THE MAYORAL INSTALLATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 108, 8 May 1901, Page 2

THE MAYORAL INSTALLATION.

At two o'clock this afternoon, there was a large gathering at the City Council Chambers to witness the installation of Dr. Campbell as Mayor of the city. Mr David Goldie, the retiring Mayor, presided. All the councillors were present except Cr. Alfred Kidd (who is away in the South at present), who it is expected will be virtually deputy-mayor during the. coming year. A large number of the .public also gathered to witness tnc proceedings. . SPEECH BY THE RETIRING MAYOR. Mr. D. Goldie, in referring to his term of 21 years in office thanked very heartily those who had been Councillors during the period for the courteous treatment he had received at their hands. He then proceeded to give at. considerable length an account of the work done during his term. Keferring first of all to the question of contract v. day labour, he expressed the opinion that the contract system inaugurated some time past had been a qualified success, end nrged the advisability of doing all work of a greater value than £20 by contract. The question of the valuation of the property within the city boundaries he was convinced was of all questions the most important. Mr. Goldie quoted figures to show the advance that had been made under this head. From 1891 to 1897 the increase in valuations was only some £536, giving an additional revenue of some £61 8/4. Investigation showed 'the unsatisfactory nature of these valuations, and during his term of office the valuation roll increased by £49,759, giving an additional revenue of £5701 9/. Of this increase of revenue from valuations £3398 3/ was obtained from a readjustment- of old values, £2303 6/ from new buildings, while on the question of rating the speaker suggested for the consideration of those who were moving to i have a poll taken on rating on unimproved values that they endeavour to get the law altered so as to follow somewhat on the lines laid down in South Wales, where it has been proposed that special provision be made for the special taxation of gas pipes and tram rails laid down upon or under the streets and all lands held by the Government in the district. Under the New Zealand Act the revenue now obtained from these sources had to be made good by the ratepayers.

Dealing with the fire brigade, reference was made to the efforts of the Auckland municipality in conjunction with other boroughs of the colony to get a Bill passed distributing the cost equally on the Government, insurance companies and municipali-. ties. This, Mr. Goldie said, was the law in all the Australian States with the exception of Tasmania, and ought long ere this to have been the law in New Zealand. Despite every effort the Bill did not get beyond the first reading' last session. "Under these circumstances," continued Mr. Goldie, addressing the Council, "you determined not to delay any longer the erection and equipment of a station. and so at once advertised for a suitable site, and followed this up by the purchase of one of Hie most eligible in the city at a cost of £2100, and are now having plans prepared for an up-to-date building, which we fully expect will ho completed within the next, few months. Having done this, it will be necessary for you to have inserted a dnu.se in the Fire. Brigade Bill which you hope to pass next session, making the expenditure that you have incurred, and will still further incur, a charge upon the funds of the united board."

The question of sanitation had W ceivt-d very earnest attention, the result of which was evidenced by the fact that the city had recently been commended by Dr. Mason, the general health officer for New Zealand. So far a contract had been let to the value of : £12.000. and there was the second instalment of the loan, £10.000. to continue the work next summer, Ipss the £3000 required towards the expenditure upon the Fire Brigade land and buildings, the intervening months between now and spring bring used by the engineer in the preparation of ' the, necessary plans and specification for the work. With respect to the n.m system for the removal of ni<rht soil there could be no doubt hut that they hud acted wisely in substituting it for'the ob°olctr> box system, but- he fully expected flint the present plan of removal wmM speedily gire place to the best of nil known systems, viz., that of water carriage. AUXILIARY WATFTR SUPPLY.

lv speaking of the auxiliary water supply Mr G'oldie paid a higli compliment lo Mr Atkinson, not only for the able manner in which he submitted thi: scheme to the consideration of the Council and tbe ratepayers, but also for tho public spirit which prompted him to give so much of his valuable time, and in addition section of bis land to further the scheme; the whole being done without receiving- or even expecting1 to receive the slightest recompense. ° 7n the scheme itself lie thought that there was not the slightest, doubt but that they had not only solved the question of an auxiliary supply to supplement the water now being1 obtained from Lh? Western Springs, but in the no very distant future to supersede it altogether. This must noon become a necessity from the con failed pollution of the catchment area in proximity to the Western Springs through th-" increasing number of dwellings, with no adequate provision for drainage b.-in«-erected upon it.

