THE ELECTIONS

Grey River Argus, 26 April 1911, Page 5

THE ELECTIONS

LAST NIGHT.'S ADDRESSES,

The Opera House was packed from floor to ceiling last night, when His Worship the Mayor (Mr A. C. Russell) delivered an address upon the Borough Finances, followed by addresses by candidates for councillor's seats. The meeting . was remarkable for the excellent order and the good and patient hearing given to speakers. The Hon. A. R. Guinness occupied the chair, and in a few words introduced Mr' Russell, who said he was sorry he was not to be able to speak to the ratepayers in the Municipal Buildin°\ Although he had endeavoured to secure the Hall some time ago for that night, he had been forestalled. That Hall cost you £14,000 and I am denied the privilege of speaking to you there on your own affairs. -. " A voice: Well stop it in future. He did not wish to take all the credit for the improvements which had been effected during the past 12 months in the Borough administration, but he had been ably assisted by several loyal V councillors, although of late there have been diereffnees. He would later show that the finances of the borough were in a much better state than heretofore.> We have 105 gas lamps in the borough now buf with better gas fittings much better light can be secured at the same cost as at present. This has been a most eventful twelve months. The most lamentable occurrence has been the death of Mr. Lord. Everyone would deplore the death of their esteemed frierid Mr Lord. Many works have been temporarily held up but they have had^ time to think a bit before making a move. A time has come for a change in the administration of its affairs. Greymouth must be ruled by yourselves not by those who have held the reins in the past. Someone was asking for a lamp at Karora. T,o give that lamp would cost £300 to lay the mains. There is available for town works £14,000 and when that is being expended a great difference will be seen^ in the town. To provide power at the waterworks costs £1000 a year for gas. Steam power would result in a great saving. The present loss on water is £200 a year. If the whole of the water could be collected it would show a fair profit.

Our drainage is perhaps the best available under our present system. In saddling the present sanitary drains with flood water it is putting a tax upon them which was not intended. There are many new portions of the town which will soon require draining. The amount on the estim-. ates under this heading is £1500. If that is spent on street mains only it will go a good way. Drains should not be laid into private houses unless they are paid for. The Abattoir drain is a very large concern. At the pretime it is blocked. There is not a cup ful of water running through it. He believed the Council had an option over a drain which would cost about £150 to acquire, but which would receive that difficulty. There are, plenty of people running down reservoir water ,but if people drink nothing stronger than that it won't hurt them.

GAS

At the present time the Gas Works are undergoing an extensive overhaul which is included in the general loan. £6000 is being spent in great improvements, which will bring the works quite up-to-date. As you know the gas accounts were in a deplorable state, but since Miss Kennedy took charge of the accounts there is nothing outstanding, and this lady deserves special praise for her splendid work in this direction.

BOROtJGH OFFICE

Everything is in arrears in the office. Some of the staff are doing their best, but others appear -to take no interest in the work.

There is too much of the piGture show about that building. If ladies have gone into the office to pay rates, they have often hacT to retire to allow two or three men with pipes or cigarettes in their mouth to get out. It is time the staff founded a superannuation fund and contributed out of their salary. Every year there has been a member going out and the funds cannot stand the drain~of these retiring allowances. Mr Russell here mentioned the calling in of an expert a little., time ago to report upon the methods of the office, and quoted from Mr Campbell's notes thar

''The Government should alter the system of municipal -book-keeping, by bringing it into line with that in use in commercial life.

"No business man could keep his books and prosper under the New Zealand systemC 7 '

FINANCE

Referring to finance, Mr Russell said that when he took office thee overdraft stood at £10,t)oi> while at iilst March, 1911, it was £7,735 or allowing for £1000 advanced by himself, £8,735.

Loan indebtedness stood at £87 - 350 plus recent "loan £20,000 making a total 5? '£107,850.

Estimated receipts for year ending 1912 were £30,979 and expenditure £34,950 leaving a deficiency of £3,979.

he only alternative to get over the deficiency was to call up special rates, but when one talks rates to the people, it is like sitting on dynamite. (Laughter). They had however been sitting tight for while the Council fought and squabbled they forgot to spend the money.

In the past loans were vo_ted, but nothing was done to the Avorks for which the^ money was borrowed and he felt sure that those loans were used up in other directions. The total rates are £500; excluding water and sanitation.

Sanitary' receipts are £750 and expenditure £850. Libary receipts and rent account £615; expenditure, caretaker, £500; profit £115.

Gas' Works, profit, £3,679, or after paying interest on loan £2,413, transfered to general account.

