THE MAYORALTY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 97, 24 April 1912, Page 5

THE MAYORALTY.

MR. W. P. KIRKWOOD’S CAN DI-

DATURE

AN ENTHUSIASIIC AUDIENCE

Fortune did not favour Mr. W. P. Kirkwood last night, when ho addressed the ratepayers in pursuit of ids candidature for Mayoral honours, for the weather could hardly have been worse, rain falling heavily tliroughtout the evening. Still, a good number attended. In introducing the speaker, the Mayor, Mr. J. Masters, said that Mr. Kirkwood was well known among them as a man who had taken a keen and active interest in things pertaining to this district. He would place before them that evening his view's on municipal matters, and at the conclusion of his address would be pleased to answer questions. Mr. Kirkwood, who was greeted with vociferous applause, prefaced his remarks by apologising for the deficiencies of his voice, which, he stated had been injured through an attack of enteric fever in the Transvaal. “It gives me great pleasure,” said Mr. Kirkwood, "to again have the opportunity of addressing the electors on the eve of a Mayoral election. On the last occasion tnat I addressed the electors from this platform I contested the Mayoralty with Mr. Geo. Sangster, and, although defeated, it was only by the narrow majority of 29 votes. On this occasion I trust to be more successful, but I have no desire to be elected Mayor except on the approval by the electors of my platform. In the event of being elected I will take it that the policy I will put before you to-night meets with your ap-’ proval, and I would use my best endeavours to have that policy canned into effect.” (Applause.) Ho believed that the whole of Taranaki, and Stratford in particular, would show great progress in the near future, and anyone leaving the district now and returning ten years hence Would ho astounded at the progress made. (Applause). Although Stratford would continue to grow and prosper whatever might be left undone, it was necessary for the proper advancement of the town that a progressive policy should be pursued, and to this end it was necessary that money should be borrowed and the necessary works carried out. It was not a good policy to borrow money if it could be done without, but on the other hand, it was bad business not to borrow when it was essential to do so. Stratford not being a manufacturing town, they were depending foxtrade on the efforts of the man on the land and they should make every endeavour to draw the trade from the surrounding districts and afford every facility possible to farmers to make Stratford a central market. (Applause.) At .the same time, the town should be made as attractive as possible to live in. ~ . “In accepting the call to municipal politics,” continued the speaker, “I cannot liken my position as I see it to anything more than Tke this Stratford is represented by a strong healthy person normally, but suddenly finds that he has appendicitis, and it is necessary for his health that a skilled surgeon be employed to perform the necessary operation to restore him to health and vigour. I am the surgeon, and I have been called in to perform the operation. (Laughter.) The crux of the position was this, they had arrived at a stage when the whole of their loan money had been expended, and the revenue was not sufficient to do both maintenance and new work, consequently they were faced with the position, of securing, a further loan to do the necessary new work or to do without the loan and potter along as best they could. "Whether I am elected Mayor' or not,” he added, “the question of deciding whether a further loan will be floated or not will depend entirely'on yourselves: I can only advocate what I consider the right "thing to do, but of course if you will give your consent by way of ’ a poll for that operation that I mentioned to take,place I am at your service to do your bidding.” (Applause.) His plan of operation would be this: Any increase in revenue that has accrued by reason of extra rentals, place to the general account, so'as to reduce if possible the general rate, which is now as high as is allowed by law. Then/borrow whatever sum may be eventually decided uuon, and by doing this the burden will not be altogether on the shoulders of the present ratepayers, but will extend to those who come after and receive the benefits of the pioneer work—posterity. (Applause.) The loan to be spread over a term of four years. The total public debt of Stratford, Mr. Kirkwood continued, was, roughly £43,000, made up as follows: £17,000 street improvement and general purposes, £12.000 waterworks,/ £3,300 drainage, £4,300 abattoirs, £3.000 Town Hall, and £2,200 septic tank. £20,000 of the total debt .was raised by debentures at 4J per cent, at a time when it was impracticable to borrow from the Government. This amount was .repayable in 21 years. The balance of the loan was raised under the “Local Bodies Loans Act,” at 31 per cent, with 1 per cent, sinking fund. The capital value of rateable lands in the Borough under the old valuation (the new valuation was not yet available, and would be considerably higher), was approximately £319,000; exempt and non-rateable lands £35,000, the unimproved value being £171,000. The rates struck Inpayment of interest on loans wcie as follows: — General rate 2|d Street improvement ... Id Drainage 3-16 d Septic tank Waterworks ... ••• t-lod Town Hall (paid out receipts) .Abattoirs (paid out receipts) Total, 4 6-10 d in £. “Now, it will be seen from the figures I have quoted,” he claimed, “that although the rates struck are fairly numerous, they are not excessively high, and we have good assets to show for the money spent while we continue to get good' value- for loan moneyspent, such expenditure must mean progress. That a further loan is necessary for the development of the town ' I think most ratepayers agree, and it »a matter of deciding how much to borrow and the works to be I propose to borrow a loan of 9, to be spent over a period of. say,” four years. The increase on the rates for a loaii of that amount would ■amount approximately to Id in the £, but by reason of increased rents received from municipal reserves (about £400) the general rate could be reduced by that amount. The fact of making new works out of loan m nicy as against using revenue for tins purpose, means that a future gensr.it on nave to bear part of the burden. lo carry out a comprehensive scheme of Borough improvements would entail borrowing something in the neighbourhood of £50,000. I am not going to deceive you, and ■above all things, I am not going to deceive myself as to the true position of matters as they stand m Hie Borough to-day. Yon have heard a good deal about a surplus or something

