THE MAYORALTY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 473, 3 April 1909, Page 7

THE MAYORALTY.

ADDRESS BY MR. F. G. BOLTON. Mr. F. 0. Bolton addressed, his first mooting 'hi connection with the Mayoral cam-' paign'in the Mission Hall, Tory Street, last night. About fifty ratepayers-were present. . Mr. F. M'Caiiu occupied tho chair. Tho candidate prefaced his remarks by stating that his claims for support were that ho was a native of the city; that his: interests \Vcro bound up in tho city; and that he was a ' largo ratepayer. As mayor of Eastbourne, member of tho Hospital Trustees, Benevolent Trustees, and Harbour Board ho had gained much experience, which would bo valuable if ho wero elected. Another .'qualification was that ho was a business man. ll© had made a success of his own business, and that was the best evidence that lie would 'mako a success of tho Corporation's affairs. (Applause.) Councillor Fisher had asserted'that a public man was to bo preferred to' a'busiuess man, but lie hold'an opposite opinion. ; 1 , Criticism of Opponents' Policies. Then," again,! Councillor Fisher had averred that a,number of works could be undertaken . this year out of; revenue. . A glance at the financial operations of the corooratidn would show that he-was either talking rubbish or that the present council had broil guilty of reckless mismanagement. It froulcT require £30,000 to complete the works" which Coun- . cillor Fisher had; outlined. * If their cost -were not "to be covered:'6ut of loan monovs, ' or bv.'increasing the'"rates, then they could not be; undertaken without' gre'at' retrenchment, '7and he Would have to show that retrenchment was ' necessary. ' • Why had hot • Councillor, Fisher outlined his-'- own -proto the • council. ;if ; it' were practic- ' 'Newman had ? also favoured igreat economies, 1 and-noj ltians,-' but;-'in tho same breath, he had set forth a' programme which mcludod: tl\o ' ' completion of recreation grounds;housing/' tho poor, ' cleanthe,, streets by machinery]. v* and • the planting of Mount : ' Ticitoria. . In his opinion Dr.' Newman's policy was,..similar 'to a: "cure-all" medicine. (Laughter.) 'Dr:' Newman left one to imagine -where the.money was to come from; He (the:speaker)iwas not in favour of any increase in the rates, but, if 'possible, that fiey should bo. reduced. (Applause.) Waste and Extravagance Alleged. * i. ? 1T ± S ,^ ru ® that the. incidence of rating hadnot altered, but, owing''to:th© valuations baymg been raised;, by, 50 . por, cent., tho council had; % duriiig'the' past few years, collected twice as : much rates than in the past. What ho 1 wanted to know was how they had ? -i% WW?-;,■ Ho. submitted that there had been great waste and extravaganco m many directions. (Applause.) The tramways were' very' badly constructed iu the tirst place. Since they had been, constructed tile 'Corporation had gone to enormous expense iu tho matter of renovations and reolaoements of bad work. Further, he alleged u j e ' co - r }° light works' had boon purchased at too high a prico. In connection with the works, replacements were being made from Po-\wi ™veiiue." Even although had been voted' for recreation . grounds, another £1500 was needed to complete them. Tho explanation of the failure or the council to arrive at'tlie amount which would ,be required. for; tho undertaking was due to the fact that .it only 'got estimates for certain portions of the work, and that it ' merely guessed at. the probable cost. The 'Ports bodies had, in his opinion, ground for oomplaint, in the master. 'Control of the Tramways.

