EXTENDING THE CITY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 95, 21 April 1904, Page 3

EXTENDING THE CITY.

MEETEN'G OF GREY tYXX RATE- : PAYERS. > AMALGAMATION jDISCUSSED. A meeting of great municipal importance was held in St. George's Hall, Grey Lynn, last nigh# with the object ' of placing facts relating to the projected amalgamation of the borough with Auckland city before the ratepayers. A resolution in favour of this was adopted, and the Grey Lynn Council will probably decide to take a poll of the ratepayers as a preliminary to making overtures for inclusion in the City. There was an exeeEent attendance of ratepayers. The I\i,ayor (Mr. J. W. Shackleford) presided, and upon the platform were Messrs. Dimery, Farreil, Currie, Smith, members of the Grey Lynn Council. Mr. S. C. Brown, an ex-Mayor of the borough and city councillor, and Councillor J. C Parr (Auckland). In the audience were several gentlemen connected with public affairs in other parts of the district, including Mr. J. Fitt, Mayor of Parnell. Apologies for non-attendance were received from the Hon. E. Mitchelson, Mayor of Auckland, who wrote that the project for a Greater Auckland had his sympathy; Mr G. H. Fowlds, MJI.R., who expressed the opinion that amalgamation was in "harmony with the sentiments of the community; and Mr. R. T. Warnoek, an exMayor of Grey Lynn. The Mayor having explained the history of the movement for a Greater Auckland in the borough, Mr. Irwin, town clerk, read some interesting figures relating to the subject as follows: The estimated area of the borough was 200 acres, the population 5250, dwellings 1000, and the capital value of the land with improvements £ 448.000, the unimproved value being estimated at £290,----000. The annual revenue of the borough was £3279. and the expenditure £3845, while the loans totalled £23,950 3/2, upon which £9SO 11/2 was annual'y paid in interest. There were 20 miles of formed and unformed streets, eight miles of sewers and public drains, and 10 miles of water mains. The return also stated that the ratable value of Auckland City was £355,564, while its public debt stood at £574,000. The current rates in Auckland amounted to 3/dA in the £ . including lOd for sanitation, while in Grey Lynn the rates would amount to 4/ in the £, including fid for sanitation, if the City basis of rating was adopted. A comparison of rating between Grey Lynn and Auckland had been made by the town clerk, who took a sample allotment in the Surrey Ward, the rating upon which under the Grey Lynn system of rating upon unimproved calves amounted to £3 11/2 per annum. It was estimated that the City rating of the same property would be £ 5 3/10. An allotment in the Sussex Ward now producing £4 18/ per annum under the rating of unimproved values would, if included in the City, be rated at £5 11/3. Councillor S. C Brown. the first speaker, announced that he would not go into detailed figures, for until the principle was affirmed the terms need not be discussed- The principle of amalgamation had been carried out in Wellington. Ciiristehureh, and he thought Dunedin. Greater Auckland was no new thing, for Ponsonby, Grafton, aud the old | Karangahape Road Boards had been ab- j sorbed in the past, and it had proved ad- | j vantageous to all parties. They thought j | that Grey Lynn. Arch Hill. Eden Terrace, I Mount Eden, Xewmarket. and Parnell j should be included within the City boundaries, and possibly Remuera. Mount Roskill. and Mount Albert, but they | • v>ere not at all necessary to any scheme 1 of drainage that might" be inaugurated. He did not think it would mean heavier rates for Grey Lynn. for. although the City had large liabilities and schemes. it also had very valuable endowments in which the 1 outside boroughs did not participate. | Mr. Brown spoke of the savins' which combination would* bring about in proI Tiding efficient dra:nage and water sup-, j ply systems. If he knew that the am- | algamation would cost him more in j rates, it would not deter .him from supporting it. for the narrow"view of £.s.d. should not be held. They had to~take the broader view of public health and culture. By the latter he meant the, Art Gallery and Public Library, provid-' ed by the city and participated in by all the districts around. He felt that greater Auckland was bound to come, and that whether they favoured it or nor, the Government would bring it about mainly out of consideration o for the public health, for better schemes could be evolved with this object than could be carried out by small bodies, j The cost of administration with the small local bodies amounted to 25 per cent of the revenue, but amalgamation would enable staffs to be reduced, and officers cf high attainments to be engaged. Councillor C. J. Parr contended that nobody could be found bold enough to say that the present municipal system was the best or cheapest. On the narrow isthmus between the Waitemata and the Manukau Harbours were 23 different local bodies exercising administrative functions, each with its own system, in many eases not an efficient one, and its different sets of officers. He asked them as reasonable men whether it was not time they ended such, a system, or want of system. (Hear, The fact that the very best engineers could be engaged to carry out general schemes of improvement by a large and powerful body was a strong point in favour of amalgamation. Selfinterest could not be eliminated from the matter, and he gave some arguments to appeal to that feeling. The endowments of the city -were valued at £461,000, nearly half a million sterling, and the annual revenue totalled nearly £10,000. All over the city were properties owned by the muaicipality. and when the old leases fell in, the revenue would no doubt reach £ 30,000 per annum. He believed the Harbour Board would be eventually successful in interdicting drainage into the harbour, and this would bring about a serious state rf>f affairs for every city and suburban ratepayer. A uniform system of drainage would be required, and the work could be better carried out by the combined boroughs than by piecemeal work. A monopoly of the slaughtering business in the Auckland district had been given by the Government to the city, and such a business, properly conducted, would mean an enormous revenue. A partnership in the abattoir business would not, he remarked, be a bad thing for Grey Lynn. Ths abolition of the small arbitrary divisions would lead to their having sound, experienced, and honest business men to represent them, and would abolish the squabbling which was often found in small divisions. He showed how a partnership wii_h Auckland would provide improved fire extinguishing appliances for the suburbs, and in conclusion he said it seemed to him that

