MAYOR OF AUCKLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 104, 3 May 1911, Page 5

MAYOR OF AUCKLAND.

MR. C J. PASS'S INSTALLATION

PROGRESSIVE POUOY OUTLINED.

At noon to-day Mr. C. J. p arr was installed as Mayor of Auckland. The ceremony took place at the Council Chambers: There were nearly 200 leading citizens present, in addition to members of the City Council, and eight erstwhile Mayors of Auckland, viz., Messrs. F. S. Prime, H. Brett, J. H. Upton, J. J. Holland, A. E. Devore, Hon. E. Mitchelson, Arthur M. Myers, C. Grey, and L. J. Bagnall.

Mr. Parr, in the course of his Mayoral speech, heartily thanked the citizens df Auckland for the honour done him in electing him to the Mayoralty without contest or opposition. He then proceeded to deal fully with municipal matters, and the policy for the future. Street improvements were first dealt with, the context of Mr. Parr's remarks on the subject appearing in another column.

PUBLIC BATHS FOB NEXT SUMMER.

TO COST £15,000. '' " Referring to the question of public baths, Mr. Parr said the Harbour Board (thanks to the initiative of Councillor Mennie) had allotted three sites on or near the sea front He suggested a sum of £5000 (Mr. Bush's estimate) would be sufficient to erect really good baths at Shelly Beach, where very clean water could be got. At present thousands of people bathed here in the summer under very primitive and inconvenient conditions. Well-equipped baths here would supply the wants of the western half of the city, and would, he believed, nearly pay interest and maintenance on the capital expenditure. But J even if it fell short or this, it had to be done, being an absolutely necessary public convenience.

Some time ago he had suggested Ho-b----son-street as a nxM central position for City Baths. Any amount of hot salt water could be got from the Tramway works, where 3000 gallons ran to waste per minute, and this would eirxrarage a most healthful form of winter bathing.

The City Engineer's estimate of the cost of these baths was £10,000. Should Councillors desire to consider an alternative to this scheme, he suggested a floating bath outside the wharves with a stage approach. This would ensure almost perfect cleanliness so far as water was concerned. In conclusion he suggested that an expenditure of £15,000 should provide firet-class bathing facilities on our sea-front, and he proposes they should borrow this sum and get tne baths working by next summer.

OTTR -WATER SUPPLY.

'£68,000 LOAN NECESSARY. Continuing, Mr. Parr said it would be necessary this year to borrow a sum of £68,000 for extending and improving the city water sujvply. Mr. Carlaw's requirements were as follows: —To replace worn-out pipes, hastily laid in the water famine of 1809, an absolutely necessary expenditure, £68,000; for conservation dam at Nihotupu. which will increase the amount of storage, £64,000, Hq thought the construction of this dam not immediately necessary. Interest and Sinking Fund and other charges would be met out of the profits of the service, which this year netted £18,376. As this service was an ever-increasing revenue-producer, the proposed expenditure should materially add to the annual profit. This proposed loan was therefore amply justified from a business point of view.

MORE PARKS.

ACQUISITION OF CAMPBELL'S PROPERTY PROPOSED. One-half of the city area (about 800 acres), stretching from Freeman's Bay to Cox's Creek, a distance of over two miles, was practically without a park. Ponsonby, or City West, had only a few acres of recreation ground at Cos's Creek, and about half-an-acre at Brookes-square. This area, stretching back to Grey Lynn, had a dense population of probably 20,000 people. Though the harbour was their finest scenic asset, the people did not own a single inch on its shore. Private owners had it all. Contrast this with Sydney and Wellington, and they would realise the blunder made. In his judgment, they should do something to remedy "Ihis deplorable mistake while land could be got fairly cheap. He proposed, therefore, that the Council should ask the sanction of the citizens to the purchase of Campbell's fine property of 12J acres at Shelly Beach, having a frontage to the sea from Shelly Beach to Curran-street, and possessing three street frontages. While not suitable for cutting up for sale, this site was an ideal position for a seaside park, commanding, as it did. magnificent views of the harbour and of Chelsea, Northcote, and Birkenhead.

LIBRAKY FOR KARANGAHAPEROAD.

BUILT OUT OF TRAMWAY PROFITS. Speaking of libraries, Mr. Parr said, in his opinion, the timehad arrived when the Council should erect and equip a branch lending library and readingroom at Karangahape-road, preferably near the Ponsonby reservoir, where they already had a site. He suggested au establishment on the lines of the Newtown Branch Library in Wellington. A comfortable, well-lit reading-room, with newspapers and magazines, and draughts and chess, with a lending library, would do something to keep our young people off the streets at night, and, also, might be made the centre of debating, literary, and social activities. He was encouraged in making this proposal by the remarkable success of the Leys Institute in Ponsonby—probably the best managed institution of its kind in Sew Zealand. He would suggest to the Council the taking of a sum of £3,000 out of Tramway profits, which now amounted to £15,700. wherewith to erect and equip a suitable building this year.

KEEPING THE CITY CLEAN.

OUR NAAIE AT STAKE. On the question of sanitation, the new Mayor said the Council could not afford any longer to play with this question. The city's repute and name was at stake. They must get and keep a clean bill of health. Lately they had had a warning of the terrible penalty a careless city must pay as the price of being dirty.

First, war must be waged against rate, not epurnodSoOly, or at a ecare

rat is exterminated. Second, rats lived mainly on refuse. It wag therefore incumbent that refuse should, be destroyed or got rid of without delay. The Works Committee would have to consider whether they could not improve on the present system of the Council's carts calling once a week for household waste and rubbish. Householders and house-owners who sinned against public health by keeping filthy backyards and dirty, evil-smelling conveniences must be brought before the magistrate if they would not mend their ways.

