THE MAYORALTY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3671, 25 November 1890, Page 2

THE MAYORALTY.

'. . Kootineof,"Ratepayers.::.'la response tain invitation' ..from Mr 0. A. Pownall; a'.candidate-for the mayoralty, about two hundred persons' (halt of whom were ratepayers) assembled in the theatre Royal last .evening to hear.the. views of' that gentleman on municipal matters. The chair was occupied by His' Worship the Mayor (Mr G. Heron.): : --'.; Mr Pownall, ihhis opening remarks, soid this was his maiden address to the ratepayers.' He had been twice invited by Mr Capper, a member of the Council, to contest the election, and had also been requested .'■ by Mr fienall to come forward. It wag at the request of these gentlemen be decided to seek the suffrages of the ratepayers. One of tho! most important questions affecting the burgesses was that of rates, The rates at the present time were not largo compared with those of other towns. The.gas rate:had-, been" imposed in 1886. He thoroughly endorsed the action of the Council in introducing gas, and the special rate of o"d in the £ was not heavy. Tho gas had paid itself very well this yetr according .to tie report of the Town Clerk, In

a very Bhort time tho ratepayers Would be relieved altogether of the gas rate. He believed at the present time the tank at the ,gasworks was in a slate of collapsed Ho thought it would be necessary within the next fewmontlißto purchase a new tank. Thiß would necessitate an expenditure of about £IOOO, but it would not necessarily increase their rates. Out of the gas loau-there was a surplus in the bankV about £SOO, and debentures unsold to the value of £530. As to the library rate, ho ■ had given the question consideration,, and found there was a good income which would eventually pay off the loan and do away with the rato, He believed that they would eventually have their , fates reduced to the general rate of one shilling, and the Borough would be.the least rated in the Colony, (Hear, hear). Ho understood therewas an overdraft of £BSO. He did not think it practicable to reduce this amount during the next twelve months, as a number of important works required undertaking, It was no use having an overdraft on paper, there was work which would have to be attended to, It had been stated that he was in favor of a loan, but he did not know what this was for, He would not advocate such a thing unless it was absolutely necessary,'He saw no necessity at the present time for a special loan, He believed tho roads were now in a very fair stato of repair, and he did not think they would have to go in muoh for construction. However, there was one road, through tho Bishop's reserve, which lie thought should bo formed, There was only a settlement of-agree-ment required between the parties interested, Ho thought the road was necessary, although he did not think there was much ohanco of a settlement being arrived at* If elected us Mayor he would endoavour-to abolish all distinctions between the Upper Plain and the contre of tho Borough, (hear, hear), It was not right that the settlors of the Upper Plain should be prevented from having access to the railway Btation. Regarding drainage, be did not think it was necessary to go in for it at the present time on an extensive scale, At the same time the town, oreek, running through the street ne>r the Star office, .would require to be attended to, as it would in all probability breed malaria. There was no reason why they should run the risk of breeding fevers. If returned as Mayor be would take some decisive step to get rid of the nuisance, Thore vras also a good deal of surplus water and waste collected about the buildings in thi) centre of the town, and there was no official drain. He thought they oiight also do something in this directioa. With reference to the water supply, his opponents bad represented him as bad, aa possible in the matter, ft had been said thai he was going into the Counoil as a follower of Mr Renall, But from what they had seen of him they would agree that he would i\ot bo the tool of any party or any porson, be a tool, ho wftuld rather, be such to Mr than any othor person in the town, There was no doubt the water supply was a groat assistance to fire brigades, At present the brigades were useless tools, Jf afirowas laised the oujy water thoy could procure was from the town creek, po money laid out had beon praoWly wasted until a supply of pier was provided. There was also tho fact that the insurance rates were supmiaturally high, Tho insoranoe in.Musterton was about five times higher than in Wellington, With regard, to' the question of insurance ho thought the scheme which had been recently advocated for combined municipal insuranoe was an excellont one, To revert to the water supply, the Council had gone to a lot of

