MT. ALBERT BOROUGH.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 107, 7 May 1924, Page 13

MT. ALBERT BOROUGH.

THE YEAR REVIEWED. ! GREAT PROGRESS MADE. j ROADS AXD SUBDIVISIONS. j The year ended March 31 had been an J exceedingly busy one-in the Borough of ! Mount Albert, reported the Mayor (Mr. ! E, h. Rhodes) to a meeting of the Mount ! Albert Council la*t night. The twolve - months just ended had been the most ! progressive period in the history of the j borough, which emerged from the road j Jioard district in April. 1011. j The growth of the borough was shown j| br the following figures:— jj ]iilt 102:; 1924 3 (Estimate) fl Cap. Value £JlOS,efi."i >:i!.7Sfi.42n £3,000.000 fl Population (i.T.-i4 IH.OOii 14.565 fl Dwellings 1.301 a.oio a,230 fl Increases frM- twolvo months:—Capital H value f213,U00, population 1470, dwell- | ings 32!). jj Special features of the progress of the 1 borough were the erection of further addi- jj tiona to the Kowhai Junior High School, • and the erection of tho Kingsland over- 3 bridge. Some 40.000 cubic, yards of 5 filling had been deposited in forming the a approaches. The council's share of this s •work would not exceed £100,000. The jj bridge would cut out two of the worst jj railway crossings in Auckland, both of a which had been the scene of fatal acci- \\ dents. Another sign of development could fl be seen in the number of subdivisions 3 madeduring the year. The Springleigh, F Mnrtinboro, Lincoln Park, Homeland, S Glen Tui and Rugby estates had an R approximate area of 297 acres. Many £ smaller subdivisions had also been made, [ and -a number of new roads had been [ constructed. L A Financial Record. r Financially, the year just ended con- T Etituted a record for the borough, con- [ inued the Mayor. The revenue amounted £ to £39,199. *The amount collected for E rates (excluding water charges) was C £27,531. The water supply amounted to I £8972. Collections of rates last year j were considerably better than the aver- | age, and the outstandings showed a per- 1 centage of 6. J per cent only. The total B expenditure ex revenue was £40,110. Ex- 1 penditure on public works alone totalled S £12,681. The sum of £63,900 was bor- I rowed on account of loans. Of this sum, ' £27,901 would be required for the liqui- I dation of the Government debt on account t of the Kingsland over-bridge and other - -R-ork on hand. The suni expended dur- : ing the year was £35,999. Approximately - £2000 was spent on main road mainte- p nance. The purchase of 12 acres of first- : class land off Woodward Road had been ■ made possible by a loan of £5000, and f quarrying work was in full swing. This f quarry should prove a great asset, since j it was estimated that at least 750,000 [ cubic yards of stone, would be available — ; sufficient to put all streets in first-class | order. The sum of £10,345 had been ex- [ pended on the extension of the water { main reticulation. A further supply of J pipes and fittings, to the value of £2000. J would be purchased. There had been no I acceptable tender for Edendale Koad re- j construction, and the council had under- [ taken it. It was probably the largest ', day labour proposition ever put in hand by the council. It was anticipated that '. the trams would be running over the . first section in December. The sum of • £900 had been expended on the fire brigade during the year. Additional accom- j modation had been provided for the office j staff, but the question of new municipal : offices would have to be kept in view, j Since December, 1923, when the first j siipply of electric current was made j available to ratepayers, a large portion j of the borough had been reticulated. The j outside administration had been reorgan- j ised, and a new system put into operation as from October. Employees totalled 61 men on the outside staff, an increase of 29 during the year. Forty men were employed on the Edendale Road work.