SUBURBAN DEMANDS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1101, 13 April 1911, Page 3

SUBURBAN DEMANDS.

DEPUTATION TO Tilt: MAYOR. A large deputation of Kilbirnie residents waited upon the Mayor (Mr. T. M. Wilford) yesterday to voiililalc ;< number of grievances.

Mr. .1. ,\. Hoginbotham \vn- i-pukui-iiian. 11« contended that Hie people »f Kilbii-nic luul n grievance in regard t'j the mainbiianec, upkeep, and exteiwnn cf ilieir recreation re-erve. .\ great ileal mniv work ought to be done. A Him »f .t2(l!)() allocated by n fonnor cmiutil had been (liveried from its tle.-tiiiatbii—the improvement of the k'ilbiniio JJpcii-nHcni ne-erve —to some other parts of the <Hy. Kilbirnie had boon overlooked for Lyall Bay. An important scheme, the reclamation of tho south end of Evans Bay, had been allowed to fall into abeyance. "Under the Empowering Act the Harbour Board could .'top in in 11)11 and undertake the work of reclamation for its own purposes. Mr. .las. Clark (another member of the deputation) empliiisUsd the, importance of proceeding with the reclamation work. The Mayor disclaimed responsibility for la?t year's estimate.-. He could assure Mr. Heginbotham that the council would for the coming year put a sum on the estimates for the upkeep and maintenance of the Kilbirnie reserve as for the other city reserves. The reason why no money was spent last year was that when he came into office he found that .£10.(100 hnd been spent on the reserves in the previous year, and there was not enough money to go round last year. He had been compelled to cut JUO.OOD down to .£OOOO. How much money Kilbirnia would get would depend on what the committee felt was a fair thing. On the question of the lapse of the option on the reclamation of Evans Bay in 191-1. the Mayor reassured the deputation that a simple Washing-up Bill could extend the date if necessary. He was absolutely certain the Harbour Board was not looking for any more reclamation at present. The estimate for reclamation all over was .£5208 an acre, which with streets and lighting would amount to .EGOOO, or ,£3OO a year at 5 per cent., an impossible figure. Continuing, the Mayor made it clear (hat the council did not contemplate any large expenditure at Lyall Bay. He expressed regret that ,£2OOO should have been diverted from Kilbirnie before his term as Mayor, and assured tin deputation that the loss would be made good. Dealing next with the broad question of demands from the suburbs over the hill, Mr. Wilfonl said they totalled ,£IOO,OOO (.£70,000 odd for the proposed new tunnel and ,£20,000 for Constable Street extension). The whole revenue of the citv did not exceed .£230,000, and .£208,000 went in wages, sinking fund, and interest. "I am not going to advocate anv increase of rates," stated the Mayor;'"they arc quite high enough now." Pressed for an answer to the question whether the council was going to undertake the reclamation advocated at an early date or no, the Mayor replied that, so far as he was concerned, the answer was emphatically "No."