expense in purchasing the " Jubilee" fire engine. The fact of introducing this engine had called the attention of the insurance companies to,thefacfc thaUhero was no water, and up we'nt tho insurance rates. At this juncture Mr JRenall had cohiQ forward with a scheme which would b,o a. greai boon to the town. Whether this scheme was successful or not, he hoped 'the namoofJfrEefiall would belnnded down to posterity as one who had attempted to fill a muclnieeded public want. He did net think Mr Eenalj required support in (he Qouncil, fn order to remove the idea that be was going into the Council to follow Mr Benall, ho might say that h« was going to be independent in the matter, and ho would not say until he got to the Council whether be would or would not support tho supply. .At the same timo ho thought Mr Benall had been treated unfairly. If, loweror, a butter schomo was introduced ho would gladly support it. But he could not see where the water waa to come from unless it same from Mr Benall (bear, hear). Mr Dalrymple, one of the candidates ind MiHessey, another, constituted, iq opposition to the.view he was idrocatlng. There were only three ; neans of procuring a water supply. : Dne was that of a deviation of the' (Vaingawa, and another .thit oi j ayin'g it on from Messrs Williams ind Beetham's. The latter,;; be leheved, would necessitate a bigloan, vbiob he did not think the Borough ' yould approve of at the presenttune, Che only/reasonable supply Jut h,o ' :ould see was that of Mr He ' ben reviewed at same length the ' iction p| the Council in the ! tyrajuotion. of the water supply. The ' roter supply committee, which was ! inpointed, did nothing owing to, the instruction in the Council, He lelieyed' jf M,r Hessey was elected ' b,ey-jw«ulcl not get a- supply till ioomsday(oheera), I/he went into the ' jounoil he would idvocaie, #m\h\[

water supply to tlie uttermost Mr H^ Kenalljvas the only itian they could • faalwith in tlie matter. After fifteen • months-the Council had sudden]/ '■■'" discovered that tho-guUera wire a- ' ribisanee and had them filled in. (A ' voioe: Bhamol)VMr Heßsey said there were only two schemes! for water supply, (Mr Hessoy r Excuse me, I said no suoh thing.) Mr Pownall then read' the address of Mr Hessey, Did not, he asked, Mr. Hessey mean '■■ ■ that he would let the Borough bavo ' the water if Queen-street paid for it? (Mr Hessey: That is so.): 'Then why . did Mr liessey opposojlr Konall's scheme J (Hear, bear,) The only - MrMall's schemo whb : a waterworks which would cost £SOOO • to bring the waler into the town. He hoped ,Upper Plain residents would not take it that he waa opposed to them. If he was returned he would treat them with the samojnstice-as: residents in. the centre of the town. Ho had called upon» several r of tho : > msuran:o agentsinJVellington,and ' they explained th We cause ot the ■ increase in the of a water supply, The on a haystack in the couiitry'alsowas':• raised because thero was not a water supply in the town; Tlie the country bad been led a win thewater He could not helpbiit see' Uint Mr Keaall was the roaater'of tbo situation. ; He it would : iiecessttate a special loan, which they > would all decry, tobring a 81Ip pl v of ' water from the W a i n gfl Wa .: ; WaVit ' not, therefore, incuinbent upon them to' cariyout Mr Kenall'a supply at all Walls back the right way instead of the wrong hn had no doubt h 0; would meet the Council (hear, hear). Ithad been said the levels would not permit • the waerbemg taken to the mill lead. ' Ho had, however, the authority of Mr Kwiallforwjnng that they could. (A roice;,Good Qod, gi w . ~s something else—Cheera ttDd uproar). He ■ Wieved they should contribute some- '- thing to the maintenanceof the supply. Hethought, B lso,Me Eenall eliould "allowed to take theater down the street he thought best, as 1 ho was the party most He was looking at the matter in the - interest eftbe wh o i e borough, and howoul e„ eavor to suppress tb» rife which had hitherto, existed, fl e bought Mr Hessey should have had tie manliness to come on to the platform and ,j r h j s vieWß| objection to hi, candidature was that bo.™ young and inexperienood. (A voice: You'll Boon W J ia ruarned, too.i-Laughter.) Nothwiit standing his.youth and inexperience noneoftheother candidates had been gameto meeVhimon the platform. Mr Hessey hero mounted the. platform atmdst,tremendous applause,) Iherewasaaoeiier objection that he had no interest in the place. He thought that the fact ofhis having no rropertyin tho town was a goodreason why they should return him to the Mayoral chair; He had no axes to grind.und he therefore thought this objection had very little weight Therowas again the obF"iou that he had not beforo been a councilor. Ho pleaded guilty to tins, iintho thought this was rather M an advantage. The present Connjil V was running Mr Hessey in opposition '' otim. Why this should, bo bo. ho dia noc kao Wi The present Mayor bad, he believed, admitted that as fat: as qualification and ability w«A bo was the better man, "bub % - , )™ on the other side. (unronr.V Ibis appeared to be the only reason they had to choose \ candidate in opposition to hk He. bore no nmmornj to'Mr Hessey and his party, but hey had raised the opposition, that lm (the-speakw) had 110 right to jump right away into. the. Mayoral • Jhair. Ho. objected to tho' clique koßpmg ; the administration of the Conncilm their o«n hands, If hi» opponent was returned, he was not returned by the electors, bat by a Jan Wmklfl, whom they all. knew, was to sleep for ttrenty y e «rs theTawuas and then return he would And the party of. Councillors Still in the chair. He believed the party of winch Mr_ Hessey was the represenaHvcl was the no-progress party. A» hoy bad chosen such opposition 'to 11m, he was going to show them up in their right colours. If he was not elected ho could nok regret anything mhe did not think ho would loso »„ great deal. He was conducting the I - e eotion as far as possible in an honor- " able mnnor, and'in conclusion he stated that if retnrned he would work in the interests of the Borough (cheers); - Mr Hessey then rose amidst chtm. and stated that thcro wo Beyefil questions he would like to refer to. It was Mr PownalPs profession to talk and hia to plough (laughter.) Mr lownall had misrepresented him over wator supply question. He had never opposoj Mr Bcnall's scheme. ' Ue then dotoiled the origin of tho "Wjy. Hadanyotber resident in Masterlon done what Mr Renall bad done ho would have beon summoned (A voice; And looked up—Mr Eenalh i was summoned,) There was a difference between Mr Eenall being summoned as Mayor and-a-private individual (Mr Senall: Why that's nothing to do with it, you fool-Cries of "platform") Had anybody else done what Mr Eenall bad dene he would hayo been prosecuted.. Mr flonall being in the chair, would not pot a resolution affecting himself Mr Konall knew that (Mr Kenall: I know you arowrong.-lauijutw). Mrßenall bad wanted bm the Council, and he (the speaker) and others had offered flftg to pay the monoy out of their owrtdH pookets. If they had granted the moneyasa Council they would have been liable (cheers). Mr fioaalt tad offered to supply them with water for £2O per annum, and the water was to run into his mill lead (Mr Eenall • I never said that.-The Chairman fM wrote it.) According to Mr JKenall's own showing they would pay for water fortwolvomonths.whenthoycouldonly have it for eight. Mr Eenall had admitted this. His grounds for objection to the water supply was that when they wanted water they could not get it (cheers)., -He was not opposed to Mr Eenall, but he knew ! the water could not be Jinrced up hill Mr Eenall had thaii#3l he knew* nothing about water. (Mr Eenall: - No mow yon do.—Laughter.) If returned be would do hia best for the borough, He was not a talker like Mr Poivnall, but a worker (cheers). Mr Esnull then mounted thestapo amidst cries of "What about the Rabbit Act?'' He announced that >wi>B going, to tell tho truth and notbiogbut'the truth.- This would be different to what Mt Hessey bad said. (Mr Hessey; It always Js.— Laughter.) It was not necessary for absolution of the Council to prosecute him. He was prosecuted (laughter). At this stage Mr Hessey. left building amidst groat Mrßenall then proceeded to say hewas hot in-the' CouueiJ.;when the water supply 'was; introd«§l» f { He pointed. : ; out; ■'■ that -fnta

