HUTT RATEPAYERS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 3

HUTT RATEPAYERS.

ASSOCIATION FORMED. ■MAYOB MAKES AN EXPLANATION. A public meeting waa held- in the Lower Hutt Town Hall last evening for the purpose. of forming a Ratepayers' Association for the district. About thirty ratepayers attended. Major M'Donald was in the Ichair, and there were also present the two Mayoral candfdates, Messrs. E. P. Bunny, and W. H. Russell, and Mr. G. T. London (who has retired from the Mayoral contest . iu favour of Mr. Bunny). '

The chairman said that certain ratepayers desiring that a '-Ratepayers' Association should be re-established, had met recently,..and set'.up-a.:'provisional, committee to arrange for the present meeting. A :few"'years ago, he.said, there had been aT very live Ratepayers' Association in the'.district.' It had been weli organised, and had done excellent work. Having succeeded in getting its - Mayor into office, and seven out of nine councillors, it disbanded—just at the, time when its real work was commencing. At the present time, .the interests of. the ratepayers of the borough required careful watching, and "a , well-organised ■ association could ~do valuable work. s ' It' was necessary to , have some force behind the council to push it;in the right direction, if it was disinclined to go that ; way. There were many matters to be attended to. For instance, Gear Island might slip from their" grasp .'any day.. Although that was a River Board; question, it was a matter for. the borough to deal with also. Eastern Hutt had been very nearly lost, and,, had it not .been for strenuous organisation in past years, that district wojild have- been included in Petone. Further, an .attempt had-.been made to foist certain things upon the ratepayers In regard to the proposed-tramways. A Bill had gone before 'the'House'which had some pernicious 'clauses in '.itclauses that ■ contained proposals which would be detrimental to_ the borough. Mr. Russell: They were approved by the board, and by its solicitor, who is present to-night. It is. hardly .fair'- to put it that the . board was. responsible for pernicious clauses 1' to "/ r which the solicitor offered no objection. '." . Mr. Bunny':"l '■ \ think I should deprecate, at this meeting.remarks as.'to anything , the solicitor :• for" the - Tramway. Board may, have had"to!, do. -J do not know whether Mr. Russell ■ said it apologetically, ,for". me."lf he did,. I might say there was no/need for it. As solicitor for the '.Tramway, Board, I.Had to, carry out strict instructions. ' "■'...'

The chairman: I hope" you -two aspirants for., the Mayoralty will'. just'•: keep quiet.' Ton will have ample opportunity of discussing these matters later on. ■'■■■ . Continuing his remarks, the chairman said that there was also the question whether the River Board, should retain its present constitution. He .favoured its amalgamation.-with-the-local-'rauthority. (Applause.) -These ;.were matters, for, dis-I cussion, whose existence showed that there was need, of a "watch'-doV'in the aistrict, to safeguard the' interests of the ratepayers. The rates were creeping up: he admitted that the dapitaV value was growing, but the total indebtedness of the borough .was also increasing.' We do. not want, to leave it entirely with our Mayor and councillors to do: as they think fit," added the Chairman. We want to have a lever behind them, we must have 'a means of forcing : their hand, and there is no better plan than the establishing of a real/live Eatepayers' Association. The chief functiofrof the association is not to be the election 'of a,Mayor and councillors. That may be one if unction, but 'the • principal'duty should be the Safeguarding of the general mterests of. the ratepayers. Every resident'of the district shouldibe eligible for election to membership. .It must not be a hole-and-corner affair, or a select bodj." The chairman having moved the formation of a Eatepayers* Association, Mr. E. P. Bishworth seconded. He said that he wished/. tp. protest' agjinst 'the quiet way in which , --the' -1 movement 'had been' initiated. There were 1100 ratepayers "in tie district, _and how many, he. asked, had bsen invited to joiu the proposed associa-tion?--If it-was merely'an , election device, he was'.against it,.-, and wonld ;fight .itfight through; A circular had'been e'ent out signed by Mr. Bunny,.and he wonld like, to know the full facts :of the matter. " Mr. Bunny rose to .reply, .but was ruled out.of order, the chairman saying that the:method of calling the prior meeting had nothing whatever to do' with the question .under-discussion;'