Under previous projected schemes of , obtaining a supply of water from Nihoi tapu the idea was to intercept the water near the bridge, where the flow in the driest summer gives some 1,200,----000 gallons of'water in 24 hours, but under the present scheme the water will be taken from a point very much below the bridge, and just above the top of the 100 foot fall. There it is found to be possible to bring in the water from the upper reaches of the Huia River by gravitation to connect with j the Nihotapu and the other streams J which will be conveyed from there to j Titirangi and thence to the city. The Huia water,- flowing over a rocky bed, is very pure, and it is thought that not less than 4, 000,000 gallons can be depended upon, which, with ,'MOO.OOO gallons from the Nihotapu and other streams, should meet Auckland's requirements for many years to come, as present requirements are about 2.500,----000 gallons per day, with an additional annual increase of about 50,000 gallons, which would, of course, be increased if the water closet system was adopted. Still, the margin between 2,500,000 and 7,000,000 is so large that even if the city had to depend upon the Huia, Nihotapu and intervening streams alone, there would be a superabundance. The engineer is, however, now busy with a survey of the ranges in the direction of the Waitakerei Falls to see whether it is possible to also bring that stream into the system. When reliable data has been obtained regarding all the streams above the 500 foot level at Waitakerei the Council will then only require to purchase all lands above that level at a fair and i reasonable rate, and thus be absolutely free from the possibility of the water being polluted for all time. Having once obtained the auxiliary water supply, the Council's object should^ be as quickly as possible to abolish the use of water from the Western Springs and save the cost of the. 3000 tons of coal annually used in raising the water, with the other charges incidental thereto. That could only be done by laying down a second line of pipes from the reservoir at Titirangi to connect with the 21-inch main at the Western Springs. He thought that could speedily be accomplished without further borrowing by taking the balance of the cost, after 'expending^ the loan money, from the surplus revenue obtained from the sale of water, which stood to credit on the 31st of March last at £12,430 6/3. Even supposing the present surplus is used up in 1 giving an auxiliary supply, with careful finance it would very soon accumulate again, and. Auckland would then have one of the best and cheapest water supplies in the world. STREETS. Considerable complaints have been made as to the condition of tho street?, and in this he thought the public had been somewhat unreasonable. A cry had been raised that better men ought, to come forward and look after such .things, but so long as public men, who were doing their best, at considerable loss of time and money, and in some cases of health itself, wero subject to such continual misrepresentation at the hands of those who knew very little about the difficulties the Council had to contend with, it would be hard to get men to take the position. The expenditure upon the streets for the year ending1 March 31st. 1901, lust closed, was £17,993, or £808 more than the previous twelve months, £642 more than 1898, and only £298 less than 1899. Whilst there has been no starving of the streets, still with the largely increased revenue more might have been done but for two facts, first, that the streets upon the line of the tramway must, as a very early date, be

broken up again; secondly, the difficulty of obtaining- metal through the present strong demand for labour. The new road roller and the stone-breaking machine ordered should, however, enable the Council to place the streets in proper order. As regards the blocking of Queen-street, for which about £11.000 was sot apart in the Loan Bill, it was originally intended that work should be undertaken after all the drainage works were, completed. A reason for delay in this matter was that it would not be advisable to have the water pipes near the electric tram rails, and no doubt -the Council would follow the line of the Gas Company in taking up the pipes and laying them under"the side walks. Tt ws, however, of the utmost importance that the blocking should be completed at the same time as the Tram Company, and to do thai the drainage works would either have to stand in abeyance for a year or let a contract for the blocking, possibly to the Tramway Company, at a fair-price, on the understanding1 that the Council either pay in instalments, extending over three years, at the end of which lime the drainage scheme would be completed, or pay the whole sum then, with fair interest;

PUBLIC PARKS,

The Mayor next referred to the improvement's effected in the Albert Park by replacing unsightly manure heaps with a handsome hand stand, and the presentation by citizens of 58 additional garden seats/making in all 95 given during his term of office nt a cost of £332 10/; also the erection of a drinking fountain. In a short time it was hoped Mrs. Boyd's bequest of £1000 would be paid over to the artists who are now oifgnged upon statuary for the Park, and when that was in position Albert Park should be second to none in the colony; hut it still wanted a kiosk to supply tea and refreshments, •and to be illuminated by either electricity or incandescent lights. The Domain had also received special attention. Out of the Wrf .16/11 to the credit of the Trust the Council was now enabled to spend n considerable sunHn putting up a pennnnent fence, extending the HieiulliTisr, n:,d putting the crates in order, as "well as nitmdin? to the path1*. The Waikumete Cemetery had also born improved. "Ry adhering "to the by-laws which mrAc (ho charge* f^'ll 'eSR than eircevhcrc the cemetery not only paid its way, hut also Mr'a small margin for laying out the grounds.

