THE SUBURBAN PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 130, 23 May 1908, Page 5

THE SUBURBAN PROBLEM.

uueatli: xtav pia-aioi'tu' DECLINED.

J NEW CULM V FAVOIiED. There was an attendance of about a hundred la-.I uijjlil at tlie meeting ol ratepayers in llif I arringtoii, Eliot, aud Franklcy Road Districts convened l»y the ratepayers' represi utativeii i> devise jaim means of escaping the |'i"*-_--ent iie.ivy rates paid to tin' Taranaki i County Council and the Head Hoards, llis \Vorship tin- .Mayor el Xew l I'}" moutli present by invitation. An j poiogv for u I'-i'll'-'c Hits ivcei \c< I f 10111 Mr. if. chairman ol the Eliot Road lioard. Cpon the motion ol Messrs. <■- Munro aud 11. Okey, JI.P., .Mr. C. Cartel-, eliainr.au of the Carringtoii Road lioard, was voted to ffiß chair. The chairman explained that the ques lion was one of vital importance, arisii if uut of the rapidly-growing population aud importance of the districts adI joining the Xew riyinoutii borough. With these came enhanced valuation, until now the suburban lauds Hire valued practically as town section-. The healthier conditions obtaining as tin 1 result of higher levels, and the contiguity to the borough, increased the valuation and brought oppressive rates. The annual meetings of ratepayers in | flies* districts had appointed delegates ( to confer as to the iiest means of c.,- i

taping this heavy taxation, ami thev recommended—|! I That tin- three di--tricts above named he formed into a county—each district to lie treated a-, a riding of the comity, ami the rates collected ill each district to lie expended in the district where collected; (:>) that thrwe portions of the aliovc-uamed dis-

tricts ahutting on the liorough of Xew Plymouth should form part ot a (.ireatev Xew- Plymouth scheme, the lMJundaries being detined. .Mr. Carter explained the t*o proposals. He stated that the present capital value of these three districts wa rt t2ti«.2!12. of which Eliot road district had £sti,Sß!l, Frankley ■£74,403, and Carrington uli'i.ooo. oil a three-farthings basis they contributed i'B32 in rates, earning £2OB in subsidv making a total Road Roard revenue of ] .tlo4<>. J hi- County Council also levied

a three-farthings rate and earned the

same amount of subsidy. But tliev gaie initio back as a rebate, leaving £7Sl> paid out of the districts to the County Council without any return, for not a yard of road in those districts was maintained by the county. A continuation of that state of affairs would make it impossible to occupy some of the highly-rated suburban lands, fie

instanced one ratepaver whose valuation was .U 4.523. ltoad Board rates I upon til,it amount at three-farthings in the pound meant an annual charge of £45 to both tlie ltoad lioard and th" county, or .tilt) in all-nearlv _t;J weekly, witlion* reckoning special rates. Jn a new county, or if included in the borough, that property would pay onlv t47 per annum. With these fact* before them, was it any wonder that the ratepayers should iiiianinitiiislvexemption from the eoiintv rate';

Dealing with the two |ii'.i[mNils, lie look the nullity scheme first, under Wiiieli the ridings could have ditl'erciitia! lating il they chore. What were the advantages'; First, llieio were the extended powers of administration. These suburbs were desirous of securiii" facilities and which were im-

jiossible under the Head Hoards Act. I They had no power in themselves to light their streets, as Frankley road desired to do, and as larrington load had done. I Invr advantages could only wine by forming a county or joining the borough. Anotlier l>enelit was (hat the dual rating would lie done awav uith and all rates levied would lie spent where raised. Amalgamation of th-.' three districts .should bring more economical administration, particularly reducing tiie cost of raising loan*. The re were disadvantages, but 'these he would

leave to tlie meeting to present. Regarding the Greater New Plymouth scheme, he had given a good many figure* at the Carrington road meetings, and he had l>een told that some of them

would not stand investigation. He challenged anyone to prove that they were either ineorreet or misleading. He was doing his best to get down to bedrock, so as to decide in the interests of the whole of the ratepayers. For years past most suburban residents, himself included, had considered that by joining New Plymouth tippy would simply be jumping from the frying-pan into" the tire. He found that to he a fallacy. The general rate in New Plymouth was Is Id in the pound on the aiimi.il value, th'- special rate oi 8d Ix-ing paid into a -pecial fund. l*p till thi* year it had Ik-c» paid nut of the general fund, thu* making the general rate 1- !id. Were the area of the liormigh increa-ed. thai '|H»eial rate could never be paid out ot the general fund for it could lie levied only ujk>ii thore !-eetion.s which had been pledged as security for th" loans. Comparing tlie Is Id rate in tin? borough with the rate? now paid in the*e road districts, the borough