CHARITABLE AID

The Charitable Aid rate has increased by ,this year and now stands at £965. This rate falls, on cottage property principally. The Board is practically the Hospital. It always has requirements, and these seem- to be ever increasing. He was confident the rate will further increase by another £100 or so next year. Why should not everybody contribute to the Borough revenue ? He was in favour of a citizens tax, a bachelors or spinsters tax: Everyone should be married. At the present time bachelors and spinsters look for tetter footpaths, enjoy all the .privileges of the borough but pay nthing. (Hear, hear and daughter). He knew plenty of bachelor friends over 40 years- of age, and he would put a very solid tax on them. (Much laughter).

HARBOUR BOARD

The Harbour Board concern s you as much as anything- else. Nearly £200,000 is shortly .to be spent on Harbour works. You. contribute to the interest by paying-' wharfage and such dues. „It is hoped to, start the works in a sEor,t time. How those works are to be carried out he could not

say but if : , by contracting, then an outside^contractor would bring in his stoutest" and studiest men to the detriment or locallat) our. The bulk of the Harbour Board work should be done 'in such a way as to give every local man a fair share.

BUILDING BY-LAWS

He was proud to say that he stood to his guns and came out on' top. He enforced the by-laws for the good government of the town. A' certain section in_ towh tried to block him. A voice : I say no.

Another voice:. I say yes

Mackay Street is a most valuable street, yet it seems to be nothing but laundries from one end to the other.

COUNCILLORS CONTRACTS

He said that section 59 of the Corporation Act was one he intended to strictly enforce. It imposed penalties on any councillor voting who contracted with .the Council to an extent exceeding- .^lo per annum. When the Premier placed that section in public bodies acts, he knew the log-rolling that went pn. Touching on the mandamus he said that when Jhe other side saw his defence, they withdrew .theirs. He 'was asked again and again for an adjournment and _a : gree3, but when they asked him to go to Westport, he told them to go somewhere else.- (Laughter). Greymouth is at present the laiigliing stock of the Dominion. He asked that a Council might be .returned which would all pull together for the common good ot 'Greymoufh. Any councillor v contracting "with. the coun^ cil will have to hide it under a very thick.. sack for Inm- (the Mayor) not to find it out. He thanked them for their" patient hearing. (Great applause).

CANDIDATES ADDRESSES. MR. T. V. BYRNE. Mr Byrne expressed his appreciation of Mr Russell's though tfulness in extending to the candidates an opportunity of addressing the ratepayers. The people are apt to overlook side issues, but he was optimistic and predicted a very great future for Greymouth. The Land Board had been busy for some time granting sites from Karamea to Jacicson's Bay. All this meant dairies, timber mills, mining and other industries, and all this must be to the' 'benefit of Greymouth. If we have such possibilities we must provide a town to meet future.requirements. Tnefetore Mr Russell. is tjufte right in demanding observance of the building by-laws. Before doing anything further with the by-laws, the" inner area should be properly defined ,and the public notified that they will be strictly enforced. He inspected a house for sale at £400 few days ago, and it was the veriest slum to be found anywhere. They should endeavour to make the town a credit to themselves and they a .credit to the town. He would not have anything •to do with the betterment of the Native Reserve unless the whole of the people were to benefit by it. It' was their first duty to restore order out of the, present, chaos in.. their finances.

MR. GREENSLADE,

Mr J. Greenslade said that he came forward to-'solicit' their votes at the poll, believing- that the young men of- the town should put their shoulder to the wheel, seeing that later on, it was they who would have to 'Jeax the ■burden. He thought that spoil from the streets should be utilized in filling up waste places and creating lands for the borough.

It is a disgrace to the town of Greymouth ,he paid, that its athletes are not catered for, and such a state of things exists nowhere else in New Zealand. The Recreation Resjerye should be put in order, planted with trees, and fenced. A- greater revenue can be derived from the Gas Works. By putting in a siding a saving of £400 a year can be effected. .He trusted that if elected he would act in the interests of the ratepayers and with honour to himself. (Appaluse).

MR. JACKSON

said he came before them in the interests of the Labour Party. He said that when the Native reserve question was referred to the lute Mr Seddon, the latter said that the lessees were better off under tffe Native owners than they would jje under white owneis. He referred to the petition which was sent to Wellington and said that the sub-lessees had never been consulted in the matter, nor had aplebiscite been taken. In 1887 the^average rental was. £3,517 per year. . For ten years ending l£)09 it was £3,500 a year or £17\ less per year than was paid thirty years ago. Compare what is paid to the Maori and what would be paid to white owners and they would be astounded at the result. If the petitioners had gone to Wellington to secure the municipalisation of these lands honestly, he believed they would have accomplished their object. He knew that the Public Trustee • was prepared to assist in that direction. The borough is perfectly solvent and £50,000 could be got for the Gas Works 'to-morrow if they wanted it. He traversed other matters of the party's platfqmn and trusted the electors wuld honour him on the morrow.

