THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Taihape Daily Times, 29 April 1919, Page 4

THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

MR. WRIGHTSON AT THE TOWN HALL, There wai a large attendance at the Town Hall last night to hear Mr Geo. Wrightson's views in support of his candidature for the Mayoralty. Mr W. McLennan. in the unavoidable absence of His Worship the Mayor (Mr. A. 1.. Arrowsniith) occupied the chair, and said it was unnecessary to ask for a fair hearing ioi M:, Wrightson • ttvU had never yet been .-.fused b>- a Taihape audience.

Mr-. Wrightson, who was reciVel with applause, prefaced his remarks, by reading a telegram from the Minister of Internal AffaLs, slating that Peace Celebrations wou-.d be held mi Sunday, Monday,, and Tuesday in:mediately following the signing ci preliminary peace terms. Mr. WrJghisuu said before proceeding to refer to Borough matters he would give a brief resume of his connection with Taihupo. He arrived in the town fifteen years ago. There were few business houses in the town, and the greater portion of the inhabitants were living in shacks. Roads then were mine., and the surrounding country was virgin, bush. He mentioned this -co show trie marvellous advancement made by the town in the short period of fifteen year.s He had been a member of the Chamber of Commerce when that body was a real live institution. He had oecn a member of the inaugural committee of the Rangitikei A. and ?. Association. For a number of years he was president of the Rugby Union. o He was a. member of the Committee of Uic Bowling Club, and had occupied a seat at the I'.orough Council table for the last y?x years, four years of which period he was chairman of the Works Committee and a member of the Electric Light and Waterworks Committee. He recapitulated these facts to show that he had taken a live interest in the local activities for the advancement of the town. Coming to Borough matters he would first deal with finance. It was absolutely essential that all works undertaken should be confined within the limits of their income, and works such as general maintenance, roads and footpaths came out of the General Account, within the limits of which they must operate. The public debt of the borough at the end of 1918

vas £47,208, to which must be added :hc Loan of £17,000 just carried. In lis opinion the General Account had )ecn well administered quoting figures n proof of this statement. There was )nc sum of £lOOl paid to Turnbull nid Jones, which, if elected he would mvc refunded to the General Account, deferring to the Fire Brigade, the speaker said in 19.17 the brigade had ■eceived from the Council £BO 16/, vhile in 1918-19 the sum amounted to £234—a difference of £154 between he two years. He' was in favour of jiving the brigade every consideration !ie could assure the brigade they would ;et every assistance, no matter who vas on the Council. There was one j subject on which there was consider— j ible controversy and no little misapprehension, and that was the £3500 spent on the supply of plant to the ' power house. The plant was installed 5n the recommendation of their engineer. The Mayor, Mr Bennett, and himself after receiving the recommenlation, took up the proposals for further inquiry. They went to Wellington to interview Mr. Parrish, the Government engineer, one of the foremost engineers in the world. The scheme was laid before him, and a man was sent up to report, who said the scheme as laid down by Mr. Burgis could not be improved upon. A mistake made by a good many people was that the plant was procured to provide extra power and current. This was not the case. It wa s decided that it was ab""'utely essential to get the plant c standby in the case of necessity. It had not been necessary so far, but it had been very close to it. To run this plant it would take 25 tons of coal per month. which would cost £SO; an extra shift would cost £ls; and with other incidental expenses the total cost would have been about £7O. He claimed that by not having to run the plant the Council had saved the borough £7O per month. ":Vith regard to Mr. Jobliu's statement about the cost of generator; he could tell them that the Council had tried to get a generator for direct coupling throughout New Zealand and Australia, but without success. They had tried at Home, to get the generator, but could not do so without going into debt. At the first opportunity the Council set aside £IOOO to purchase the generator. Mr. Joblin misstated the case when he said Ihc Council had allocated £SOO to purchase the generator and £l2O to acquire the Kaka Road extonsion. Coming to the by-laws Mr. Joblin stated the Council could expend £IOO on peace celebrations, but coul-d nor find £20.1 for the by-laws. He (the speaker) would ask Mr Joblin what kind of a man he was to cavil at -th'p expenditure of £IOO to ccVWate the pfeatest event in his'ivy.

