CITIZENS’ ASSOCIATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16486, 27 February 1914, Page 5

CITIZENS’ ASSOCIATION.

ANNUAL MEETING. DISCUSSION ON THE TOWN HALL PROPOSAL. The annual meeting of the Christchurch Citizens’ Association was held at the Chamber of Commerce Hall last evening, Mr F. E. Jones presiding over a large attendance of members. . COMMITTEE’S REPORT.

The committee in its annual report statod that during the year thirteen meetings of the executive had been held, and had been well attended. The first business of importance dealt with was the City Council election, and the following were selected as the Citizens’ Association’s representatives for the various wards:—-Central—Messrs H. D. Acland, H. J. Otley, H. B. Sorensen, W. H. Cooper, J. R. Hayward and R. Morten; St Albans—Messrs Williams, A. S. Taylor and T. Dent; Linwood—Messrs ,G. Scott, Loasby and E. Smith. Members were doubtless aware that the ticket of the Association was, with one exception, elected. The executive'was of opinion that the work of the Association should be much wider than that of nominating candidates and securing their election. It should take a forward move in matters affecting the welfare of the city and its general progress. With this object a proposition had been made to increase the number of members of the general executive. Special committees had been set up to deal with the nomination of candidates for publio bodies and other matters, the following gentlemen being appointed: — Selection Committee, Messrs A. Kaye, A. W. Beaven, J. J. Dougall and H. H. Smith; Public Buildings, Messrs H. J. Otley, W. Hayward, J. J. Dougall, F. Storey and J. A. Frostick; Electric Lighting and Power, Messrs G. Scott, D. Crozier, J. B. Laurenson and R. M’Donald; Roads and Citv Improvements, Messrs A. S. ; Taylor, T. Kincaid, F. Johnston, JJameson and Hurst Seager. The usual work of the regular meetings: had been interfered with by the unfortunate strike that prevailed during October, November and December occupying members of the executive in other matters of public interest, but now that industrial peace once more existed it was fully expected that matters for the progress of the city would be considered and much good work accomplished. The loss to the city of the late Councillor T. Gapes and Mr J. L. Scott, who had.done valuable work for many years for the city, was recorded with regret. . The balance-sheet showed receipts amounting to £165 3s 6d and an expenditure of £lO9 9s 9d, leaving a credit balance of £55 13s 9d. CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS.

In moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet the chairman said that in this utilitarian age public sentiment was far too often put aside, but there were occasions when the public asserted itself to preserve a link which connected tlieir generation with the scenes of difficulty or success through which their forbears have passed. In Christchurch they had the Provincial Council buildings in which the founders of this province so faithfully and successfully worked. These buildings had. a sentimental and historic value to' the people of this: city;wliich could not be_understocd or appreciated by any general government. The strongest representation should be made to the Government to re-invest this property in the City of Christchurch. No reasonable objection could be made by any other province, because Canterbury handed over property and money without compensation in a much larger degree than any other/provinoo dominion. ' The’ old'portion of till buildings also was quite out of date and inconvenient for use as public officer., and the Council Chamber was. an unused room except for Arbitration Court work, which could be taken in the Supreme Court building, as in other cities. The city had reached.a stage of development when such a building v;as sorely needed. It was nothing short of- a disgrace that a .city of over. 80;000 people should not have any building of its own suitable for large public meetings or entertainments. Christchurch was humiliated when it had no other place than a wool shed in which to do honour to_ the representatives of his Majesty’s Navy. Let them wipe this disgrace out as speedily as possible by the erection of a public building worthy of the city and its traditions. THE TOWN HALL. SITE. . V

