GREATER NEW PLYMOUTH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 232, 29 March 1912, Page 7

GREATER NEW PLYMOUTH.

THE ST. AUBYN TOLL. INTERVIEW WITH THE MAYOR. The defeat of the Greater New Plymouth proposals by the residents of the St. Aubyn town district is one of the principal topics of conversation locally just now. On Wednesday a "News" reporter interviewed the Mayor (Mr. G. W. Browne) on the sul-i-ct. Mr. Bro-wne recalled the unfortuiuuo delay of six weeks or so which had been caused in connection with the St. Aubyn petition, by the death first of Mr. H. Pollen, Un-der-Secretary of Internal Affairs, and shortly afterwards of Mr. Armstrong, one of the two commissioners set up to investigate the proposed merging. He added that had the poll been taken at that time the result would have been a different verdict on the part of the electors. Touching on another point, the Mayor remarked that the rejection of the proposals had also been brought about by a new factor which was recently introduced, in the shape of the carrying of a loan proposal of £SOOO by the ratepayers of St. Aubyn, and the consequent desire of the Town Board to have the spending of the loan in its own hands.

QUESTIONABLE TACTICS. Continuing, Mr. Browne went on to condemn in round terms the nature of the tactics employed by the opponents of the Greater New Plymouth movement, and their total disregard for the true facts of the case. "These people," said the Mayor, "have been going about the district telling the St. Aubyn people that if the poll were carried they would be continually harassed by the borough inspector coming round their backyards, ordering them to destroy their fowls and denying them the privilege of keeping a pig or two, simply because they were in the borough area. 11l denying this, the Mayor said that the borough would certainly not do anything of the sort.

BLIND TO THEIR OWN INTERESTS. The St. Aubyn people, continued the speaker, had been blind to their own interests. This was easily seen by reference to their position in case of fire. Had they decided to come within the Fire Board area they would have had the advantages of the borough water supply and efficient fire-fighting apparatus., In fact, Mr. 'Browne could not see a single argument that could be brought against the proposed amalgamation. The rating of the town district was, as had | been proved by the cases cited recently in the "Mews," nearly 100 per cent, higher that it would be under the Borough Council's regime at the present time. Again, the St. Aubyn people were apparently content to still further penalise themselves by continuing to pay 'bus fares of 3d, 4d .and Gd, when with the advent of a tramway service, consn- | quent upon amalgamation, they would j have to pay only Id, 2d and 3d.

THE RESIDENTIAL VOTE. "Looking through the roll and seeing the votes recorded the conclusion one draws," remarked the Mayor, "is that the result of Tuesday's poll is due to the re|}dential vote. At the town booth, where o4 voted for the proposal aiid only 8 against it, nearly all the voters were ratepayers. At the St. Aubyn booth, however, where the opposition lay, nearly all those who voted were entitled to their franchise on their residential qualifications, so that the real owner of St. Aubyn has thus lost liis 'say' in the advancement of his district.' . . . Besides, we were rather unfortunate in that had a number of -St. Aubyn electors who were out of town on the day of the poll, been present, the result would have been the other way about." THE UNSIGNED CIRCULAR. •

Mr. Browne then handed our reporter one of the circulars (u.i&igacd. and' without :m imprint) which, he says; were distributed by the opponents of • the scheme in order to influence the vote. The pamphlet reads as follows: "Ratepayers of St. Aubyn.—On 'Tuesday a poll will be taken'to see if the borough is to .control your affairs or the present Board; ;If you are satisfied with the Board's management vote against joining the borough, especially in view of the fact, that the loan is floated. 'lt will be to your interest to get the loaii expended by the Board—where the Board has decided to spend it. Tli'e footpaths are first to be seen to by channelling and kerbing; if we j6in the borough we have 110 guarantee tliat the work willbe undertaken for months—or : perhaps a year or so. Then the night-soil, which will cost each one of us 2(is per annum; and the tramway rate another'ld in the £; and the incn-se in capital value through fresh valuation—it is impossible that we can save anything in rates by joining the -borough. '

"We are told the trams cannot be inaugurated unless: v. ? join the borough. The St. Aubyn Town .Board, some months ago, gave the borough'permission to use the streets for trams free of charge for several years; if the trams.were not paring then to give the borough further extension. The Tramways Act also provides that local bodies can go outeide their boundaries and use roads subject lo local authorities' permission. The St. Aubyn Town Board can let contracts for their work for the improvement of streets, and get the work done at a cheaper rate than if they had the so-call-ed competent staff from the borough. The borough have a crushing plant going to ruin at Fitzrov, because it costs more to crush their own metal than it does to buy from coi;lractors."

In challenging the inegations contained in the above pamphlet, the Mayor' referred in particular !o the contention that "it would cost each one of us 20s per annum" by way of a sanitary fee. Actually, he said, the position was this: The Council had given an undertaking to the outside districts not to make a charge until the health authorities insisted on a service. When that time arrived, the residents of St. Aubyn would have to pay, whether they were under the control of a borough or town board. Fitzroy had been amalgamated with the borough for some months, but the Council had not yet made the residents pay. Further, the allegation about the Fitzroy crushing plant was palpably wrong. An important consideration for those who had voted against the proposal was, in the opinion of the Mayor, the fact that they might thus seriously delay the tramway scheme, some £35,000 of the cost of which would have gone in payment of wages, and thus have helped to tide many men over the next two winters. THE TRAMWAY SCHEME. "Does this mean a complete stoppage of the tramway scheme'/" enquired the reporter. "Not necessarily so." replied the Mayor. Knlarging on this point, he said that (here was nothing to prevent the Council obtaining proper estimates and information ;is to tlie earning power of the trams, with a view to laying down a system from Waiwakaiho to'the railway station, and extending it up Devon street to Morle.v street, with a line to the IV ereation (Iround gates, This route, whieh would form part of the general scheme, could, explained the Mayor, be proceeded with without waiting for St. Aubyn. Concluding. he remarked: "f am -lire that in the very, very near future the people interested in Tuesday's poll will have realise!] th".f lliey have made a very serious mistake in isolating our port and Hot helping to uplift our town."