CITY COUNCIL.-ANNUAL MEETING.

Auckland Star, Volume XVI, Issue 3851, 20 December 1882, Page 2

CITY COUNCIL.-ANNUAL MEETING.

Tnsauuual meeting of iho Council was b eld at noou to-day. Present: His Worship the Mayor, Crs. Harper, Waddel, Montague, Crowthcr, Thompson, Garrett, Bell, Bums, Poillippj, Eoardman, Hem. in&, Maselield, George, Stevcueon, and Aickin.

The Mayor, alter taking the statutory do clarat;oD, said on oconsions like the present two speeches .were customary—ono from the retiring Mayor, and the o'uer from the Mayor coming into office. Under the present circumstances only ono speech would bo made, aud without bad taste he thought he could make it short. During the past ten days he had been so busily engaged with actual work, much of it public business, that he had but little taste of speechmaking. As regards what had been done dining the year, ho would say but little; tha returns from the fcveral departments which had been laid ou the table gave th.3 necessary information, aod to I allude to the busioc-sof iho past year at any length would simply be re iteration. There was one point in connection with munic'pal allrfirs which it was desirable sh uld bo looked into frequently, and ilut was the question ot accounts. But the pri sent was the woret time in the year to consider the accounts of the Corporation. 'J he last botiro thorn were for the half-year ended 3lßt September last, and though a comparison could bo instituted with tho accounts of tho corresponding period of the previous year, it would uot give an accurate account of tha income, owing to the fact that the receipt of tho income was not regular. Another reason why compari-on would be of no value was the alteration made by tho Council in the consumers' wa'cr rate, which had. como into forco in Octobor last. It was a question if the income from the incrcaso of consumers consequent in tho reduction of the water rate would recoup the Corporation for tho reduction in the price. But tho principal reason why it was not advisable at present to go into tho matter of accounts was tho question of valuation. They only had la^t year's valuation which, with the new wards, amounted to £205,000. They knew that tbi» year there would bu a substantial incioasc,uot only on account of tho increase in the value of property, but al:o because a very large uuuiber of new buildings had been .0 cctcd durirjg the year. The end of the current half-year, March 31st, would be the time to go exhaustively into the question of accounts, tcfeningto the policy to be pursued, he said ho would allude to"one or two points, and he wished it to be understood that allusions to matters that hud n.t como before the_ Council were merely expressions of his own personal opiaiou. Alluding to the extension of the city boundaries, he expressed regret that Parncll and Newmarket, together with the Domain,had not been added to the city. If that bad boen done, the city of auckland would bo second to no city in New Zealaud. The inclusion of the now wards bas thown Chat there is a large field fur expenditure of money on highly useful works, » o balances were available that could be drawn on for tho-o works. All the money available bad been appropriated. Uo believed tbat it was the worst possible policy to sit down and waittill thesaworkscoiildb) coastructod out of the rates, though they should not ga into tbo question of a fresh loan huuL'dly—not until they had considered how it could bo expended judiciously. Bo believed, such expendituio would pay in tho increa«e of tlic value of property, aud would also pay by presuming the health of tho city. lie said that so soon as they could dcciJo on tho amount of money that they could judiciously expend, then they should face tho quo^tion of another loiw. The O<>uuoil had kllirmcd that policy by waterworks plans, which would eventually entail an expendituio of £13,000, without first enquiring where tho money avbs to come itoiu in the first instance,-.»nd he thought Die name Dolicy m'ght be applied to drainage. His Worship referred to toe steps taken to Improve the watcrsnpply, bycarrjiog o*rth* ware pip«s to the a-nirco of the pprhus. Wbcn this work was completed, the Auckland water supply would h'. absolutely pure The Kybcr Hescrv»ii\ and the propoa'id basin at Mouut Eden wi.ro also alluded to, Thcro was only one other matter to which ho would rrfor, viz., tho qucst'on of the town hall aud library The sum of £20,000 had been toted by the Council for tho Town Hull, nnd it bad been decided that tho cite should be at the junction of Que*n and Greystreets. Uo explanned that t!ru<h oppcod to the tito at first ho had changed his opinion aud advocated tho construction of a Pictu'o Gallery and School of Ait with the Library. Ho would liko to sen tho building trectrd by tha Council and the S-vings B.nk, and the walls might bo clothed with pictures by the senoroMty of the public, lv concluding, ho expreiscd a hope that tbo same good fooling that hxl existed in tho past would contiouo to exist.

Tlo Counc'l then roj<\