Next, in importance was the matter of the Town Hall site. This was a question upon which considerable difference of opinions existed. It . was not his intention to criticise the City Council in its choice of a site, but having once built a ball, there it must remain for perhaps 200 or 300 years." VThe Christchurch Citizens’ Association was by no means satisfied that the Market Square site was the best, which could be selected in view of the direction in which the city must develop—and _ it respectfully asked the Council to give the citizens some voice in the selection of the site on which the Town Hall should be erected. THE LAKE COLERIDGE SCHEME. The Lake 1 Coleridge electric scheme would be completed this year and he looked forward to a great expansion of industry and at the same time the affording cheap lighting and heating to the city. The Mayor and councillors were to be congratulated upon the energy and business ability that they had exercised in carrying out the arrangements for supplying light and heat, and it was trusted the installation would prove in every way satisfactory. With such advantages they should lose no opportunity of properly advertising the fact that Christchurch was a most desirable place in which to live and a very easy place in which to make a living- A forward movement in this respect was very desirable and to be strongly urged upon the citizens. The membership of the Association was at present 207. In a city of 80.000 inhabitants they should have at least 1000 members. Tneir subscriptions were such as need force no citizen to' claim excuse on the ground of expense, and he trusted that with a large and enthusiastic executive they would soon have a great increase of members. Splendid work had of late been performed by the Domain Board in the matter of beautifying the. Gardens, and lie.thought the Association should take a hand and help on the good work. Why should they not make the whole of Hagley Park entirely a place of beauty and a source of pleasure and enjoyment to the people? For muny years this endowment had been used as a sheep run. The time was, close at hand when a' forward movement might be made to improve the riverbanks in the Park generally. NEW INDUSTRIES NEEDED. In seconding the motion Mr Frostick said there were many questions which the Association might consider that evening. He endorsed what the chairman had said concerning the necessity for a Town Hall. The Association should not rest until something definite was done in this matter. He had no doubt that there would _be found a small contingent of citizens who would oppose the Town Hall pro- l; posal. The Town Hall, however, was not likely to increase the rates, and it might prove quite a profitable investment. The surest way to avoid 1 an increase of rates was to : get an increased population. This | could only be done by ex- j panding or introducing new industries. The value of the city, of property, and .

of* the citizens’ earnings was enhanced by every step which made the city a better and more attractive place to live in. There was an enormous waste of money in. Christchurch in the matter of education, for though they had a splendid system of secondary and technical education, there _ was no chance of using all the intelligent boys produced by this system in local industries, for Christchurch had not the industries. The speaker referred < to what had been done in American cities, notably the city of Worcester, in the direction of establishing new industries and attracting population. > Christchurch had made a big mistake when it allowed the opportunity of widening Colombo Street at the Bank Corner to slip past it. A PROGRAMME OUTLINED.

