BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 273, 28 April 1915, Page 8

BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

ADDRESS BY MR. G. W. -BROWNE. WORK FOR THE FUTURE. Municipal matters in New 'Plymouth formed the subject of an address given by Mr. G. W. Browne, a candidate for the Mayoralty,' in the Good Templar Hall last night. There was a moderate attendance. Mr.«ti. H. Maunder was voted to the chair. Mr. Browne spoke for over two hours, and traced in detail the principal features of the administration of New Plymouth during recent years. He said he had called the meeting to rebut statements which had been made that in the past the borough had been maladministered. /■ TRAMWAYS. One of the most interesting public questions was the installation of the tramway system, for they were all aware that £55,000 had been borrowed for this work, and he wished to set out the present position. The outstanding feature of the tramway scheme, he said, was the excess in expenditure of the original schedule, and lie quoted details to show that £5738 17s lid would have to be spent in excess of the loan money procured for the work. The law allowed 10 per cent, to be raised without a vote, and this would produce £55,000, but the Mayor had said that there was ample money to carry out the work. To meet the further expenditure the council had decided to charge the sub-station equipment to the Electric Light Department, thus freeing a sum equal to £3004. "Well," said Mr. Browne, *' if money is transferred from other schedules to pay for the tramways there will, of course, be plenty of money for the tramways, but there will not be plenty of money for the other schedules." Mr. Browne said that this led him to the conclusion that before long the ratepayers would be asked for another loan for the works which had been deprived of money to pay for the tramways. ■FINANCES (IF THE BOROUGH. Coming to (he question of linance, Mr. Browne «ii:il t'iac More had been a lot of talk about drift in the borough finances, but it should be remembered that every year the requirements of. the. town were growing. In fact, they VH-e growing at a rate with which the present income could not compete. lie quoted a list of subsidies paid by the council showing a growth from time to time during the period he was Mayor, and said that he had always advocated that the subsidies paid by the council should be raised by a subsidy rate. In 1011-12 subsidies 'paid by the council amounted to £044, in 1012-13 they were £1307, and in 1013-14 they were £1943. Then there were other causes of increased expenditure, and the most important was that of street lighting. Mr. Browne said that it had been insinuated that the drift in the borough finances bad set in from the time he took office as Mayor, but he wished to explain the position -which "existed when he succeeded the late Mr. Tiscli. Mr. Tisch, in placing the Creator New Plymouth scheme before the ratepayers, had made certain pledges, which the speaker was bound to carry out when he became Mayor. The extension of the water system and the lighting system over Greater New Plymouth wore also responsible for a great : increase in expenditure. No matter I who wa-s Mayor, it was a characteristic ! of every deputation hove that when they ■ enuie to. the Coqiicil for anything they emphasised that if they did not get what | they wanted the town would go to the I '"' dogs." It was not every deputation thnt got what they asked for, but if ! they did not get all they wanted they usually got two-thirds of their demands. I Times eame when all local bodies—not , only New Plymouth—were called on to 1 expend largo sums of money for the benefit of the town, though the expenditure might not be very reproductive. An instance of this was the water con-

flection between the town and the oilfields at Moturoa, and he defended this work on the ground that the borough could not withhold assistance from " a groat national industry." MORE MONEY WASTED. Referring to the work done during \m term of office, Mr. Browne said that he was responsible for introducing a road grader, which did the work formerly done by twenty-two men. He bad also introduced a rotary watercart, which did more work than the cart previously in use, -with less wear and tear on the roads. Mr. Browne went on to say that he had followed borough affairs ever since lie had been in New Plymouth, and they had always been trying to get a quart of water into a pint bottle. There was never enough money available for the work which had to be done. The want of money had always kept the town back. A higher tax and more loans would be necessary to keep the town going, but then there was nothing to justify the rates. There was no factory population here, and this fact prevented the town from growing, but he hoped the trams would have the effect of pushing the town on. Referring to the rate, Mr. Browne said that not more than 8d of the Is 6-1 received in rates was employed for the upkeep of the town. The. Is Gd rate produced at present £3OOO, and out of this the administration of the borough had to be carried out, lighting, streets, and other works paid for, and this was the only fund that the council had for the maintenance and upkeep of the town. He asked the Mayor (who was present) if that was not so.

Thc Mayor: Yes, that is so. But it has to be remembered that a profit is bc : ng earned from the waterworks.

Mr. Browne went on to quote figures in regard to the rate. Proceeding, he said there was not enough money for the borough to proceed at present, and it was no good saying that the roads had to be kept better if there was no money to do it v,' ' . Mr. Browne said lie thought those r .narks answered the statement that there had been a drift in the finances of the borough. The drift was more imaginary than real. Speaking of balances, Mr. Browne said he was pleased to see the council bringing out a balance, but he said the last balance of £2OOO was composed largely of votes which bad not been expended, nnd if balances were made in this way tl'cy were not real.

