FITZROY AMALGAMATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 321, 7 June 1911, Page 3

FITZROY AMALGAMATION.

A COMMISSION OF ENQUIRY. ON THE BOUNDARIES QUESTION. A commission opened at the Crown Lands office yesterday morning befora Mr. W. Armstrong, Commissioner of Crown Lands, and Mr. D. Craig, District Valuer at Wanganui, in connection with the proposed amalgamation of the Fitzroy town district with the New Plymouth borough. The commission was appointed to enquire into and report upon the suitability for municipal control of the area referred to in the petition presented to the Governor and to make such alterations in the boundaries thereof as they deemed necessary and advisable.

Mr. Armstrong, in opening the commission, said that lie had circularised the leading men for and against the proposed merging, so that they could place their views before the commission. He and his colleague were quite agreed as to the advisability of the inclusion of Fitzroy in the borough. Tht main question that they had to adjudicate upon was that of the area to be merged, and he invited the views of the representatives on this point. A free discussion on the whole subject of the merging took place. The Mayor of New Plymouth (Mr. G. Tisch), the Town Clerk (Mr. F. T. Bellringer), the chairman of the Fitzroy Town Board (Mr. J. Kibby), and Mr, E. Griffiths, also a member of the Fitzroy Town Board, gave evidence of the proposed amalgamation m the borough. The whole history of the amalgamation scheme was laid before the Commissioners, and it was contended that the scheme would be beneficial to both the borough and to the town district. New Plymouth was almost unanimously in favor, and the Borough Council had passed a resolution in favor of it. These three gentlemen referred to the proposed tramway scheme, and in connection with this the amalgamation was very desirable before any definite steps were taken, for it would be necessary to elect a tramway board. Reference was made to the New Plymouth borough's electric light undertaking, and also to its water supply, and it was emphasised that the Fitzroy district was using and benefiting from those-uhdertakings. The i cost of administration would be considerably reduced if the two districts were merged. It was a,lso stated that the last town board election was fought on the merging question, a "ticket" in favor of merging, being at the head-of the poll. It was urged that the amalgamation would prove advantageous to Fitzroy in the matter.of rates, and the district would be better cared for as part of a greater New Plymouth.

Mr. Armstrong reiterated his statement that the commissioners were quite agreed as to the advisability of a part of the Fitzroy town district being included in he borough. The question to be decided was the advisability of includ ing the whole of the district in the borough. The merging advocates said there could be no objection to the proposed boundaries. The objections to the scheme on other grounds.

Messrs. W. Cutficld and C. F. Foote (clerk to the Fitzroy Mown Board), appeared in support of the objections to ihe amalgamation, and Mr. Cutfield read the following statement, which had been passed .at a-,meeting'of ratepayers at Fitzroy:- •'

"This meeting of ratepayers of the Fitzroy Town District respectfully submit the following objections for the consideration of the Hon. Minister for Internal Affairs, and requests the committee to sign and forward .the same to the Minister. We have selected the Fitzroy Town District as a place to reside in because it was in the suburbs of Now Plymouth, ami was not liabli for borough rates,, and. not subject to the restrictions of the borough by-laws. That the borough is loaded with heary loans and special rates, while no loans have been raised on the Fitzroy Town District, the only 'debt being one of £Bl4, the proportion of the Taranaki County Council bridge loan apportioned to the district on its separation from the county. Notwithstanding the large indebtedness of the New Plymouth Borough for loans for street iraprovemtnts, some of the borough streets are in parts wholly unformed, and many of the streets are in a very neglected condi tion in parts. On the other hand nearly all the streets and roads in our Town District are formed and metalled, and this has been accomplished out of the ordinary revenue after providing for adjustment of accounts with the Taranaki County Council and* contributions to the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, and the Fire Brigade and the purchase of railway land. We are satisfied with, the way in which the affairs of the district have been administered, but frequent complaints appear in the New Plymouth papers of the affairs of the borough. The maximum rate of iy 2 d in the £on the capital value now levied by the Board yielded last year a revenue of £775, while the rate of Is Id in the £ on the annual value now levied by the borough would produce only £419, a - sum wholly insufficient to meet our annual expenditure. If the borough spent more than this sum in our district they would do so at the expense of other parts of the borough. The only advantage which we can see to be derived by joining the borough might be uniting in the joint ■undertaking of a tramway scheme. We do not oppose the construction of tramways, but we would rather retain an independent existence and pay an annual sum towards any loss entailed on the borough by the establishment of trams by the borough."

In answer to Mr. Griffiths. Mr. Foote said that these objections were framed at a meeting called of objectors to the* amalgamation, and eighty people were present. It transpired that the commission had not been furnished by the Department with the petition lodged in objection to the proposal. The question of the borough loans was discussed, Messrs. Foote and Cutfield protesting that there, was a possibility of the Fitzroy Town District being made to shoulder a portion of this liability at any time, and Mr. Footo opposed the statement expressed by Mr. F. T. Bellringer, who quoted a legal opinion that no alteration in the security could be made until the term of the loans expired in 1922, and then the present pea rated for the loans could only be altered by the express will of the ratepayers at a poll. The Commissioner said that a, poll taken recently in the town board election seemed to show that the people of Fitzroy were not averse to.' the amalgamation. Mr. Cutfield, however, was 'doubtful whether that election was fought entirely on the merging question. Mr. Griffiths pointed out that a "ticket" of three was "run" in favor of the merging, and that "ticket" was returned, one of : ' ii. jii'n rs securing 181! votes, whilst Lli.-. highest total secured by any of the ' ■<•]!] .osition" was 122. A discussion took place regarding, the question of vaLing, Mr. Bellringer pointing out that a saving in this direction would be effected by Fitzroy p<iople 1 (whom ho quoted) by the amalgamation. , In, connection with this, it was pointed i out that the borough, having already (the necessary labor-saving plant, could

secure efficient administration at less expense to Fitzroy than was now the case. 1 Mr. Foote said that the rating need i not be considered, for the town board | could lower its rates whenever it chose. He stated, too, that Fitzroy had ' made five times as rapid strides in tli« ' matter of population as New Plymouth. Mr. Bellringer pointed out that the discussion was becoming somewhat wide of the scope of the commissioner's, work, which was in connection with the boundaries of the area proposed to be merged. He pointed out that the town district of Fitzroy and New Plymouth borough were combined for the purpose of representation on the Hospital Board; and witli St. Aubyn Town District for representation on the Harbor Board. Fitzroy had recently been joined, too, by the Government in the New Plymouth abattoir district, and no meat could be sold in that area unless killed at the abattoir. It would be seen that the authorities, recognising the interests were similar, combined the two districts on every possible opportunity. The commission adjourned, and Messrs Armstrong and Craig were to have visited the locality during the afternoon, and to resume this morning if desired by the Fitzroy people to enable Mr. Old, chairman of the ratepayers' meeting, to at- i tend. DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER Yesterday a deputation consisting of Messrs. E. Griffiths, F. Jackson, and J. H. Kibby, members of the Fitzroy Town Board, waited on the Hon. Mr. Buddo, and asked him to expedite matters in connection with the amalgamation proposals, which were then in the hands of the commission. The lion, gentleman discussed the position generally, and •promised to do his best to accede to the wishes of the deputation.