CHRISTCHURCH CITY COUNCIL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 192, 8 May 1908, Page 8

CHRISTCHURCH CITY COUNCIL.

SPEECH BY THE NEW MAYOR. , (BY TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL COItnESFONDENT). ' 'Mr>Charles Allison, who ■ ,was, installed Mayor'of Christchurch yesterday, said that one of the things. ivl!ich . should be attended to immediately, was'.in, connection with 'the .forroatieiu of sewers.- The Council had passed several resolutions ■ intended to assist ratepayers, who ; wore unable- to afford the amount necessary for 1 connections,' by enabling them to pay that amount , as ratei paid oyer a term of years. The. Council -hac relied upon the Drainage Board to. introduce that, matter in its n6w Bill, but.no provision of the. kind was in the Bill. It was necessarj for the Council to obtain,-power -to, borrow the money required l . According to, Mr. Payling, certain savings had been,made on the estimated expenditure. He was afraid that some'of'the saving had been made at the expense of. the streets. It might have been better if a little more had been spent on.road metal and on keeping the -streets in order. The streets, would be greatly, improved by laying down ordinary asphalt. Inorcler tc improve the value of the city reserves, •'il had been suggested that forest trees shoule bo planted. If £-100 or £500 a year was spent in planting these • reserves the resull would be not only to -beautify the city bill to provide a source of revenue in years tc come. The abolition of the Drainage Boarc was.-still desirable in ..the, interests of the ratepayers. At present they liad the Drainago Board, the Trainway Board, and the Council' exercising powers that might be moro advantageously exercised by a single body. It was probably not possible to acquire the tramways, but the Drainage Boarc was another matter. '.The Question of getting power from the Waimakariri had been befori the Council for some years, and' thfcy were practically no furtlier forward ' than wher they started. : He thought that as tho existing installation for electrical supply was inadequate .they should obtain' an impartia expert report as to what was the best and cheapest method .of getting .power in .the district independent of the rivers. Ho was certain' that the verdict would be in favoui of steam or producer gas. . . Whichever'was adopted it would <J>e necessary to have a depot alongside the railway, line' to supply the plant with coal.- He had a report- upon producer gas, which stated that-a 1200 horsepower plant could be supplied for somethins like £25,000. , . -