showed a siving of 48 per cent, lie reminded the ratepayers that eaeli dip. triit would continue liulde for its own special rate-. As mo>t of them knew. New Plymouth was one of the smaller Iwrouglis in 'laranaki. It contained Soil acres, and out of tint 130 acre* were non-rateable. Inglcwood had lloti acres, Stratford 192U, l'atea 142U, Eltham 1390, Waitara 2080, and Ilawera 500 acres. Some people asked for a guarantee that the borough rate would never increase . That, of cour>e. cuuld not Ikgiven, any more than they could say

that the county and district rates would never be advanced. The suburbs, when incorporated in the borough, would have a voice in the extension of the water and electric light services, and would get lower insurance rates as the result, of the town lire brigade being available. Again, only with a Greater Xew Plymouth would a:i electric tramways scheme be possible, and the suburbs would be the greatest gainers from that.

He ought to tell them, however, that the installation of trams would bring with it a special rate. The Greater >.ew Plymouth suggested would give a population of from 7tHH) to UOOO, as against 5100 at last census. At present Xew PlvmoijUi, viewed oil its figures, wae not lookctPnpou as it should be, lor the population statistics did not take the suburbs into account, and the borough was set down as a second or third rank town, lb- believed the general rates in the Iwrough would decrease as the result of the operations of tlic clec-

trie light and water supply depart iiuiil-. il«- al-o pointed out that in the l*>rough there «a- a wider Irandiw- than under the Comitie- Ad. -Mr. Carter resumed hits seat amidst appliHlH.'. Mr. Marfell moved in favor of funning a county. Ik* corrected the chairnian\s estimate of tlie subsidy earned j by the County Council on rated collected. pointing out that it would be 10s in tile pound instead of o-i. Ji<* opposed the municipal franchise, holding that those who paid the rates should have the expenditure of the money. The borough rate was equal to a three-far-things rate on the capital value, lie did not think that the outer portions | of a Ureter N<-*w Plymouth could reasonably exped to secure the variolic ■ •!iv ~ i ii<, n < <•-> pn>\ M'-«l 1»y the borough loan- without eoutiibuling to the original co-t. It the Cuunties Acl gave them sufficiently extended powers they should form a county, for by this means they would deal lairly by the "upper end." Once float the county, and then the lower end could join the borough if it lifced 3 leaving the rest as a compact and self-contained county. Mr. \\ r . Ksiwlinson seconded the motion, complaining that the top end ! people had for years been rated to make road r near town. Now. having .saddled the "top end"' with liability for loan--, and not given them roads, the bottom end wanted to sneak into the borough to -,»ve their )>oekcts. He advised the ratepayers before deriding to join the borough. walk up some of New Plymouth'* -id'-streetn and see if they could hope to any U-tter treatment than now. If the ixuoujrh eould Jiot keep it- <«wn li-.u>e ciean, how could they look after one three or lour times u~ iarge? lie pointed out that the borough merging proposal would cut oui ♦ uo-third- of the valuation ; md only about a-tifth of ih<- road-. It was too j JMlOf lli.il. I Mr. J. 1-). Sole poi?u«-.| mil that in the | ,-wriT of the county being formed it wa,. ! unlikely that the ratepuyi i- who-e pro j ]n>rtie- abutted <»n tin* town would -Ua <»ut ot the In-rough vi-ry long. What {would lie the portion of lln* coiuti' I tl- i. -

Iu an-wvr t«« Nfr. tho rhair- J iii.mi >uid ili«* rnersinjr (Oiild k» done ir,.'\|H'»-iv»-lv l»y p«-iitinii. Inn. for tin- | L-nuniy a i»ill would have to !m- tjot I Parliament. ' 1 .Mr. W. An.bury a-krd ali.it pm-n.vt j tloiv »f fMtinc.' a C«»nnty Dill I I ii»" and as lut would be I tin* aTtitmlr »if tli*' Taranaki County ( 'itui'ii*' <■)"<* llii".' prepared lo I"- 'I a y«\>r with'Mtl prote-t. and would i in l <;*,\.-niun-nt f.ivor .-ii 'li n| -mail <omny? .Mr. Okey, M.P.. -aid that unless tin ratepayer- rhomrvhe- \w to unanimoiiil uoiild br difi'n-ult t<» jivi the Hill j through. Ihci'i' nuir-t be no dissension, [for there would be plenty uf ouiside j opposition. 1/ they couldn't agree. lei ' them decide on the byruugh sclieme, It