The • : in regard ato .tho tramwavs ■ after deducting- interest on loahs for sinking lunds and depreciation fund were only £5563 on . the expenditure of . half a million. It was uncertain' whether .the Mayor, tho Tramways Committee, tho engineer, or. the manager. controlled tho tramways. At the present tiine, things were Tather at sixes and sevens. In. order. k> get handsome -profits tho tramf J® i-v" -- b - -iho. control of & first-class manager, who should receive, if. ' a(Hear, hears.) ile wonld Tike to. make; it~clear, however, that hq believed-,all,thar-mon'iii the-service did their wo T k f well; -There was a .great deal I? 0 mu ®® committee Tyorkj in: connection.with .}?• .council• ; -.Questions, of :: policy 'should -be 'told that the s P9 r ts--, grounds should.-,be completed out of • revenue: as soon as possible.. If, the financial posit.on improved'm,the' future it would be » S o t o the, ratepayers in connection with. any..loans.- He had done all in'his' power to get the Hutt Park for the city, which it never should have lost. It was the of^tK^+'V 1 "V council , to ' get a shar ® control of the ground,for all time. (Applause.). The Park would prove remunerative, and, if it ..were .pnt;in order, it would obviate the necessity of acquiring further grounds near the city.. .. ~ Markets, Cas, Reserves, Eto. Public ' markets, • which could be instituted without expense, should be' one. of tho first things undertaken by the new council. If he were elected, and .it appeared to him that it wis.a good thing to borrow money for a reproductive work; he would have no hesitation in submitting a proposal to the ratepayers. (Applause.) As far as he was awaref thero T)r S IWn, tho , Appeal . Board,' which Ai'-+ t an P ro P os .ed should be established. ' n' tio . s «ggcstion that-the corporation' 3 th ,° works.'h" would say. Go slowly. council should only, acquire, the property, when'funds perv /i • i °^ alll T > t Was.getting 20s.' in the £. (Applause.) He approved of tho priacjple of abattoirs, and .municipal milk supfn i ? llot to commit himself J ", r{^ rd dfitails untii he had.seen what wa s . the exact position of the finances, <Of oi) the council.-had lost;inmrt vff -respect of the greater p?re ol that area compensation had not been received. Ho /steps. being taken to r °iSS?aali.-thAcontrol •of reioi ves which.,the, Grovecnment.i.no.; longer reSTfe* .'r--TJien,- again, certain thetnnV"f Clty lailclß had fallen into nf-the'Gomnment'. . Be would adit tt,^ I th ,V O IP? ratlon stolid claim that it )v»s entitled'tfl,them.. .... ■ ; , .' Motto: Prudence and Progress, hiiswt"'®? 1 . ail!l expenditure was Sla n f -j>o favoured pro--.'"tended, to,speak on twenty-one other occasions in various parts of the citv U not his intention to g expendituro. in connection with , thfr P thi n fnm, ■, -Bolton stated i t t-nat the. council should, as far as'-in« c iw« ,* restrict the up of tho Tol'n soncerts for charitable purposes. Vote of Confidence.' Upon , the motion of Mr. H. Warden, the i candidate..was. accorded a unanimous vote of confidence. ... ' , Ul , DR. NEWMAN AT NEWTOWN. About 100 electors attended Dr. New. man s meeting at St. Thomns's Hall, New-' town, last mght. The chair was taken by .Stan.. Brown who, m introducing the with wra T r t ■ io ' '"- s lo , ng co,l »ection mi P business in the pity, the address delivered .was in.al] essential points on tfie lines of Dr. Newman's previous speech.. Ho began by referring.to the long apprenticeship which ho. had served not only m tho City, Council,' but in Parliament, and on various local bodies. Speaking of tho rates,, lie said that Wellington was "ofr highly.' rated, tho annual' amount $•7- mn V°- f i tb ' s *¥?' 33 much as £/0,000 went ih interest ..on loans. They would? haro to go very, carefully next year, ®r else they wouW find that revenue would not • tqual expenditure' .The financial strinF°!lF' V , m ellingtori; however, would probably last only for, aljout.Jvo" or six voars arid then things would "'improve... .'Their water supply was suiLciont' for many yc«irs to ..come, and, , by and by,;,many -of the city , lfcaftes, winch were at .present bringing in '..a rather;' low rontal,. vr<>uld",e'xpire. In" creased population would!'also'. brill" increased revenue for trams 'arid elcctric'lighting, etc. Touching on tho trams, Dr. Newroan referred to tho progress which New-

town had made lately. Not long ago it was a little-known, out-of-the-way suburb, hut now, owing to its access to tho city, and other' fa'otors, it was going ahead at a great pace. It had,a museum, and the only, thoreforo tho finest, zoological' gardens in New Zealand. Reverting to general municipal .questions, the candidate said that Wellington had tho finest drainage system in the Dominion. Its system for removing rcfuso was also excellent, but their dirty streots were a disgrace. Something should be done to remedy this, and that at an early date. For ouo thing, they should employ more machinery, not only for street-cleaning, but for street watering and other purposes. It was a great pity to see bright little boys doing nothing bettor than shovel dirt in the straits. Othor matters that should bo attended to wero tho provision of workers' homes,' and tho beautifying of the town bolt. A start had at last been mado in using tho city reserves, but moro should bo done, for it was of tho greatest importance that the young men should havo provision mado for their recreation. At tho conclusion of tho address, Dr. Newman answered questions put to him. In answer to ono persistent questioner, he stated that he was not in favour of placing the control of tho firo brigado under a fire board. • - A vote of thanks and confidence, moved by Mr. J. J. Callaghan, and seconded by Mr. F. W. Greville, was carried unanimously. ' . • . MR. FISHER'S CANDIDATURE. There, was. .a crowded attendance at the Aro . Street: Mission Kali last evening, when .Mr. F. M.. B.- Fisher, M.P., candidate for the Mayoralty, addressed tho electors. Mr. R. Walker 'Occupied the chair. Mr. Fisher dealt at,some length with municipal affairs, and. stated - that though it might bo said that tho revenue and expenditure of tho city this year about balanced; and that therefore it would bo impossible to construct out of revenue the works which ho proposed for the coming year, ho was confident that he could offect sufficient; saving in .the'twelve months to carry out. his policy without going on to the monoy market.- He referred to the enormous increaso in tho rates to which tho citizens had been subjected during tho past few yeaTS, ancl expressed his belief that it would be the duty of the Mayor and the new council to see that ,no further burdens were imposed oil the ratepayers. The proposals ho was making were only those that were essential, and he. had no desire during the coming year to increase still further the indebtedness of the people unless there should be . absolute- lleed; For instance, it was quite possible that at any time tho city engineer .nu'ght' report to the council that it was necessary for the duplication of tho Wamui main'to be proceeded with at onco, and in that caso'-it would be foolish for any council to fly in the face of such a roport, and incur the risk that would bo entailed by not putting such a proposal before the ratepayers. At the conclusion of his address, a unanimous voto of thanks and confidence was passed to Mr. Fisher, and a committee was formed to advance his candidature.

Mr. T. M. Wilford is advertised to address meetings as follow '.-Monday. at St. Mark's Schoolroom; ' Tuesday, at: T 3illford's Hall Brooklyn; Wednesday, at'Viidnoja Hall, Newtown. To-night -Mr. F. G.. Bolton, candidate for tho .city mayoralty, will, address /an open-air meefang at'the comer of Courtenay Place and Cambridge Terrace. On Monday he will speak at St. Thomas's Schoolroom, Newtown.