a partnership would pay Grey Lynn if it took it tip. It was not creditable to them that '23 practically weak bodies should be doiu<r the worfc of one strong body. (Hear, hear.) Mr J. W. Shackelford, dealing with the comparative rating of Grey Lynn and the city, said the specimen allotments were taken to show eases most favourable to the C4rey Lynn system of rating. An element favourable to the city was the fire insurance rates. They would be 1/ per cent, less in the city than in Grey Lynn for a building detached 30 feet, while the difference in favour of Auckland, owing to its improved lire extinguishing appliances, ranged from 2/ to 4/ per cent, in the case of buildings closer together. The city drainage into Arch Hill gully endid at NTewton-road. and the continuation of the open drain through Arch Hill ai.d their own borough was a menace to the health of the district, and demanded that something should be done, but they had been squabbling- ns to who should do the work, and it had not been carried out. Sir George Grey had not given the great endowments for a small congested city of 16.000 acres, for that great statesman pictured an Auckland extending from the Tamaki river to the Whau creek and Onehunga. Mr J. Farrell said that on the broad question it would be better to join the city, but it was a question whether or not they should sink their individuality and the right to administer their own affairs. The initial t>tep should have been a conference of the suburban bodies to decide what position should b.» taken up before the ratepayers were asked to vote upon the subject. They required to have abler heads than those who sat on the City Council to decide the financial question, which was the real issue, and he doubted whether his hearers were any the wiser for the meeting that evening, except for sentimental reasons. He contended that the comparison of rating did not tally with the facts, and that it could be demonstrated that Grey Lynn's Tates were strikingly less than those of the city. Replying to Mr Farrell, Cr. S. C. Brown said matters of detail could be : left to the time when it was decided to join the city, and they could be assured that amalgamation wouid mean that they would get better value for their rates than at present. Cr. Parr was not in favour of another conference of local bodies, for that, he considered, would mean the shelving of the subject, as each would be striving for different objects. Mr John McLaughlin moved: '"That, having heard the various speakers on j the question, this meeting is of opiuion that it is desirable that the Borouga of Grey Lynn should be amalgamated with Auckland City." This was carried unanimously and the meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the -peakers.