was dour to him that Ihey were not unanimous for a county, Despite the ijuvcninu'iU's iliMiii'lhiatiuM l<> create small counties, he sullkient had been adduced to %huw the justice t»l" liie claim, iiad the ratepayers lhenr:i'lve"- been unanimous. lie Oould ijuite sec New Plymouth's desire for extension, because without it they could never he amoiiy the loading buruii»h*. It vva H one of Iho oldest, ami (lie »mal! jiojiulation and area made it luuk and kepi people utit. Till' t.'rcatcr .New Plymouth scheme «-»il<rac.-il nut only parts uf the Eliot, I'i itiiklcy, iiiiil Carrington road di--r;;t.. "ill Ilk' htzroy town district iUU | lions ol the Mangorei ami Barrett road ■listricU, out to Alotm'oa. He consid'led Hip chairman's rosy figures about lie borough scheme were not warranted. He was quoting a low lale (Is ltl) which hail not been tested. .Mr. okcy contended that the rati' hail lx'en re diu-cil from Is 'Jd to Is Id only because the Council had uceii paying wages, etc., r '"t "f loan moneys and ea»ed°up the genera"! account. lie couldn't see how the Iwough could earrv on with the new rat<-. -Mr. Carter; It's the same as it has heeu all along. -Mr. Okcy contended that lud was n o j a suliieieiit rat,, to meet the borough's interest charge-. ;tml he quoted tigures. lie thought, too, thai tin- merging -cheme was unfair saddling the severed lands "with heavy road-maintenance •harges l-'or instance, it was proposed •) merge t4S,iHW worth of propcriv nto (Ireater New Plymouth from the ■ rankley road district out of a total •aluc of C7.),o<m, taking 1/. mile* ol road and leaving 7'/.. miles 10 be kept up on a revenue ot ,C!) 3 a year. That was going to lie the position of the people cut oil by the borough scheme, and those were the people who had for years past paid rates to ina,kc the roads in the Jront. He argued that the ratepayers would save nothing by joinin" -New Plymouth, iiuilanoing that the rates in the borough amounted to •tftMH), and the county, road board ami hospital and charitable aid rates upon the same valuation would be £0737. lie concluded by reiterating that reduction of rates was impossible under the Greater Xew Mvmouth -eiieme

Mr. Allium Tavored the 0011111 y wlieme on tlw ground that if tlie borou.'li absorbed t lie property the romaining portioiifi of the road districts would lie left to bear the whole of the districts' special rates, the borough declining to Ukc tlicm over, lie instanced the wiot road proposed loan for footpaths. He considered the outlying portions of the borough would not have their streets kept in decent repair, cither, j Mr. Lafihbrook wanted to knoiv the limit of the borough rating, and was informed it was 2s on the annual value, ■Mr. Colli-! volunteering (he information that the earnings of the various departments would tend to lower rather than increase I lie rates. ill answer to Air. Avium, the elmir'"'t'l sa '<l tliat rating on iinini[trnved bailie., eould lie nitiodm-ed only iiimii ;l "> vote of the ratepayers, and'thai il «s just as likely to evntuatc in the oumy as in the borough. Air. Maunder eonlenilnl that the eoni-

parisou must I*. made Ix-tween tie.-1.1-eater New l'lyniomli anil the road I board system, not between Crealer .\ew Plymouth ami a county which dW not exist. -Mr. Shepperd corrected Mr. Dl.ev and asr-erted that ill the last eight or nine years the -'to]) end' settlers had had more than their share of the road board expenditure as lar as Carrington road was concerned. All'. Okev evidently forgot that the top-end settlers used perhajvi ten times as much road as Ihe others. lie considered a three-farthing rate insiillicient for the projected count v.

In answer to Air. K. Allen, the chairman *iid tlie by-laws would probablv be stretched to enable suburban resident* to keep their pigs as usual. Lashhrook said the borough bylaws would prevent his selling pork., and was assured that if he had done such a thing evince the institution of the abattoirs he eould get into hot water al>out it. An amendment by a ratepayer in favor of the merging scheme was seconded by .Mr. J. Hooker. After further discussion on minor points the amendment was put and lost by :r> to 10. and the motion carried. Mr. \Y. Ambury mover! and Mr. M. ■'ones seconded. That the delegates appointed at the annum meetings of the ratepayers concerned be a committee to promote the Kill and a petition in favor of it. This was carried. Mr. Marfcll pointed out that in his opinion, even after passing tlie County 1 til I. portion* of it would mer«c into the borough. That wib inevitable. «ooiier or later. A vote of thanks to the chairman terminated the proceedings.