MR. CRAWFORD AT NEWTOWN.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 791, 14 April 1910, Page 4

MR. CRAWFORD AT NEWTOWN.

POLICY V. PXATrnjDE. Mr. C. J. Crawford, candidate for th* city Mayoralty, continued his addresses last night, speaking before a', crowded audience in the Victoria Hall. Mr. B. Dawson was the chairman. After pointing out his early connection with that.part of the city, Mr. Crawford said that he understood that there, had' been three matters discussed from the ■■ same platform the previous evening to which he would like to, make a reply. ■ The first was a proposal to earmark the rates i for every street in such a manner that they should be spent on that particular street hot only in connection with road ..' works, but also in regard with' lighting drainage, etc. The next matter in question was in connection with a, sum of; .£20,000, which was borrowed by the city, for. the purpose of purchasing the. old horse tramways, and the statement .was made that no sinking fnnd had been proivided.' It had also been stated that -be (Mr. Crawford) only had one policy—and that was a policy of. tree-planting. ._ .Dealing with these three matters, Mr. Crawford remarked that he had had vary long experience of municipal work, and ' that he liad not come forward briefed for: the contest, but had come forward tonve his ideas "straight out of his head of what he knew, and he had found . it necessary only to go to the city officials for a small amount of detail work. lhe. audience therefore could believe him when he stated that he spoke only of what he actually knew. (Applause.) In connection with the first matter to which he had referred, he declared that it was, an absolute fallacy to earmark rates for each street. At'.the present moment the city expended over £12,000 a year in what could . be' called office expenses, and he did not think that any sensible citizen would desire that that amount should be increased by the engagement of a large number of. extra clerks to keep accounts for each street. As a matter of fact, he said, it had been found in all cities absolutely impossible to allocate the rates .in the manner suggested. - The. repairs of any particular street always cost more . than the actual rates collected for that particular year. It would therefore, be seen that rates collected in, one street had to go to help in the repairs of adjoining streets. /Further,, it was .well known, and any city engineer would corroborate his statement, that, the mam street, where the traffic: was heavy, always took more money to keep in proper repair than the rates collected in that Dealing with the- second matter, Mr. Crawford said that it was one of ,tn«. errors, that people who did not have-a real knowledge of the.subject were apt : to drop into. There was.no.actual sinking- fund- provided-for r the repayment of the £20,000. . The- money was raised not only-for the purehaseof the old tramways, but also for the horses and plant and the land-that the bamsheds stood on. The horses and plant, wer? sold for £5200 and the land valued at JGGQOO, and these sums haoVbeen set apart for the, purpose of a sinbng fund/for the repayment of this amount. In regard to the assertion thathe (Mr. Crawford) had only one od out that, so far as he couldmake out, oh'the-other side there, was only one.policy put forward, and 'that, wasthat the citizens should have the: right to decde as to whether they should continue Jith ? fire .at presenter whether ■SwrtfrWK Sot %?J*lword went on to remark that he^owTrowed to deal quesio? o greater seriousness to the <utiferi"^"«ffl^?' in-anv"way necessary, and the oilier.. chooT.considcring that no port couldhe a great port without a dock. There wa* LtaMy much to be said for tlie lattor lament, but he ".ought jhat all must admit that nobody suggested that a dock in Wellington would really, pay, and therefore, if we were to give »•.**»»• argument that we. must have.a dock to So a great port we must admit that it was extravagant, and that if we went -m for such exfa-avagance it was absolutely, necessary for those .in charge of .these affairs to so set their finances in. order that their financial position could stand he strain of the charge of £16,00 a year which would be on the port by' the time the dock was completed. Had such financial arrangements, been made? Mr. Crawford asked. Obviously they had not, for we found that just at the moment that this charge was tocome upon .the port the harbour authorities hod found it.necessary to'increase--., tnc «««»?■■ £17 000 a year, making a total ot am.uuu a'year,- which the Harbour Board would have to bear,' and which, of course, would not be paid by fte companies, but would be passed on to the citizens of this city and the surrounding district. "Are you prepared to allow this policy of chaos,' disaster, and abandonment to bo grafted on to the affairs of this city? or are you prepared to put in -your Mayoral chair a man who has an unblemished record of success in private and municipal life?" asked Mr. Crawford.; (Loud applause.) . . ... . . Touching upon the electric light department, Mr. Crawford pointed out that the purchase price was £160,000, that the' capital expenditure upon the last figures was £180,000, that, the existing overdraft on this account was £16,254. that owing to the introduction of metallic filament lamps it was obvious that.it would be very difficult to make the department pay, and it was also obvious that it would be quite impossible to pay off. the existing overdraft out of profits. .There was no question that the citizens would do everything they conceivably could by the lessening of the requirements of the underwriters and by pushing on the extensions .el their businesses, but it was obvious that it was bad business on the citizens' part to be paying five per cent, for their heavy overdraft when they could borrow money more cheaply, and it iwas obvious that if this business was to be extended flic citizens would have to vote more capital not only to pay off the overdraft, but to provide working capital for necessary extensions. A hearty vote of thanks and fonfidence was passed to the candidate on the motion of Mr. Kay.

To-morrow evening, at c o'clock, Mr. John Brodic, candidate for the Miramar Mayoralty, will address the electors, of Sea ton n ht Fabian's Tea Rooms. In connection with the Miramar Mayoral election, Mr. Townsend will address the electors at Hope Hall, Miramar, to-night at 8 o'clock, and at Fabian's Tea Booms norf Monday ovening. Mr. Oati'ford will speak at the Methodist schoolroom, Northland, at 8 o'clock to-night.