In another direction, continued the speaker, Christchurch had shown a lack of enterprise. ' -It had modified its water supplv system, with the result that already the problem of getting a bigger supply was presenting i itself. In the matter of the canal | scheme also Christchurch had shown itself sleepy and apathetic. It was essential that men of proved business ability should be placed on the City Council. He made no complaint against the present councillors. They received no encouragement from the citizens in any progressive movement they initiated. The citizens had no right to blame the councillors under the circumstances. It was time they had a definite programme of improvement for the city, and _ lie would outline one as a basis for discussion. After the town hall scheme lie would place in importance the establishment of a municipally controlled market for the sale of fish, and the establishment of a municipal fruit, vegetable and poultry market. It was time the Government made provision, by early morning trains for produce, for the economical transport of perishable produce to the city market. He also advocated the formation of a Metropolitan Board of Works, and said the - .Government should be urged to improve the railway station. ‘There was room\,for a great deal of improvement in the methods.-of handling inward and outward, cargo at Lyttelton.’ Annoying- delays , occurred daily : under tlio present faulty system. A better telephoffe call service was required in the city, particularly in regal’d to communication with country subscribers. The "report and balance-sheet were adopted. ADDRESSES BY COUNCILLORS. Mr A. S. Taylor, who was invited by the chairman to* address the meeting, said that it was refreshing to members of the City Council to hear such outspoken utterances as those of Mr Frostick. In New Zealand they prided themselves upon being progressive in national politics, but in municipal politics they were years behind the times. Most of the proposals the Labour Party brought forward municipally had been carried into effect in other countries- ago. He could assure 'the Association' that the' present Council was-determined- to gb through with the Town Hall project. (Applause). It might be that a Town Hall would he a rallying-centre which would stir civic pride and dispel the present apathy regarding municipal affairs. The City Council had been kept very busy, continued Councillor Taylor, over the electrical scheme, and he was sure the Council would be ready to take the current as soon as the Government was “ready 'to supply it, if not before. Tenders had been let for the whole of the.work and plant involved in the reticulation of "the city. The brilliant street lighting- by electricity, which would bo a feature of Christchurch in the future, would ho found to be a very valuable city asset, and he hoped the Association would keep the Council up to the mark in this respect. The -Council's..-prinqipa! problem in connection with its contract with the Government would be to increase the sales of electricity, for every increase in tho quantity- of current sold meant that the Council got a cheaper rate. .The charges framed by the Council were as low ns were consistent- with safety. He would welcome a law. making it compulsory upon the Council to keep its books in the same; way as those of a private trading concern.' He would like to see the Council, undertake a really comprehensive water supply scheme, embracing even Sumner' and Lyttelton. It was-time a better system of administering their works department was devised, and it might ho found that the bast system would be to divide the city into blocks or sections, and appoint a ganger or fofeman, to take’.charge of each section. ' ” Mr M"-'Hayward,.-who. was also asked to, spqak, said-that .the, City,'Council had sought power from Parliament to conduct a fish market, but power had been denied it. He defended the choice of the Victoria Square site as a Town Hall site. It was no use going to the citizens with a £150,001) loan, proposition. -The Town Hall site had been selected for them by the pioneers, and ’they could not do;better than .uts if./' -The' citizens certainly would not sangtidn. !tlie purchase of land. THE TOWN HALL DESIGNS. The Building Sub-committee submitted a report on tho Town Hall scheme,, in the course of which it was recommended that it should be suggested to the City Council that care, should be taken that the hall was acoustically perfect-;- that the architect selected.' should possess some record of success, in-'similar work, arid that as such an architect would' decline to enter into a_ competition the Council should invite designs from two or three such architects, paying for the plans, with a view to the selection of the best points of each. Mr Frostick gave particulars of the trouble which had been occasioned by defective acoustic conditions in -the Wellington - Town Hall. Dr ,0. J. Russell suggested that- the architects should be -asked to prepare' plans for more than one site—one plan, for instance,. -for the site selected by the Council and another for the site on the opposite,site of the river. Mr S. Hurst Seager said there were no intricate problems concerned in building-a hall with good acoustio properties. Any architect with an elementary knowledge of the laws of acoustics could do it. He took exception to the implication in the committee’s peport that there was no architect, in the dominion qualified to judge the plans of first-class architects. This was not the case, but if it were, how-did the committee propose that the “best points’’ in tho designs of certain super-excellent architects should be judged? The history of competitive designs showed' that most of the finest buildings in Europe and America built after a design competition were designed by young, unknown architects. In Auckland aiid Wellington the trouble was that the conditions were drawn up by amateurs, and, no architect could be expected to conform to them. Conditions should bo framed by an expert, preferably the expert who was to judge the designs. The report was referred to the incoming committee. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. .. . On the motion of Mr Frostick it was resolved to leave the election of president in tho hands of the executive. On the motion of Mr F. E. Jones it was resolved to increase the number of members of the executive from twelve to twenty. The election of officers resulted as follows: —Vice-presidents, Messrs F. W. Johnston and H. H. Smith; executive, Messrs W. Hayward, J. Jamieson, H. Berry, A. Kaye, J. J. Dougail, G. Scott, F. E. Jones, J. M. Stewart, B. S. Smith, H. Sorensen, jun., S. H. Seager, W. Broadway, G. D. Macfarlano. H. J. Otley, H. Burson, H. D.

Acland, Gulliver/ DT Crazier, F. Storey and A. E. Moore; auditor, Mr Thornhill Cooper. . . j A vote of thanks to the president ana officers, moved by Mr O. M. Gray, concluded the proceedings.