like £3OO. If I tell you that lie ar, indebted to the hank to Hie true o' £IOSO yon will probably be sm prised; but such is the case, and the surplus spoken of is only a reduction of the indebtedness to that amount. The indebtedness of the Borough at the commencement of the year was in the neighbourhood of £2,600, and Hits amount was reduced by saving 6800 allegedly to buy a steam roller, but for whatever purpose it was done by so doing starved the streets. Now, in the matter of loans, 1 want to see the position clearly, and understand that where money is borrowed it in ut be paid for in the shape of interest, and there is not any getting away finu this fact. If a loan is raised, then the rates must necessarily be raised to meet interest charges, and it -s only juggling with figures to contend that the rates would not be increased, and the only way the rates can he reduced is by reason of increased revenue from Borough reserves, as I indicated earlier. Therefore, you are faced with this position, that if you want improvements in the Borough yon will have to pay for then;.” (Applause.) Mr. Kirkwood stated that an estimate prepared of the cost of drainage in that populated part of the!‘Borough in the north-west and south of bridge the cost of a drainage scheme would be £9OOO, not including £2OOO for an extra septic tank. “Now, I would not go as far as that,” he said, “but just so far as would be an equitable proportion out of the proposed loan, but carried out in such a way that a policy of continuity could be carried out later.” (Applause.) He favoured borrowing £2ouo, so that the Borough Council might do the necessary, connections, the outlay to be paid by householders in instalments. In connection with this scheme, it would not he necessary to include the amount proposed to he borrowed in the larger loan, for the reason that this money would be interest earning, and would not cost the Borough anything with the exception of administrative charges. In the matter of street improvements, Mr. Kirkwood proposed setting aside an amount of, say, £3OOO, for channeling and kerbing, this work being estimated to cost £6 6s per chain; £SOO would be set aside for reforming footpaths at a cost of 15s per chain. It would be necessary to set aside a sum for scarrifying, providing new metal, and rolling existing roads where necessary. In the case Stratford’s main street, Broadway/ something should be done to make it at least presentable, which cannot he claimed to ho the case by any stretch of the imagination at present. It was certainly as good a street as might be expected considering that a road roller was not available when it was made, but it would not stand comparison with the main street of some of the towns not a hundred miles from Stratford. He proposed that to the end o,f doing the work economically that this street be searrified, rolled until the surface was even, and then coated with tar. (Applause.) The water supply should be improved and to' do what was required might entail a’ fairly large expenditure, the estimate of Mr. Climio being in the neighbourhood of £2OOO. However, ho was of opinion that if necessary another report should be secured on this matter, with the idea of getting an efficient scheme at a lesser cost, but hq was firmly of opinion that whatever cost may ultimately be arrived at, the work should be carried out (Applause.) The health of the community demands good drainage and good water. (More applause.) “On looking into the water account,” continued the speaker, “I find that there is a very considerable credit balance standing to this account,‘and it would appear that more money has been collected in this direction than was necessary, and 1 think it desirable that no further rate should be collected than is necessary to pay interest on the loan: the interest on the loan being £l4O per annum. Last year £403 17s 2d was derived from the water rate collected, while there was already a credit balance to the water account of no less a sum than £863 2s sd. Out of this account £230 was expended on new water works and maintenance; new water works should he done out of loan money. The net result of' the water works account is that after paying for the new works mentioned and annual interest, the large credit balance exising at the beginning of year has further increased, and now stands at £982 ss. With this sum in hand it would not he necessary to call up any further rate for interest oir loan for the next seven years. It is certainly equitable that no further water rate should be called up for that time to provide interest on present loans. It might lie found necessary to do_ small waterworks jobs out of the water account, but it certainly is not necessary to pile up a big surplus to the credit of this account, and it will readily be seen that the waterworks account has been used to keep down the overdraft, which last year would have been over £3OOO but for the- inflated state of this account. The overdraft at the bank has been mounting up from year to year, and it is about time that a halt was called. For the last four years the overdraft had been: 1909, £1100; 1910, £2070; 1911, £2511; 1912, £1613. The latter amount Hs explained as being smaller than the previous year by the £BOO saved for the roller.