TLp ntcr.;/ for the by-laws was not

provided for when the estimates OjJlWn and iany extraordinary work not provided for in the estimates would encroach on the- amount to be sperit en ether ?'iu-c<.\'.siiry works. The sum of £9oo* had been placed on the estimates for works and Crs. Jomin ami Rcid consiuc.reo it was not enough, brr ho c-.'Jd only tell them that they aad 'o live V.thin the income derived fm;,; tu.; General Rate, and any extenv.on of expenditure in this direction would be at the P-'i-'uiixce of some other. Another reason wi y the by-laws were nfc gone on with was trai the time w?s .iot opportune for insisting on drainage wiVk b . ng done, as the cost o. : materia?*, had go i: t:p 300 t>e r cent. The by-laws wf-re now in the borough solicitor'- hand, and when tiuy wore ready and in? time was opportune it would he w.\?c compulsory for everyone witlu:: reach -A the drainage system to connect. With regard to fh>water schem-? the Council in the pasi hf.d made every endeavour to initiate a satisfactory service. The scheme was submitted to two engineers, and adopted after they approved of it. If the scheme was not a success they

could not blame the Council. All that could be said was that the Council had been unfortunate in choosing engineers who did not look far enough ahead. At present time, the Council had two schemes before it. The first was a gravity supply from Hihitahi,

of which it was at present impossible to assess the cost, owing to it not being sufficiently advanced. The second scheme- was to obtain an underground supply in Taihapc. Even in the driest season pure, clean water, could be seen

oozing from the cliffs. A water diviner had undertaken to locate the source of these springs. He and other Councillors had been taken to where the

origin of this supply wos located, which if it turned out as anticipated would serve the Borough for 50 years, and would be a mere trifle in cost compared with the gravity scheme. The cost of sinking a shaft would be be-

tween £4OO and £SOO. The Council had yet to consider whether it was worth whil e to go on with this scheme.

The Council had not been behind hand in considering the housing problem.

Six months ago the Mayor, through Mr. Smith, the member for the district applied to get permission from the Government to get possession of certain reserves around Taihape for the purpose of building cottages on. It was a debatable question at the present time whether the problem could be solved owing to the excessive cost of materials, which Avas almost beyond the power of an ordinary working man to pay rent. An example would/ bear out this contention: —Section of land, £150; a five-roomed house would cost £750 to build—£9oo. This sum-, at 5 per cent. £45; sinking fund, £9; * cost of administration, etc., £9; Insurance on £SOO. £2 1/8; rates on £l5O, £5. Total rental, £1 6/11 per per week Where was the working man who could afford to pay this. In Wanganui it had been figured out that a 4-roomed house would cost £l, an« a 5-roomed house £1 2/6 per week. The only practical method was to de>vise a plan to enable, a 4-roomed house to be let at 14/ to 15/. and a 5-roomed at 16/ per week. If a scheme is found to do this, tile problem is solved. The works in the Bcrough that have to be done most urgently are:— First, the reticulation cf portions of the western part of 10.-3 borough; second, the reforming and. grading of roads and footpaths in this district. When the machinery provided for in the £l7,ooff loan proposal had been procured it j will be within the province of the 'general rate to make improvements in | the outlying portions of the borough-