\S had constructed the water chanm-lii in the interosts of tbo borough. Any honorable nmn would havo supportod him. Ho had boon prosecuted for bringing the water to the post oflice corner, but whilst tbo law prosecuted h nmn for doing wrong it never applauded dim for doing right (hear, hear). Ho bad been asked about two months ago l<y tho Chairman of (ho Water Supply Committee to turn the water on, He had done so, and after receiving notico to bring in the water be found that tho overseer bad received inductions to prevent him from doir-g so. Ho next found that tho bottom of tho culvert had been knocked out, Ho thought it was a larrikin wjio was doing it, but after repairing it he found it was their noblo chairman who was doing it. The Mayor was doing an illegal, net. (The Chairman : I am quito prepared to stand by anything I have doneApplause), They would Imvo to got the tftibiieo engine now to throw stones instead of water (laughter). Tho conduct of (lie Council towards him had bccrJAhnd unmanly. Ho *had water for the benefitodhetown of which lie was tho founder, Mr Pownall, if ejected could do no more than he had don when, Msyor. Tho majority were nguinst them. Ho hud asked Mr Bunny to come forward, and bad also invited Mr Beard. If the burgesses bad (be good spdso !o olect Mr Pownall they would lake a step in the right diiection. (Applause) MrT. Dixon said he would like to explain bis position with the party which had been so much abused. He had toted for a resolution tabled by Mr Benall to the effect that L2 10s bo granted to him for repairs to his water supply. He had also voted for resolutions of Mr Kennll that sums oi L 5 and LlO be granted. Ho did not believe tho water supply could be carried out, as the wnter could not he run into the mill lead (applause.) Mr E. Jones then nscended the platform amidst great enthusiasm and asked if Mr Pownall was or was not in favor of tho present water supply. He asked what was the good of a water supply when they jirconld not water (applause.; A jMayorbad not the control of tho whole Council (uproar,) . Mr Benall proposed a vote of thanks to Mr Pownall for bis able and eloquent address, which was never put, and the meeting broko up in disorder,