PAPANUI'S AMBITIONS.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13227, 22 September 1908, Page 8

PAPANUI'S AMBITIONS.

FORMATION OF BOROUGH OPPOSED.

A LIVELY MEETING

Tho calm and contentment which has distinguished suburban and rural Papanui for many years has been ruffled. The residents are in a state of moderate excitement over a proposal to constitute part of the district a borough, and so dissociate it from the parent body, the Avon Road Board. A petition in ravour of tn© change has been circulated, but tne "opposition" also has oeen busy. As part or the campaign against tue proposal a meeting was _eid last evening in l_g Masonic -tail, which appeared to bo attended oy aa maio xu_>aiiui, from hoary eui to beardless youtn. Tne meeting was, as a wboie, _.r__gly opposed to tne oorough proposal, out mere were a few iv lavour or tuo scnemo wno made their voices Heard at intervals.

luo cnauinan. Air L. B. Hubbard, who stated mat, he had been asKed to preside by a small impromptu committee, was cordially invited oy tho meeting to assunio tue position. Ho said mat a petition to ais .excellency tno -overnor nad been drawn up, as a counterblast to tno borougn petition, and no proceeded to read tno document. Jt set out that U) tue greater area of tno proposed borougu was occupied by persons uialuiig tneir liviug out ot small rural noidtuyt.; (Z) tno di_.rict was provided wnu __ooct roads, drainage, and otuer conveniences, aud tnat no material benoht wouid be gained by having a separate boruugn; (a) the proposed area would bo too small for a toopurate borougn, and individual rates wouid bo niciea&ed; (4) tho working expeu.es would be out of all piopoi>tion- to tne amount ol rates leviauioj (6) the petitiou had emanated trom. persons interested by having land held lor speculative purposes; t,o. tno area occupied by the largest nuutDor of residents was cohnueu to a narrow stup on each sido of tno Papanui road from Norman's road to th© tram terminus, a distance ot three-quarters ot a mile at n.cst, the rest of tho area being rural land.

Tnere seemed to bo some confusion., in the minds of those present as to tne boundaries of the proposed borougn. The Ciiairman outlineu wnat h© thougnt were the boundaries, but he was contradicted by Mr Brice, who gave a moro extended boundary, which, th© Chairman remarked, would include moro rural land.

Tho Chairman emphatically condemned tho proposed borough, for financial and other reasons. Tno idea, he said, had omanated from a tow people who had a particular interest* in view. They would like to have a carpet running from their front door to the tram. If thero was a borough tho rates would bo spent in Papanui proper, and tho outskirts would bo neglected. * Tho clerk of th© Avon Road Board, Mr Bosomworth, was invited by tho Chairman to supply a few illuminating figures. Mr Bosomworth explained first, that be was not present as clerk of tha Road Board, but as a ratepayer. Soma ratepayers might be wondering why the members of the Road .boaro. had nob been antagonistic to the proposal, and given a lead to the meeting, bub th© figures h© would givo # -would! supply the reason. He did not know what tho members of the Board would say when he had given the show away. As he was not aware of tho firoposed boundaries, he had taken rom as far up the i\orth road as Green's road, and tho figures were on that basis. In 1903-4 the total raised, from Norman's road to May's road, was £742 78. The amount spent west of Green's road from tho Papanui road down to Norman's road, was £235 16a 4d, and to the east of Green's road £21 2s 6d; for 1904-5 th© respectivo totals wore £-104 lis 6d and £17 12s 9d; for 1905-6 £451 2s 4d and £66 is sd. Tho total spent on s tho various roads all over the district in 1903-4 was £1037 16s 7d, in Papanui £256 18s lOd; 1904-5, £1159 4s 9d and £422 4s 3d; 1905-6, £1135 9s lOd and £517 3s 9d. On an average during the past ten years Papanui ward had drawn from tho other« wards £70 per annum moro than it raised. _ , There was a long discussion over the figures, without any hop© of anything tangible resulting. Part of the discussion was entirely informal botweon Mr Bosomworth and Mr Brico, and the chairman had to interrupt. Ho created a diversion by remarking that h© did not know whether there were any supporters of tho -borough present. "Some of them havo turned turtle, seceded," he declared. Tho general application of this remark was warmly resented by Mr Brico. A long and warm debate followed. Compari,3ons with Sydenham, Riccarton, St. Albans, and oven tho good old days, were dragged in by tho hair, and tho proposal was denounced' by ono fiery old gentleman as "tho 'ight of impcrtinco." A statistical gentleman fired off a list of figures dealing, with local government in tiho Dominion, all designed to warn Papamui from joining the ranks of tho boroughs. On the other hand Mr Brico, who confessed to a quartor-acre interest in Papanui, eloquently contended that prosperity was vouchsafed to boroughs to a degree which should turn Road Board districts green with envy, The meeting would havo none of his arguments, and prooeeded to question him. Ho would have none of their questions, and scorned their wandering statements. The meetinig .-iterated that it could not see how- Papanui was going to pay for the dignity aoid staff of a borough without putting the screw on tho ratepayers. Tho meeting decided, with some caustic humour, that tho best thing to do would be to lose tho disaffected ratepayers. It was resolved' to advise them to make application to the Riocarton Road Board to ascertain on what terms they and their land would bo taken over by that body- Tho chairman confessed that he didn't know whom the resolution would bo e.nt to, but ho presumed that tho interested parties would read it in tho newspapers. A more direct motion being desired, Mr F. Sieson moved:—"That this meeting considers that the time is not opportune for Papanui to form a borough." This was canried by a large majority, tho dissentients numbering only four or five.