One of the reasons this had not been done was that ii would be folly to ex-

pond money on road* and footpaths tobe eventually torn up to do drainage \ work. To show that the Council had' been alive to its responsibilities he might mention that in 1914 a scheme had been formulated to do the necesV sary works at a cost of between £6OOCr and £7OOO, but the Avar made it im-

possible to go on with it. The speaker said it was hardly necessary to refer to the £17,7000 loan proposal; they had had ample iiine to consider it —but there was one statement made by Mr. Joblin with regard to concrete slabs he wished to refute. The ratepayers had decided by their vote, and rightly, to have concrete. The cost probably wold be greater than asphalt but would be cheaper in the end. He quoted Palmerston North as an object lesson in this connection. It would create a favourable impression from the train to see nico srrets and foot-

paths. Mr. Joblin in his address last week referred to the policy of the Council, and said.it transacted too much of its work in committee. The "work was placed before the different committees, gave it earnest consideration, and placed their reports before the Council in tangible form. The advantages of this course were obvious, Joblin's strictures would have been unnecessary had he paid proper attention to his work. The speaker read out a list of attendances on conk mittee and. Council during the year. 'After reading out the Labour Party's

platform, Mr. Wrightson said with the the various planks of the platform had been, or would be receiving attention. The superannuation scheme was quite impracticable, for reasons which he enumerated. V-

In conclusion Mr Wrightson said he 3iaa endeavoured to place before the meeting the position of the borougn as it stood to-day. If elected to the position of Mayor he would do all he possibly could, socially and politically, for the welfare of the community, and give the affairs placed before the Council, every consideration. Personally he did not care who were elected to the Council. The electors shoulfi Mve the qualifications of each candidate due consideration, and give their vote s to the ones they thought would do the best that was possible to carry on the affairs of the borough to the best advantage. After thanking those present for the patient hearing they had accorded him, Mr. Wrightson resumed his seat amidst prolonged applause.

In reply to a question Mr. Wrightson said in reference to clause 7 in the schedule of works, £IOOO was allocated to purchase the plant necessary to extend the lighting to the other area. With the purchase of the generator they would be able to provide current sufficient for many years to as well as current for the "warea not at present included. Mr Oldham wanted further particulars of the underground water supply, iand whether it would supply the higher level. Mr Wrightson said a shaft, if sunk,

would have to be about 150 feet deep. It would be necessary to build a reservoir in the vicinity of the shaft — ♦about 10 feet above it. An air compressor of about one or two horse power would be required. Mr Oldham, referring to the build-

ing problem, ;asked if it would not be desirable tp ge in for an extensive Scheme before a scheme of water and drainage was embarked upon. *Mr Wrightson said a portion of the area was not sufficiently populated. The drainage and water in the western area must be done. Prices .would probably be within reach in twelve months. IThel sections (from the Government were beyond the area affected. The reserves possessed by ih borough were already taken-up. Mr Dunbar asked if the sanitary byJaws were not enforced, why were the picture theatres compelled to connect. Mr Wrightson said the Borough Council compelled no one to connect up. The action referred to was taken by the Health Department, not by the Council.

A hearty vote of thanks to Mr Wrightson was carried by aclamation

COUNCIL CANDIDATES' VIEWS.

The chairman said that any candi

.dates for the Council who wished to *"were -welcome to place their views before the meeting. Mr Fookes said he was not altogether a tyro in municipal experience. There was one thing the town lacked —a good library, which was to be regretted l'rom an educational point of view. He believed in making our secenie reserves more beautiful, and our town the most attractive in New Zealand. He would strongly move in the matter of providing houses for (workers, the tenants to have the right to purchase the freehold. He promised his best services to the borough. Mr Loader said he had been eight years iu Taihape. and had treid to do ihi best for the town. He had twice been unseceessful in municipal contests, but hoped this time he would top the poll. Mr Cunninghamc said the first thing the new Council should do was to see that they got value for every

shilling spqnt of the loan money. "Water and' drainage for the western would have to be faced. It was an absolute disgrace to see the drainage running down the gutters in front of residences. He would support the JEjre Brigade to fhe limit, but considered the Government and underwriters should do their share. The housing problem must be taken in land earnestly. Council committees -were essential, but one weakness was the practice of laying their reports on the table at the Council meetings, when councillors had only a few mintites to consider five or six sheets of tfeports. He would endeavour to eonduct the business of the Council on

business lines. Mr R. A. Davies spoke a few words on behalf of his candidature. Though new to the game, he assured them of his best services. A vote of thankse to the chair concluded the meeting.