The proposal to form an association was then agreed to.■'■. '.■•■-.•' . ■'. :Mr. Eishworth then 'rose' asain, and remarked that an invidiouis distinction had been made, as only a few ratepayers had been called together by tie circdar: If Mr. Bunny had issued the invitation as a private citizen, he had acted-rightly, but, if the circular had been sent put by him as Mayor, he had. slighted the majority, by asking only "th« cream" of the ratepayers.'; ■; , ;: .

A. ratepayer: No. - .'■' '■■'-' , -\ ;.. Mr. Eishworth: I don't care what yon think, Mr. Bennett. That is. my "irn. pression.., . ~ ■ *. Professor Von Zedlitz said that .there had. been a suspicion that the present meeting had' been "called to- rurthei the interests.i.of, ..the :.. new Mayor. But. for that feeling among, ratepayers there would- have been 'a larger attendance. At the'time of the prior meeting, Mr. Bunny did not seek re-election as Mayor. Acting absolutely within his rights, he.called together a limited number of personal friends in order to intimate to them that hedid not intend to seek re-election. It was perfectly. ludierous for anyone to suggest that he had not.a right to do : that. ~.;■-... . .- A ratepayer do 'npt;'eay!'sq';'.it wii bad taste, anyway. - - -.-. . .-. •'.. . ::. Proceeding, Professor Von ■ Zedlitz ' said that the meeting; , convened 'for' quite a different purpose, could not connect itself .with an.initiatory.movement for- the establishing- of a . Ratepayers' Association. Realising tha£ the meeting' merely, set up a. provisional' committee--whicn was now disbanded—for • the purpose of ing a hall, to enable the. proceedings' to .have absolute'-'publicity. :. ■ . ■ , ■■ Mr. Bunny, .said. that, he regretted Mr. , Rishworth's • tone.' , It -was'' true 'that he wrote to 'his personal friends, i his ■ chief object being', to announce' that he was not going to stand again, for the Mayoralty. As he had been,often asked to assist in the formation ,o£ .'a'Tßatepayers' 'Association, he considered:;that_:this" would'be a good opportunity'to discuss the matter.' Personally, he did not'niind whether a Batepayers' Association was formed or not. It was a'duty,'.which he owed to the people .of the district,/ to assist in the movement; if the. residents desired to proceed with it That .meeting realised that it had n'6 r authority!'and'it proceeded along prop.ee.'Jiftes.; ;'/Hft-^as' not even made one of "the- conveners- of. the present meeting. "li.the'w, js: any., inisunderstandiug," concluded Mr. Bunny, "it is not due to anything' these convenors did, 'or. anything I did; it is due to unfounded'rumours circulated in:the district by people who ought to know better." - (Applause.)When the meeting went on to consider proposals to be embodied in rules for the association (one of which was that x the annual subscription should be. 2s. 6d.), Mr. Russell asked what means the association would have' of checking any irresponsibility on the. port of. the. council, like what had occurred in the pa&i. Se , suggested that the Mayor, before putting any important proposal to the council, should call the ratepayers together, and acquaint them of his plans. Unless something'of the kind were agreed to, important proposals could be agreed to in committee, and the ratepayers would not hear of them until it was too late to vary them. .--■

The chairman: If I were not Mayor I should give due consideration to your representations. The association .would not have to wait until a loan was passed before they discussed.it. Mr. Buesell pointed out that even if the ratepayers w,ere consulted, the council might not keep within, the amount prescribed by the loan. The chairman: Don't'take me too liter ally. I would depart from anything, if I thought it necessary. "Do you hear what he says?" said Mr. Enssell. "He says, T, as Mayor, would depart from anything if I thought it necessary.' That policy." continued Mr. Ruesell, "hnd led to endless trouble in the past." i The'meeting then went on to consider other proposals to constitute the rules of the association.