CITY COUNCIL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 44, 25 November 1871, Page 6

CITY COUNCIL.

Wednesday, November 22. A special meeting of the City Council was held on Wednesday last at four o’clock for the purpose of considering matters connected with the raising of the money for the purchase of the wharf, the reclaimed land, and the bonded store. At the appointed hour there were present—The Mayor (in the chair), Messrs Buckley, Krull, Miller, Borlase, Moss, and Bannatyne. The Mayor explained that the meeting had been called for the purpose of putting in force the powers which had been granted to them to enable them to go on with the purchase of the reclaimed laud, the wharf, the bonded store, and the waterworks, and he thought the best plan would be to appoint a committee from among the members of the Council, to whom should be entrusted the negotiation of the debentures, with instructions not to exceed a certain rate of interest, the maximum of which should be named by the Council, and if it were found that the debentures could not be negotiated at the current rate of interest, then the committee should so report to the Council; if, on the other hand, there was a possibility of their being able to negotiate the debentures at a rate below the maximum to be fixed, then they should do so without coming to the Council. He merely threw this out as a suggestion. He felt great satisfaction in being able to inform the Council that if they chose to do so there was an opportunity of disposing of a large proportion of the reclaimed land at once. If he had been empowered to sell he could hare sold a great portion of the land—£lo,ooo worth —at a considerable advance on the rate at which they had purchased. That was a very satisfactory state of things and was very encouraging to those who had fought hard, as he had done himself, to complete the handing over of the property from the Provincial Government. There was no doubt that the public works policy of the Colonial Government was the main cause of inducing men of means to come forward with offers to purchase portions of the reclaimed land, and he thought they should take anvantage of every opportu nity to make a profit for the citizens. With regard .to the wharf there were some very important matters to be attended to, and he hoped the committee to be appointed would have power to arrange the rates of wharfage to be levied by the lessee. He would be prepared to lay upon the table the papers containing not only the labors of the select committee of the Provincial Council on the matter but also all the information which the Provincial Government had got together from various sources during the last two or three months, which would assist them very much in coming to a conclusion as to what was advisable to be done. As to the best course to be adopted with regard to the selling or leasing of the reclaimed land there were many difficulties to contend with. The plan he considered best would be to lease the land with a purchasing clause extending over five or seven years. This would obviate all difficulty. Already persons had stated that they did not care to erect valuable buildings on leasehold land. Councillor Borlase hoped the Council would not part with an inch of the land. Councillor Moss expressed a similar opinion. The Mayor did not oppose those opinions. If he could carry out his own idea in the matter he would very much prefer to retain the whole of the land, but he was satisfied that if they determined on that course it would very much retard any further progress in raising the necessary funds at once. Haring taken an active part in the matter, he felt anxious that it should be a success. He thought he was correct in saying that he had taken, if not the most active part, at least as active a part as any of them had done, and having done so, he fell; a heavy responsibility in consequence of the course he had thought proper to adopt. Therefore he was anxious to see the matter carried out as speedily and successfully as possible, and he hoped those members who opposed the scheme would think the matter over before they came to a final decision, and would lend their aid to carry it out. Councillor Miller thought'before doing that they should have had the amended bill placed before them. The Mayor said the Government had not been able to get the bill printed in time. The alterations were very slight beyond what the Council had had placed before it. They must also bear in mind that the time within which the purchase must be completed was very short, namely, thirty days after the assent of the Governor had been given to the bill. The most advisable plan would bo to appoint a committee to whom should be left the arrangement of the matter. Councillor Borlase had no objection to the appointment of the committee : in fact, he thought it was the best thing that could be done; but there was one observation which had fallen from the Mayor with which he did not at all agree. That gentleman might be in a funk because he had taken a great interest in the matter, but he thought they had all taken an interest in the matter, and he meant to say this : that if the purchase of the land was to be entered upon as a speculation he would object to anything of the kind, because that was a thing he had never anticipated and would never go into. He had always considered the purchase was to be entered upon for the future benefit of the city of Wellington, and that in the meantime they would get enough money from the leasing of the wharf to pay the interest on the purchase mor\ey. If that were not the case then he, for one, objected to the whole transaction. He looked upon the purchase of the land as the making of an endowment for the city of Wellington, and he should decline to part with the fee