LIBRARY.

The library olso received a fn.fr share of atipnlion* A grant, of £20 vas recpived irom the Government, and nnother £40 per jmnmn was obtained by letting the old Mechanics' Tnst.if.nte. The* Coptley bwjucpt had been trr\naferred from "teed* deposit, at 3 percent, to freehold security at A\ and 5 per cent., fo altogether there was a credit of £712 10/1* to the library amount, of which it would be w?3O to expend £500 at once for new bonks.

ET.ECfTRTC LIGHTING.

The Kleciric T.ifjhtinj? Bill passed last session pivc the Council power cither to light, the city by electricity or sub-let that rich- Two informal appeals had Vrii wade to obtain fclio.t right from the ('omul, but the term* wore such thnt ii would have bei-n absolute folly to think of rnWiiiinin? them. They at present pntt 5/1" P« loo° feet f°r S tlß' loss the discount, and the odor of electricity wrap at about the same rate. Tt would be n great mistake to accept such term* the Council had hotter wait for electricity was still In its infanev and tWc were at present municlnniitiPfi thnt MiPT»l!cd electric light at less than 2d por unit, ns against la per unit nek"d in AwVlnud by those who approached *he Council. FINANCE.

Sneaking with, regard to finance, Mr Goldie said: "I think you .may congratulate yourselves upon the. improved position of affairs. By the successful raising of the first instalment of your loan you were enabled to pay off your overdraft and thus at once save H per cent, interest upon the amount" then owing, this being the di(Terence between the 4 per cent, at which we borowed and the 51 per cent, then being paid to the bank when I became Mayor. You have also made a saving in another direction, by paying off an old loan of £11,000, which was bearing interest at 6 per cent., and substituting for it another loan for the same amount at 4 per cent., thus making an annual saving of £222." After referring to the mistakes made in the past in the method of raising loans, Mr C4oldie said what the Council had already lost as a result of such errors and would continue to lose in interest and compound interest would be an enormous sum, and showed the need for ratepayers to.send as their representatives'to the Council gentlemen who had some knowledge of finance. Continuing on the question of finance, Mr Goldie said: ''The arrangement given effect to last year, by which tlae special rate was made collectable in one sum,' as provided for by the Rating Act of 1806, has enabled us to collect the rates due much more promptly than formerly, with the result that ( we have saved from the bank a considerable amount in interest upon the daily credit balances, the sum being £239 7/ upon ordinary accounts, and £489 0/6 upon loan account. That such could be saved can be readily seen when T inform yoti that on the 31st March last you had to your credit the following balances, amounting1 in the aggregate to £19,113 19/5, made up as follow: —General Account, £3279 5/11; Domain Trust, £655 16/11; Library Account, £712 10/1*; Waikumete Cemetery Account, £4 14/10; Water Supply Account, £12,430 6/3; and Charitable Aid Account, £972 5/1. From these figures you will perceive that although we borrowed less than one-half the money we needed to .complete our auxiliary water supply, seeing that it was borrowed with the intention of bringing the water from Onehunga, and not from the Waltalcere! Pfmsfes. yet with th.it prudent a^d careful finance which has characterised you for some time past there should not be the slightest need either for further borrowing (except, of course, that -which the ratepayers by their vote have determined to borrow for Victoria Park, viz., £8000), or for the creation of another overdraft. Beside the advantage gained to out finance by the collection of the special rate in one instalment, we have also gained by the leasing of thirty endowment leaseholds and the re-leasing of others which during the same period have fallen in. These two sources gave £414 annual increase to our revenue, and a further addition of some £30 to £40 has been received from rates upon the several properties; but this will be largely increased as the tenants erect buildings. One other fund which lias made an abnormal advance Pis the water account, nofcwitb.sta.nd-

ing the extreme difficulty of keeping up a supply last summer because of the drought. In 189"] your receipts from the sale of water were £14,323. which left a profit of £8641; in IS9O the sales totalled £14,572, and the profit was £7860; in 1897 sales were £15.328, and the profit £7560: in 1808 sales were £16,393 15/5, and profit £7703; in 1599 sales totalled £16,807 17/11, and the profit £8270; for the year ending March 31st, 1000,' the sales were £18,030, and the profit £0386; and for the year ending March 31st, 1001. the sales were £20,291 0/10, which I believe will, after meeting ordinary expenses, leave a credit of £11.719 6/7; but the balance was reduced by extraordinary expenditure to £ 10,281 6/7. It will be clearly seen that your annual revenue has been augmented something like the following since I took office 2\ years ago: — Increased valuation, £5701; dog registration, £178; water, £3483; leases, £4H; and interest saved on loan, £222: total, £9998.