C. KERR,

said he had again the honour to appear before them. During the last stages of the present year things had been a little mixed, but while they have been fighting, money had been saved. The Mayor had told them that the estimated income for the year was £31,000. On that we will spend £34,0U0. He was against imposing any further rates to get over the difficulty. Ratepayers are already taxed high enough. The policy th e new Council must follow is to cut down expenditure so that at the end of the year the Council can show that its income is £30,000 and expenditure £30,000. :

Here are Blaketown, Cobden and Preston Road without water. A proper system should be evolved which will give these places an adekuate ■supply. If you go up to the waterworks now you won't find more than 5^ or 6 feet of water in the reservoir. The pumping always got the blame (Laughter). He believed the office working ' required close scrutiny.

■; A voice: Quite right! Quite right! During the time that Mr Grace had been acting Town" Clerk"", he had shown a thorough grasp of affairs and he felt that Mr Grace should have been given an opportunity to prove himself. He had been twitted oh this but he was not .afraid to come out and toll them what he had done. He voted' for Mr Grace and if returned to the Council, and Mr Campbell proved competent the latter would have his heartiest support in whatever reform he advocated. He trusted that his efforts in the past merited the continued confidence of the ratepayers. ." . ■

CR. PERKINS

Cr. E. Perkins said 'that during his two years on the Council he*' had had a very uncomfortable time, and he was" invariably Tn a minority, and usually he Avas the only minority. At the present stage £he Council is to the bad to the extent of £7,000.' In 1003 the Council took advantage of the Act to secure a special advance to wipe out the bank .overdraft. Since then the Borough has gone to the bad at the rate of £1000 a year. The Council last year just about balanced

itself, but his idea was that at the. end of every year, the Council should get rid of its overdraft (if any) and not let it run-on year after year. Unless a balancing is made every yeat, there will come a time when they wont have a feather to fly with, and -pi operty will depreciate 50 or 60 per cent. It is only a very short time^ before sepcial rates must be called up". It is impossible to carry on without. If returned he would inTerest himself in securing- an estimate for an efficient scheme of water supply- He advocated swimming baths two years ago, but now thought that any baths gone in for, should be tepid . A voice: Sheep dip! (Laughter). He-a sked them, if they thought he had been honest and straightforward to again honour him with their votes at the poll on Wednesday .

MR. R. RUSSELL

Mr Robert Russell jsajd .that he would only Seal with things of the present time. The hour was getting late, and the various speakers before him had already covered; the ground. He would therefore mention but two facts, one 'was that in 1912 there was a £27,000 loan to be repaid. That was something which" must not be lost sight of» ; and the utmost care in the administration of finance would be required. Another point was the town lighting- « the moon gets up at one o'clock in the morningthere are no lights in the town, and if returned he would see rhose liphts are alight, moonlight or not. He asked those present to favour him a vote at the forthcoming poll.

MR. SARGENT.

Mr F.. D. Sargent said that he thought all previous councillors should have been present that .night to give an account of their, stewardship. . If elected he would consider it an obligation cast upon him to appear before them at the end of his ..term. He believed in clean administration and if elected would assist Mr Alfred * Russell in the cleaning up.

CR. SHANNAHAN

Cr. Shannahan said it was 'the fourth occasion on which he had appeared before them. He would not detain them beyond asking for their support. He had not always seen eye to eye with the Mayor but had supported him whenever he felt it consistent with his views.

CR .SHEEDY,

Cr. Sheedy said that . he felt he could confidently say he had done his best to further the interests of this rising town. If returned to the Council, the first thing he would do would be to move a reduction in price of gas to say 4s lOd or ss. Westport only, pay 4s 2d. There would be no loss as the consumption would be so largely increased.

CR. SWEETMAN.

Cr. Sweetman said that when he was returned to the Council, he promised to support the Rlayor in his ..reforms, and he had endeavoured to do so on every occasion. He trusted that if his actions had met with the electors approval, he would be favoured with a renewal of their confidence.

MR. J. TENNENT.

Mr J. Tennent said that he stood before them without any previous record of public life. His policy was "economy." The Borough Council has been paying for water pipes and gas pipes, one hundred per cent, muie than the town of Masterton. Why? he asked. They are also paying £15(5 per annum for oil for the gas engine at the pumping station. At the State Mine they have engines which run for 24 hours, seven days a week, and they only pay £12 a month for oil for a much larger concern, instead of the Council's £13 a month. If elected they could rest assured their confidence would not be misplaced.

QUESTIONS

Was the appointment of a rate collector necessary and What amount has he collected?

In reply the Mayor said that in Februaryand March, 1910, £3,126 13s 10d was collected and in February and March, 1911, £3,957. The excess being £830 15s 6d. Such an excess proves that th"c' rate collector is doing good work. - There will be a furthe reduction in outstanding accounts. A vote of thanks to the Hon. Mr. Guinness for presiding terminated a splendid meeting. . .