BOROUGH COUNCIL ELECTION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 428, 6 January 1912, Page 5

BOROUGH COUNCIL ELECTION.

SPEECH BY MR YOUNG. As the result of an inadvertent infringement of the Municipal Corporations Act, the resignation of Mr D. J. Young, a councillor, took place with the result that an extraordinary vac.ancy was caused which provoked a contest between the ex-councillor and Mr Mostyn-Jones. With the intention of defending Ilia past actions, and dealing with a few of the more important municipal questions, Mr D. J. Young on Thursday night addressed a large meeting of ratepayers and electors. Mr J. G. Berry presided. The candidate, who was received with applause, started by saying that his intention was that evening to prove,and to claim,he had lived an hen est and blameless public life. He then proceeded to explain why the by election was taking place. The Legal and Finance Committee had accepted the tender of Mr T. Williams for the whole work. Mr Williams called on bim a month later and asked him to tender for the plumbing work. He did so, and being the lowest tender was accepted. Everything went along alright until the job was practically finished when he heard rumours about the street that there was going to be trouble. It, however, came about, and whether it was malicious or not he did not know. There was one thing which he was confident about, and that he had the backbone of his convictions, and that he had

done everything straight and above board. (Applause). He referred to Mr Jane's letter to the council, which inferred that he (the was committing a breach of the Municipal Corporations Act. He challenged if, under the conditions, that he had done wrong, but admitted that he had committed a technical error of judgment. Although he was sub-contractor for Mr Williams he was in no way held responsible by the borough. However, when he ascertained the position, he resigned. The speaker next went on to deal with two "letters which had been received by the council, and brought in, which he considered as extraotdinary business against himself. He related that the letter written by Mr Jane had not been brought before the council during the ordinary course of correspondence, and was held over until after the ordinary business had been completed. The other letter he referred to was the one which he had made known at Ihe council table with regard to Messrs Niven and Co's,. report on the lighting question, when he stated that he had received a letter from a firm stating that a draft of the lighting report favouring petrol gas had been forwarded to the council. The Mayor straight away wrote to Niven and Co. without consulting him. In fact he had no protection from the Mayox. Other letters had been written to the Steel Spiral Pipe

Company, which action was not according to resolution. If returned to the council he would see that correspondence was dealt with in a proper way. Dealing with electric light, he said that all were aware that the council had decided to submit the idea of lighting Te Kuiti with electricity. He had supported it because he had been convinced that it was the finest , light in the world. There would be a poll on the loan at an early date, and the ratepayers would have the opportunity of accepting or rejecting the scheme. The old council had practi cally adopted Dreadnought gas, but it had been wisely decided to defer the matter to be considered by the new council. He had made a personal inspection of various kinds of lighting including Dreadnought gas, and ne was of the opinion that it would boil a billy, but would be no good for power and cooking. In the first place,when he was in favour of Dreadnought gas he had taken it on the recommendation of the Mayor, but atfer seeing for himself he had changed his mind and considered that he was justified in so doing. With regard to the system of electric lighting the idea was eventually the tapping of the Mo;tau, but at present the idea was a duplicate suction gas plant with a storage battery. 'He had examined a number of ba'anceeheets and he had found electric light in every instance to bp. the most payable nroposition. He did not see why people should nail their colours to Dreadnought. There should be an option and there was no reason why they should confin» themselves to Dreadnought gas. The owners of the light bad made the council a very fair offer, but it was not a suitable one. They offered to put in the plant and if the light was not satisfactory they would take it out, but the pipes would have to remain in. Niven and Co., in their report, had said if petrol gas was installed the courc : l would be wise in having a substantial bond. If electric light wai rejected he would advocate that the people have the opportunity of investigating every kind of petrol gas. With regard to the question of contract, v. day labour he said that the latter had proved unsatisfactory as the system had proved to be found wanting. Records of the allocations for the various roads could not be kept. He was firmly of opinion that the contract system was the best as the supervision wa3 better. The council had three ex-Public Works men a* members, and they believed in the contract system. He himself thought that contract was the best, as it was more expeditious and resulted in a (better job and was in every way most satisfactory. He related a few instances of day labour and quoted the breastwork which, he said would have been an undoubtedly better job if plans and specifications had been prepared. Dealing with the spiral pipe contract, the speaker referred to the pipes not being in guage up to specifications. Several of the pipes had been cut srid submitted to experts who had them that it was a 14 B.W. guage.' He thought that when £7OOO of the --tenavers'money was being spent that nroper care should be taken and that the article purchased should be good. T„ conclusion, if elected, he said he would go back to the council with re-

newed vigour and would do everything that was just and upright on behalf of the people of the borough. The candidate, through the chairman, iasutd an invitation for any councillor to come on the platform and express their views. His Worship the Mayor accepted the invitation, but explained it was not to criticise or in any way interfere with the candidature of Mr Young. His rea3on for mounting the platform was to defend himself and the conduct of the business of the council. He had no spirit of antagonism, and congratulated the candidate on his modest and temperate speech. With regard to Mr Jane's letter his Worship said that on the night in question some very contentious questions were being discussed, and he thought itadvisable that the letter referred to should be kept till after the business was over. He claimed that as a chairman's right. It was not done for anything extraordinary, but to bring before the meeting in an amicable manner. With regard to writing to-the Steel Spiral Co. he emphatically denied it. Pie had no desire to traverse the question as it had yet to be settled. He was also pleased that Mr Young dealt temperately with the matter. He would not refer to the lighting proposals at present, but would do so at the proper time. He intimated that he would have something to say on the matter before the poll was taken. There would be a demonstration of Dreadnought gas in Te Kuiti at an early date. He thanked the candidate for his courtesy in allowing him to make an explanation. On the proposition of Mr J. Boddie (Mayor), seconded -by Cr Forsyth, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Young for his able address.