SINS OF THE CITY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 180, 20 October 1927, Page 11

SINS OF THE CITY

ROSKILL AMALGAMATION STRONG OPPOSING MOVEMENT

THE RATING QUESTION

ANTI - AM ALGA M ATION ISTS - i ‘*- got a good hearing at a public meeting to hear speakers who were against Roskiil joining the city, at Three Kings Hall last evening. “I feel very sore because after all the trouble and expense to which we have been put in carrying rating on unimproved values by 1,100 to 600 votes, we should now find ourselves engaged in the second round of the fight," said Mr. P. J. Sefton. “Certain ratepayers want you to turn it down before it has had a trial.”

Mr. Sefton stated that farm lands in the district would be rated higher by the city than if they remained under the unimproved system. The promise of tramway extension was a mere bait. The City Councillors said, ‘Trust us, and we shall carry it through,’ but it was a case of the spider and the fly. The present transport muddle could not possibly last much longer, and every day brought a Metropolitan Transport Board nearer.

“If Mount Roskiil joins the city the district will be neglected and forgotten,” he asserted. Mr. E. Stevenson said the City Council s pledges were not worth tuppence. They had pledged themselves not to raise tramway fares, in return for obtaining a legal monopoly, but the fares had been raised twice since then. “AN OLD TRICK” They promised Mount Eden and Remuera tramway extensions four years ago, and have failed to fulfil those promises. “It is an old trick of land sharks to advocate amalgamation with a city so soon as rating on unimproved values is carried by a suburban body.” Mount Roskiil was practically being asked to pay for the loss on the fish market, the loss of four years’ rents from the 85 shops pulled down in Civic Square, and many other similar losses made by the City Council. “Why is it that the Auckland City Council is below the average local body in intelligence? Because the election system is rotten to the core, the electors being forced to vote in the dark, not knowing the men they vote for,” stated Mr. Stevenson. Mr. A. M. Bryden, deputy-Mavor of Mount Eden, expressed astonishment that the people of Mount Roskiil were asked to amalgamate with the city unconditionally. No business man would ever dream of making an unconditional bargain like that. There was no reason why the ratepayers of Mount Eden and Mount Roskiil should not put their heads together and evolve a transport system of their own, and it could be accomplished by a much quicker method than amalgamation with the city. Mr. E. H. Potter said he knew of a bus company that was prepared to run a service to Mount Roskiil for a fourpenny fare, but at present working people were being penalised bv a higher rate. “You have a practically unencumbered equity here in Mount Roskiil, and the Auckland City Council wants you to hand it over to it, so that you may help to pay off its huge mortgage,” was Mr. Hall-Skelton’s opinion.

RATEPAYERS OPPOSED

RESOLUTION PASSED Mount Roskiil ratepayers, as organised under their association, are against the amalgamation proposal. At a well-attended meeting last evening the following motion was passed, with only one voice in opposition: That this meeting emphatically protests against the proposed amalgamation with the city, and considers that the time is not opportune to take such a step. All members are asked to use their influence to defeat the proposal. The m’eeting decided to send a deputation to the chairman of the Tramways Committee, with a request that the Dominion Road-Mount Albert Road feeder-bus service be improved, and that workers’ concession cards should be made available on this route.