THE BOROUGH ELECTIONS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9073, 25 April 1908, Page 5

THE BOROUGH ELECTIONS

MR J. HUNTER AT THE TOWN HALL.

About a hundred persons attended at the Town Hall last evening, when Mr J. Hunter, who is a candidate for the vacant seat on the Borough Council, gave an address in support of his candidature. Mr C. E. Daniell occupied the chair, and in introducing the speaker said he had personally found Mr Hunter to be a man of business, and with a self-reliant nature, and was eminently fitted to occupy a position, on the Borough Council. Mr Hunter said he had thought it; desirable as a candidate who was a comparative stranger to Masterton in. public affairs that he should appealbefore thera and explain his views, on some of the important issues to be dealt with by the council duringthe coming year, chiefly with thereport of Mr G. Laing-Meason on the water supply question. He dealt first witn the present condition of the service and the criticisms of the engineers on it. Ho said he was surprised at the great diversity of opinion on important points between Messrs Dobson and Laing - Meason„. While the former had said thai the reticulation pipes of the town should be enlarged the latt(jr had said thepipes were capable of discharging three times the quantity at present put through them. Then again one suggested the duplication of the mains to increase the pressure, while the other said he could give an increased supply through the present pipes. These and other discrepancies were touched upon by the speaker, who said that the substance of Mr Laing-Meason's report was really the duplication of the mains. The weak point of the report appeared to the speaker to be the question of storage capacity, which was at present 240,000 gallons, sufficient to last the town 8 hours under normal conditions. Regarding the taking of the water direct from the river, Mr Hunter said he understood both Mr Leslie Reynolds and Mr Dobson were opposed to going direct to the river on account of the shifting nature of its course, and it seemed to him that for a reliable source of supply and an improved service generally it would be prefeiable to go higher up the river and increase the size of the pipes in' town. He said he would require a good deal mora information before he could accept Mr Laing Meason's prophecy that if the head were increased 300 ft the pipes in the town could not stand the pressure, as in practice the pressure estimated by theory was seldom obtained, and he had good reason to believe that the reticulation pipes of Masterton were tested up to a pressure of 2001bs The speaker then discussed Mr Laing-Meason's remarks on the drainage question, and said hi endorsed the engineer's advice not to pump the sewage from the iridrained parts of the town to the present outfall, but to remove to ihe proposed new site at the confluence of the Waingawa and hanga rivers. He said Mr LaingMeason's report' corrjborated iui' Dobson's in totn, an'' the latt- 1 -' gentleman should feel very proud wnen he read Mr I/aing-Meason's report to see that his scheme had received the approval of another engineer. He contender! that r; wtiV be advisable to abandon the I resent outfall when drainage extension was taken in hand un the ground that it would cost between £3,000 and £4,000 to put the present works in order, and further the annual cost of pumping the sewage would more than, counter-balance the extra cost of going to the proposed new site. In dealing with the financial issues connected with general Borough affairs, Mr Hunter criticised the Mayor's explanations at some length. He" contended that it' was a bad principle to mix loan moneys with that of the general account. In spite of the Mayor's supposedly lucid explanation of the balance sheet it would still take a Philadelphia lawyer to understand it. (Laughter.) One thing which the treasurer could not deny, and it was a highly important one, was that the general account had an overdraft on the year's working on 31st March last of £1,843. This the speaker could himself by a little "shuffling" inako into £234, the same as the Mayor, but the fact remained that the executive officer of the council had to admit to him yesterday that the amount overdrawn was £1,843. He deprecated the council drawing cheques on the general account, to pay for loan work when interest had to be paid on this money, while at the same time the loan account itself was in credit. He was in accord with the proposal to erect new municipal buildings, but his imagination did not carry nim to the lengths of £IO,OOO, but, at the outside, £6,000. He preferred using the profits of the Gasworks for some yenrs to come, at least, in improving the plant itself. Mr- Hunter then referred to his opponent's platform as advertised. He said a "prudent and economical" policy was undoubtedly what any aspirant would support, but Mr McEwen was a.member of the last Counicl, which did not follow the policy outlined so briefly by him. He deprecated the present quibbling methods of the Council, where Councillors took up opposite sides on occasions out of sheer contentiousness whether the matter at issue met with their approval or not. His voice would always be raised in an independent tone if he were elected, and that in the best interests of the Borough at large. The speaker resumed his seat amidst applause. In answer to questions, Mr Hunter said he was not in favour of the inhabitants outside the Borough participating in the benefits of loan expenditure without bearing part of the burden, and that he believe! in Lansdowne being linked with the Borough. vote of thanks was accorded Mr Hunter fur his address, the carrying of the vote being followed by hearty applause.