“We now come to that question,” Mr. Kirkwood went on to say, “resembling in name a book written by Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Light that Failed.’ My attitude on the electric light question is well known, and while il have not been averse to the Borough taking over the undertaking, I have not approved of the methods adopted. I think possibly had there been less secrecy while this matter was being dealt with that the Borough would have been saved the expense incurred, a sum of, roughly, £lO9. However, the matter is now ended, or at least 1 trust so, and I think the course to he adopted is that the Syndicate should see out its concession of eight years to run, while the business of the Borough Council will he to see that the conditions of the concession are carried out. AVitli the extra power being installed, I have no doubt that the light will he very much improved, and that possibly there will be very little cause for complaint as to the voltage supplied. In connection with this matter. I appeal to those who were for or against the undertaking being taken over by the Borough, and look at the matter in a reasonable light, and, drop any bitter feeling that may have -been engendered by partisanship, ft is a plain business matter, and there should not be any bitterness displayed,” (Applause.) “Dotted about Stratford there ar numerous small reserves.” the speaker continued, “and I think perhaps that a better form of tenure should he given to these reserves than : s the ease at present. The present forhi of tenure is the Glasgow lease, which provides for a revaluation every seven years, and while this form of lease may bo desirable for Hie Borough reserves, in the main thoroughfares, I think, it is questionable if this tenure should lie made applicable to the smaller reserves in the hack streets. If a better form of tenure wei;e g’ven it would enable the lessees

to build good buildings and general!; improve Hie property, whereas as now several of tne reserves are not rent producing on account of the tenure. Jn the ease of the railway reserve leases the railway authorities have found it advantageous to grant a longer term than was tiie case with the original lessees, and it may he taken as a good guide in the matter. In the case of tenants leasing borough reserves, and have been good tenants for some years, I believe such tenants should nave the right of first refusal of new leases at an upset rental. (Applause.) Mr. Kirkwood warmly supported the purchase of the road roller, and claimed that it would easily pay its way. He referred to the unsatisfactory state of the railway station, and considered that it was the duty of the Mayor to nave something done to alleviate the great discomfort to which at present travellers were subjected. (Applause.) Another matter was the public library, which he considered required immediate attention. He was of opinion that a competent librarian snonld be appointed, and the library brough up to date and enlarged. “Unlike the running brook, which runs on for ever,” concluded Mr. Kirkwood, “Mayors and successive Councils come and go, and I liken them to links in a chain. In my opinion each Mayor should only he concerned that his own link is well forged, and if this were carried out the chain would he a good one throughout. By this I mean that a Mayor should be satisfied to attempt something that can he earned out successfully rather than a larger scheme doomed to failure from the outset. ’ ’ (Appl an sc.) Mr. H. Wilson proposed a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Kirkwood for his address, and paid a tribute to the a life manner in which he had delivered his views. This was duly seconded and carried unanimously and with acclamation.