Cr Hawkins said he must say a few words as Cr Kenner had attacked him. He did not hold his seat from interested motives, as had been insinuated; he had forfeited his seat by supplying the Council with goods, but it had not been his act. The chairman said the discussion was getting personal, and no matters were being discussed of interest to the town itself.

Cr Grange then rose, and said he would speak to them on the subject of the water supply. He would explain Mr Higginson’s plan ; it was, to procure a supply of artesian water in the neighborhood of the Heathcote, by pumping into a reservoir placed at a sufficient elevation on the spur of the hills to allow it to flow through the tunnel and deliver itself by gravitation up to the 150 foot contour line in Lyttelton. It is calculated that the daily requirements for the town and shipping are 150,000 gallons. To pump this supply into a reservoir of an elevation of 200 feet, a 20 horsepower engine will suffice, working eight hours per day, but the pipes will be made capable of delivering 265,000 gallons daily, so that by working the pumps sixteen hours, double the population could be supplied. The engine will be placed on i fifteen foot brick well, sunk some thirty feet below the surface, near the hill, where the reservoir is placed, the point where a good artesian supply could be procured being first ascertained. He would sink nine cast iron pipes 100 feet, or until a good supply of water could be obtained. The engine would force the water from this well direct into the reservoir above, the well acting as a collecting tank for the engine to draw from. The cost of this would be £10,846, and the annual charges £920. Now, as the whole rates of the town were only £BOO per year, and only one-third would benefit by the water supply, it was probable that they would get into debt three or four hundred pounds every year. It would be better for the Government to wait and see if some more inexpensive plan could not be devised. He had heard people say they would pay £lO a-year for a good supply of water, and no doubt many publicans would be glad to do so. [Laughter.] The best spot for a recreation ground would be in Rhodes’ Bay, as on this side the land was too hilly. Since he had been in the Council, he had never been the member of a clique, or hesitated to vote as his conscience dictated.

Mr Messiter asked what method of rating would probably be adopted. Mr Grange replied that he supposed all who lived within a certain distance of the water, even if they did not choose to use it would have to pay a certain percentage. Mr Graham was glad of an opportunity of speaking on the water supply, they must get good water at any cost. He had moved iu the Council that full particulars should be asked for from the Government. As to Mr Higginsou’s scheme, he believed in asking the ratepayers’ opinion before anything was done The Charteris Bay scheme wfl's, in his opinion, infinitely the best, as it was good water, and no steam power was required to bring it here. He should be happy to answer any questions.

Mr Agar asked what was his opinion on cremation. [Roars of laughter.] Mr Graham said ho considered the question personal. He was very sorry that a quarrel had occurred between the Mayor and Mr. Allwright. He hoped the former would be returned at the head of the poll. [Cheers.] Mr Agar having moved a vote of thanks to the chairman, the meeting separated.