THE NEW TOWN HALL. Mr. Browne went on to say that he opposed the action of the council in pi-rchasing property in Carrington Road for municipal offices. The site was the last one that should have been selected,, and he thought a grave mistake had been made in purchasing that site, which, although an excellent one was not suitable for municipal offices.' The site would absorb £IOOO to £ISOO before it was suitable to receive buildings, and this money could have been more beneficially spent in other borough work. (Applause.) He did not think the site would ever bo used for the purpose it had been bought for, but it wquld make a very nice site for the electrical en-, gincer's residence. Mr. Browne said h'j was in favor of concentrating the municipal staff. There would be room fo:.- the municipal staff in the new substation now being erected in Liardet Street. The building at present occupied by the town clerk and staff was not fit to put " a Maori rat "■ in. but the sub-station would provide suitable '.dices, and with a little extension would accommodate all the stall'. And then when the tramline was extended to th* Kcroation C rounds the.offices would be on the route. Regarding the museum, Mr. Browne said that the site of the existing Central Fire Station would lie availab'e soon, and this lie thought an oxdlent site to be devoted for a museum.

THE JCXCINKEIi'S POSITION. Referring to the loan of £42,000 Mr Browne said he had taken the precaution to have £IO,OOO placed on deposit, so that it would tonic in when the bulk of the loan had been spent, and he thought that now this must be considered a very wise provision. With regard to the spending of the £42,000, he thought the engineer had bad a baji

time, and lie considered that the council had overloaded the engineer. There was one instance where thirty chains of read work was commenced last .January, but was net finished yet, for men were not kept permanently at the job. They did a little to-day,, a'.id the:i went away and came back, and did a little more. The men were ' ; humbugged," and it was unfair to the engineer. Mr. Tirowne sympathised with the engineer, for he had been overloaded. As soon as a loan was procured, the council c;avc the engineer a hundred jobs to do, and when they were all finished thi. council found that it did not have sufficient money to pay for the work. Tt was impossible to get good roads out of the present revenue, and if New Plymouth was to .have good roads a loan was absolutely necessary. !''or the betterment of the roads, Mr. Browne was in favor of the loan, for the things which brought a town into prominence were good roads and good lighting, lie believed the peope would vote for the reformation of the roads over the tramway route, but they should have the ojtioii of voting separately on the otr.-r pic posed road works.

RECORD OF THE PAST. .Mr. Browne said lie took exception to the statment published in the Press by his opponent that " the responsibility of returning the candidate more capable of remedying the blunders of the past lies with yourselves," and he would like to refer to some of the "blunders" that he made. One of the most important works carried out during his term of office was the completion of the fireat Xew Plymouth scheme. One of his ideas in introduing a Greater Nov Plymouth was to obtain a valuation which would make it possible for Xew Plymouth to have trams. Another matter was the acquirement'of one of the borough's own streets—lie alluded to Leach Road. Some forty years ago the Government had taken the street and put the railway on it, and got. revenue out of it, and when they had finished with it they said the Borough Council could have it back when they bought it. The deviation of Carrirtgton Road was another work which he had carried through, and Kawaroa 'Park was another benefit which he had procured for the town. In conclusion, Mr. Browne said lie was willing to serve the ratepayers, and if they accepted him he would do his best for them. A vote of thaiiKs to Mr. Browne, moved by 'Mr. F. Goodacre and seconded by M:. J. Clarke, was carried. THE MAYOR'S REPLY.

Mr. J. W. Wilson (Mayor) writes as follows:

Sir, —1 took the opportunity of hearing Mr. Browne's address last evening, and would like to make a few comments. 'Mr. Browne gave some comparisons between the cost of the tramways as estimated when the loan was projected and the actual tenders accepted. He refrained from explaining that the cost of material, etc., had been increased very materially in the interval, and that the Consulting Kngineer recommended the acceptance of the tenders. He criticised the dispositions made with regard to the electric, light loan. Surely he had not consulted that strong supporter of his, Mr. J. Kibby, who was chairman of the Electric Light Committee last year and. who fully concurred in the changes. It was Mr. Kibby who was so strongly in favor of putting up a building costing over £GOOO which was estimated to cost £4OOO. In speaking on the drift in the finances, Mr. Browne set out at length the increases in expenditure, but he refrained from giving his hearers the details of the increases in revenue. No one blames him for the fact that the general account is in debit, but only did he not badly face the position and let the people know how the borough stood? He admits that the accumulated' surpluses of special accounts must bo refunded, but does not show how he intended to effect this. It was a surprise to hear Mr. Browne refer to a credit balance of over £2OOO at the end of March, 19)5, Surely he has seen the financial statements and knows that the debit balance of tho general account is very little less than before. He refers lo some items of the tramways contract. I can only say that the tender we accepted was by far the lowest received, and recommended by the Consulting Engineer. Mr. Kibby passed it, so what is wrong? Mr. Browne was not clear fis to the railway land purchase. He was severely critical, but referred to the land as a hole at the corner of Vivian Street. Does Mr. Browne wish people to believe that the Council bought anything but the commanding sito of over 21 acres next tlie new sub-station building? It appeared that he was referring to some low-lying land utterly unfit for the purpose intended. He knows better, and ought, in fairness to the Council, to have made himself quite clear. In conclusion, I freely admit that Mr. Browne has been a useful man as a councillor. Of his qualifications for the responsible position of mayor the burgesses must be the judges.