Thirdly, a word ac to street sanitation. Visitors told them that we had the dirtiest streets in New Zealand, and it was true. Queen-street at times during the day was extremely dirty. Ample receptacles should be provided by the. Council along the street, and anyone! casting rubbish on the street should be prosecuted. Worse still, the footpaths, and especially in Queen-street, bore ample evidence of being used as public spittoons. Last month he saw a man evidently in an advanced stage of some lung disease expectorate on the footpath at Victoria Arcade corner, and shortly after noticed a lady's skirt trail right through the germ-infected expectoration. Could anything be more disgusting or dangerous to health? For years past the City Council and its officers had been extremely lax in enforcing street cleanliness. The city by-laws must no longer remain a dead letter.

THE CITY'S FINANCE.

A BUOYANT CONDITION. The city debt to-day stood at £1,172,000. In the next few years a loan of £225,000 for electric light would be added, making in all a debt of £1,;597,000. Of this debl nearly £500,000 was invested in the water services, a ■business which is practically a monopoly for the city. This year's profit was £18,075. Then, again, electric light and power accounted for over £300,000 of the city debt. Add to these sums £35,000 invested in abattoirs and about £50,000 in other services, and they would see that nearly £900,000, or about two-thirds of our total public debt was reproductive, and for the greater part would i yield a very handsome annual profit. Other assets in the shape of reserves, endowments, parks, libraries, Town Hall, etc., were yearly increasing in value. He estimated the municipal assets—when the electric scheme was finished—to be worth in the total over two millions, and this without putting down a penny for the goodwill attaching to the water, electric, and other services. And the city sinking fund, which now amounted to about £150,000, would in about nine years easily reach £300,000. The Mayor went on to mention that a saving in interest of £6300 every year would follow the maturity of the crty's early loans, and their conversion to 4 per cent, while increased re"nts from c;:y endowments and which together now amounted to about £13.500 a year, would mean muc-h. The addition to the city also of 67 acres of Harbour Board reclamation at Freeman's Bay, and , ultimately of another 34 acres at Mechanics' Bay, which would be taken up on building leases, would, in his estimation, increase the rate revenues by at least £6000 per annum. He could sco no reason for increasing the present rates. It would possibly be necessary to impose a rate of IJd for drainage soon, but otherwise the revenues -were sufficient,. He had. no nesitatioji in stating that'the citizens might saiely pursue the policy of ■■progress he 'had outlined, and thus provide the city with good streets, up-to-date baths, a fine park, a ■branch library—things all sorely needed —without fear of any increase of rates now, or of any material future addition to their present obligations.

A YEAR'S WORK. At this a-fternoon's installation ceremony, before handing over the duties of office to his successor, the out-going Mayor (Mr. L. J. BagnaU) briefly reviewed the work of the year just ended. He dealt with the new Town Hall, the widening of High-street, Customs-street, and Symonds street. Good progress, he said, had "been made with the foundations of the new electric power station. Tenders had been called for the plant, and it was expected eijat by this time next year this large installation will be ready to supply light and power to all who require it.

■Referring to the city's streets, Mr. Bagnall said it had been the custom to refer to Auckland in tuis respect as the worst city in the Dominion. He did not think such statements were warranted, though he admitted that much required to be done. The City Engineer's report on the streets of Auckland opened up a large question, and if the work therein recommended was gone on with, and the necessary money borrowed, it must, in his opinion, t»e spread over a period of not Jess than 10 years. To provide interest and sinking fund would, he tironght, necessitate a special rate of about ninepence in the f.

In! dealing at come length with the financial position, Mr. Bagnall said that though the general account -was overdrawn to the extent of £33.860, yet the bank account was in credit. The large credit balance on the water account and tramway profit account, as well as smaller sums in some *t the other accounts, had , enabled the Council to advance £21,953 to the electricity account in anticipation of the loan, and to pay the amount due on the Grafton Bridge ■without paying interest to the bank. A question had been asked as to where tne tramway profits went to. At present they were practically lent to the electricity department, and were earning 5 per cent.

Referring to the question of Greater Auckland, Mr. Bagnall said he felt it necessary to remark that as one -whose interests were confined to the city, he could not see any reaeon from a financial point of view for the city ratepayers giving to outside local bodies an interest in their endowments, water supply, electric department, tramways reversion, and other advantages without some consideration, and he entirely dissented! from those who thought that the city ratepayer had anything to gain from the ■bringing about of a Greater Auckland.

The out-going Mayor also referred to the question, of sanitation _an<i cemeteries, and paid a high tribute to the work of the Council staff.

On the motion of Mr. C J. Parr, a hearty vote of thanks was passed to the out-going Mayor.

Mr. R. Tudehope, In moving a vote of thanks to the new Mayor for his address, said he desired to place on record the Council's appreciation of the good -work done, by Mr. L. J. Bagnall during the period that he occupied the Mayoral chair. (Applause.) Mr. George Knight, in seconding the vote of thanks, said Auckland was to be congratulated in having secured Mr. Parr as chief magistrate of the city. It would be plainly evident to the citizens of Auckland that the programme the new Mayor had just laid down was the policy of a. man who had served, hb •eHSßtojfc , W!W Bait* ,u_

The motion was carried with applause. After the installation ceremony, those present were entertained at luncheon to the Mayor's room. Several toasts were honoured, including those of New Mayor," proposed by Mr. L. J. Bagnall, "The- Outgoing Mayor," proposed by Mr. C. J. Parr, and "Past Mayors," proposed by Mr. Parr, and responded to by Mr. F. S Prune.