THE MAYORALTY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8061, 17 March 1906, Page 2

THE MAYORALTY.

REQUISITION TO ME DOCKRILL. On Friday evening a number of irominent townspeople waited on Mr 3. Dockrill at bis ollice with, the object if inducing him to contest the forthlowing Mayoral election. s Mr Watkius, wlio acted as spokes- o nan, said lie, and those present with c lim, liiul been deputed on behalf of , lie 333 signatories, to present the 'eqiiisition, which read : "ToEdwauii v Dockrill, Esij.—"We, the under- t signed burgesses of the Borough of s New Plymouth, request you to stand is Mayor for the said Borough of New Plymouth, and wo undertake to 1 io our utmost to secure your roturn." & He hoped Mr Dockrill would accept t the petition, and grant tho request of , the petitioners. He might say there were large numbers who had promised their support, but did uot desire to 1 make their names public,, and porson-' I ally he had a list of 72 of tkcso people. | Mr Dockrill, in reply, said when first approached to stand, lie had promised he would consent to do so, if a reasonably signed requisition of ■ tlie ratepayers were presented. Having made thai promise, and in view of the fact that the number of names far exceeded his anticipations, he did not see how he could refuse. From ad- ' vances that had been made to him by numbers of people, uot on the requisition, he fell that there was a desire that lie should come forward to remedy the state of affairs going on. The last few Borough Council meetings had disclosed a state of affairs that hud to be altered. As one of the initiators of the Joan scheme ho had promised that no additional rate would be required, on the expenditure of the money. He was satisfied, however, that if something were uot done, there must be an extra rate or the streets would have to be denuded of metal. He was glad to see the Council realised there was ueed of economy, and were talking of reducing the stall Valuations and rate receipts had increased since the loan works were commenced, therefore the obligations should be easier met. It seemed, however, that a greater effort would have to be made to make ends meet. Economies could be efEected in other ways as well as staff retrenchment. The Council had gone to a great deal of expense for a crushing plant, which was rarely used, the Council preferring to get metal from contractors. Ho was satisfied if the Borough's own plant were used, a saving of 2s per yard could be made, equal to about £SOO per annum. The Borough would also have its own screenings for which it at present paid 7s (id per yard. At last the people in the vi inity of the septic tank had made a joint complaint against it. If tlr.' tank had been 'built m the way originally proposed, ho was certain there would have been no trouble. There were to have been two tanks

I according to the original scheme, but only one was built, and vent p'pos had

110w to be put up to take tke obnoxious gasses away. If the engineers the Council employed were not able to do what tliey promised, it was the Council's duty to employ expert men who have built tanks successfully. There were now several of them in the province. It was very gratifying to lind ' that the official report on the quality of the water supply was satisfactory, and contained nothing injurious to health. Still they had evidence that large quantities of swam]) water lwd been draining into the tunnel. If that [ still existed, immediate steps should be . taken to analyse the swamp water to I see whether or not it was impure. [ The old Council had been blamed in . some quarters for appointing Mr Mes- > layer. Ho was prepared to defend the [, Council having done so, as Mr Mestayer had then a reputation equal to any ) in the colony as a drainage engineer. . Why Mr Mestayer had departed from I the plans which he had suggested to , the old Council, he could not say. [ Tanks were working satisfactorily in [ other parts of the urovincc, and they , should find out why New Plymouth's , was not. He had heard that the only objection to his candidature was that , he was connected with the Gas Coini pany. An attempt was made last year | to induce him to stand for Mayor, but lie requested his friends not to go 011 . with it, as he could not think of taking office until the electric light was completed. Ho failed to see what injury 1 lie could do the electric light. It was . the duty of everyone to see that steps ; were taken to prevent the electric , works becoming a burden, and personally lie hud 110 wish to pay any extra rate for their support, "which ; they must be made to earn. The . whole success of the works depended on the engineer, and the Council providing his financial requirements. Further, there was an electric light committee, which, if elected, lie would not allow himself to be on, so he failed to see how he could hurt the Borough lighting. The Gas Company was getting on very well with the electric light, which was no enemy of the Gas Company.

It was bciug Mged against liiui that lit! was opposed to Western Park, So fur from that being the case, he was tlio very first, whon a member of the school committeo, to move in the direction of having the exchange effected of Western Park for Poverty Flat. He continued his agitation in the Borough Council and was a member of that body when the School Commissioners agreed to the exchange. He had also been responsible for securing Kawaroa Park for the people from the Government. If it should be his good fortune to be elected—and he was sure it would—he trusted he would be as successful as he had in the post. He did not see anyone pointing complaints at any work he had done when previously he held the position of Mayor, and he hoped soon to have the Borough in as strong a position as when he left it, ami, he might add, it was never in so strong a position as then. He has much pleasure in acceding to the desire expressed in the requisition (applause.) After some brief romarks by other speakers, the deputation withdrew.