Mr Ooldie said there were many other matters he would like to have referred to, but he would not weary them. lie, however, referred to the matter of abolishing the ward system, else the outer wards would be starved whilst the inner wards, whose needs were small, will hold the larger portion of the revenue, and though not requiring it, would not be allowed to help the other wards. He considered the necessity for changing such a state of things without delay was imperative. In conclusion, Mr Goldie «aid the work for some years to come would be. of a very arduous nature, necessitating careful and earnest attention, which he trusted would be given ungrudgingly. At present he required rest and change, but if later on ■the Council desired assistance from him upon one or more of the committees, for the. law now recognised others than Councillors in such a position, he might find time to serve the citizens in that more humble way.

INSTALLING THE- MAYOR.

Mr Goldie added; "And now I have very great pleasure in requesting Dr. Campbell, the Mayor-elect, to make the usual declaration, and assume the position which you have so loyally assisted me to fill during the. last two aud a half years, and which he now, by an overwhelming majority of the votes of the people, has been elected to. I trust that you will extend to him the same loyal service which you have so generously given to me .(Appluuse.)

! SPEECH BY THE NEW MAYOR. , After Mr ' Goldie'a valedictory i speech, Dr." Campbell was introduced ;by tho retiring Mayor, made the statutory declaration in accordance with the Municipal Corporations Act. j aud took bis seat, amidst loud ap--1 plauae. He was -warmly congratulated by the councillors on his accesj sion to the Mayoral chair, and made a short but appropriate reply. "Tt having pleased the burgesses of Auckland to elect, me their Mayor, I desire to express my grateful thanks for the honour which they have conferred upon mo. The position of Chief ! Magistrate of this city has been filled by many able and distinguished citi-| ■zons, but in listening to the comprehensive address of my predecessor I feel convinced that noone more worthy and painstaking than he has ever filled the office. Mr Goldie, by his clear grasp of the city's requirements, his masterly knowledge of its finances, bis intimate acquaintance with the departmental work, and, above all, by his devotion to the duties connected with the office of Mayor, has made it indeed difficult for his successor to equal what lie. has accomplished. For his kind reference to myself I cannot too heartily thank him, but such eulogy raises the question within me, 'Can I be worthy of it?' I am pleased to think that the Councillors who have worked with Mr Goldie for the last two years have recognised his labours by the presentation of an address, which, T am sure, will always be highly prized by him as the spontaneous recognition of those best able to estimate, and appreciate the' arduous work which he has performed. With regard to myself, I must, be permitted here to remark that I am not insensible to the fact that my advancing years, with their attendant infirmities, will preclude me from attempting to emulate Mr Goldie. I gather from what he has told us in his most lucid resume of the year's work that every attention will be required during the coming year to the extensive works to which the city is pledged. An intimate knowledge of these works and their past and present history is absolutely necessary in order to steer t© a safe anchorage the municipal ship over the many shoals which may await it. Of such knowledge I am not the possessor, and it therefore becomes necessary for me to intimate to you—Councillors of the City of Auckland—that one of the first duties which will devolve upon you will be to elect one of your number n S Deputy-Mayor. When the requisition asking my consent to be nominated as Mayor was presented to me, it was especially mentioned that the requisitionists—numbering1 some four thousand — recognised that in.consequence of my having retired from all active work, they did not expect me to undertake the routine duties connected with the office. I therefore feel no compunction in asking you to weigh carefully the merits of Councillor Alfred Kidd, who, as one of the oldest Councillors amongst you, is, by his intimate knowledge of the affairs and wants of the city, in every way especially qualified for the office of DeputyMayor. T confidently bespeak for the Deputy-Mayor the same courtesy and attention which I am sure would have been extended to me bad I presided at your deliberations. You no doubts know that I am taking a deep interest in the preparations that are now being made to give a fitting reception to the Duke and Due ness of Cornwall and York when they honour our city with their presence. These preparations, I am glad to'inform you. are proceeding satisfactorily, and I feel confident that when the time arrives we shall, in conjunction with our Maori friends, be able to give our "Royal visitors a welcome, not only unique, but which will be ns hearty and loyal as any they are likely to experience in their visits to other cities. Ladies and gentlemen, permit me to again thank you for the honour yon have conferred upon me, and to assure yon that my best services, whether as Mayor or as a private citizen, will ever be cheerfully given to the fair city which I have lived to see grow from a few tents and brealcwind huts on the fern-clad shores of the Waitemata to the stately city of today—the future Queen and Capital of all ths federated isles of Oceania]"