simple to one single inch of it. He would let it on easy terms, so that people who came here should have every facility placed in their way to put up shops and business places of all kinds. Then, when the time for which the land had had been let had expired they would have a gr ind future for the province. He never dreamt of purchasing the land from the Provincial Government to make a speculation of it, and he did not intend to go in for such a proposal. He would oppose it tooth and nail. Councillor Moss said he also had taken an active part in the purchase of the land, hut he strongly agreed in Councillor Borlase’s views. He took an active part thoroughly believing it was for the permanent benefit of the city, which he still believed it would be. He would therefore strongly oppose the absolute sale of the land. Councillor Buckley thought Councillors Borlase and Moss were rather premature in discussing the letting or sale of land which was not yet the property of the Council. They would advance the object for which they had met if they were to discuss the means by which they were to become the purchasers, and having become owners of the land then they could discuss the question of letting or selling it. Their present business was to devise a means to obtain the money required at the cheapest possible rate. He would suggest the appointment of a committee to confer with gentlemen who were in the habit of advancing money, and report to the Council the result of their investigations. The committee should be composed of gentlemen conversant with matters of the kind, who would be.better able to confer with those gentlemen who had already made offers in the matter. Councillor Moss thought the committee, in their negotiations, should not be confined to a specific rate of interest. Such a course would necessitate their coming back to the Council. The matter had been pretty well discussed outside, and, having appointed the committee, they might now adjourn. They all knew pretty well what the lowest amount of interest was, and if they agreed to fix any amount below that, of course it could not be got, and the committee would have to return to the Council without any result. He was certain there would be no difficulty in getting the money at 8 per cent ; indeed, he saw by the Auekland papers that the City Council of that city were advertising £20,000 worth of debentures at 6 per cent. Councillor Miller wished to know if the Council was empowered to borrow the money. Councillor Buckley said the act clearly defined the borrowing power, and as the time within which they would be enabled to borrow was rapidly advancing, they should lose no time in taking the necessary steps to ascertain the rate at which the money could be obtained. If they could obtain the money at anything below the current rate they should at once do so, as unless it were done within the stipulated time the whole matter would fall to the ground. Councillor Moss thought there was no doubt they would be able to get the money cheaper by going away from home. The Mayor said the best plan would be to empower the Committee to dispose of the debentures at anything under eight per cent, and if they could not dispose of them at that rate they could come back and report to the Council. He could quite understand that the money lenders would endeavor to get as high a rate as possible, but if tbe Committee were instructed not to go beyond eight per cent they could get the money. Eight per cent was a long rate to pay, and if the Committee was empowered to get the money on the debentures a t something under eight per cent, there was little doubt they would.be able to get it. Cr Bannatyne was glad to hear the statement of the Mayor. His own idea was that the money was to be got at something less than eight per cent. He thought it would be a- very good plan to allow the committee to have authority to close the transaction without coming backward and forward to the Council. The rate of interest might be fixed at not to exceed more than eight per cent. The Mayor said he was empowered to say, with regard to the reclaimed laid, that if the worst came to the worst the Provincial Government were prepared to take the debentures off their hands at once. Mr Buckley then proposed the following resolution :—“ That a committee be composed of the following gentlemen : His Worship the Mayor, Councillors Krull, Miller, Bannatyne, and Borlase, and authorised to negotiate the raising of the money to purchase the reclaimed land, the wharf, and the Btore, on debentures bearing interest at a sum under eight per cent.” Councillor Bannatyne seconded the motion, which was carried nem. con. Councillor Moss made an inquiry about the printing of the debenture forms. He was determined that tenders should be called for everything for which it was possible to tender. Councillor Buckley said he hoped the Council would be careful to secure the disposal of the whole of the debentures ; not that a portion only should be disposed of. If they did so they might find that the small amount so disposed of would not be sufficient to enable them to carry on the works, which would be brought to a stand still in consequence, while the interest on the amount so raised would still be going on. They should be careful not to issue a small quantity to any person unless there was a certainty that the whole amount would be taken up. The Mayor agreed that the committee in their negotiations should dispose of the whole quantity. He also thought it would be a great simplification of the business if the same committee were entrusted with the duty of disposing of the debentures for the waterworks scheme. If the Council had sufficient confidence in them he would suggest the adoption of such a course. Councillor Moss agreed, and thought it possible that the money required for the

waterworks could be raised at a lower rate on account of the security being better. Councillor Bannatyne then proposed that the same committee should conduct the sale of the debentures for both projects. The motion was agreed to, the committee to report as soon as possible. THE*WATER CARTS. Councillor Borlase called attention to the fact that the residents of Molesworth street were willing to pay their share of the water carts if the Engineer would see that the street was watered. The Engineer said the water carts were hardly sufficient, but as the inhabitants were willing to pay their share he would endeavor to comply with their wishes. THE WHARF. The Mayor said there was a very important matter to be gone into, and that was the conditions upon which the wharf should be let. He thought the Chamber of Commerce should be asked to assist in drawing up rules and regulations to bind the lessee. He would also like to have the assistance of some member of the Council to assist him in coming to a decision in the matter. Councillor Miller thought the Provincial Council had passed certain regulations. The Mayor : They were merely suggestions. Councillor Miller : But they were adopted by the Council. The Mayor thought it only right that they should refer to the Chamber of Commerce in tbe matter. Councillor Borlase: But you have no Chamber of Commerce. Councillor Bannatyne : There is, but the members do not act. The Mayor asked whether he should instruct the Clerk to write to the Chamber of Commerce ? Mr Borlase objected to make any reference to the Chamber of Commerce. It was a most useless body; a useless bag of inanition that had never done any good to themselves, and could not do any good for anybody else. They could get the positive evidence of people who bad leased the wharf and also that of captains of vessels, and fiud out from them what rules and regulations were necessary, He did not believe in going to any outside body which did not exist, or if it did exist it was like a dormouse, torpid all the winter. Councillor Bannatyne must say one word in defence of the Chamber. All he could say was that there was a Chamber of Commerce, and would be now if the members had paid their subscriptions as they should have done. A great many of them had been asked for their subscriptions but did not pay, and therefore the Chamber could not be got into work. Councillor Buckley asked if they could not get copies of the present regulations under which the wharf was leased. If that were done he had no doubt that the merchants and others interested would suggest anything that was desirable and then they themselves could make such alterations andadditions which they, as proprietors of the wharf, might think fit. If they had the conditions which had been approved of by the Provincial Government they might make such modifications as might be desirable. If that course did not answer they might refer the matter to their legal adviser, and let him draw up a set of rules. The Mayor suggested that a committee should be appointed to gather information on the subject. This course was acquiesed in, and the Council adjourned.