HUTT AND PETONE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 134, 7 June 1906, Page 6

HUTT AND PETONE.

i\ «■ THE QUESTION OF AMALGAMATION. INTERESTING FIGURES. A special meeting of the Hutt Borough Council was held la&t evening to- consider tire question of amalgamation of the- Hutt and i'ctone boroughs. Tho Mayor (Mr. T. W. M'Donald), who presided, said the matter was one of first importance at tht> present time, but would have to be very carefully considered. It was well known that he was «n--tirelv in favour of the principle of amalgamation. There should be amalgamation as soon as the question was threshed out, or there should be no amalgamation. In his opinion it would have been better had amalgamation taken place bsfore the present borough schemes had been started. Councillor Ward, the mover of the resolution convening the ' meeting, said the subject w;is a big one to tackle, but it should be dealt with at once. One had only to look at the natural formation of the valley to see that most of the large works carried out in one borough must affect the other, and those works could bo better controlled by one local body. Had there been ,one body there was little doubt that a tramway would now be established or be close at hand, and they were never likely to get tramways without combination of the two boroughs. Councillor Ward instanced other works in which amalgamation would be beneficial — gas, drainage, etc. He wished it to be clearly understood that while he favoured amalgamation, he did not want it to be thought that the Hutt was begging and anzious for 'Petone to amalgamate. In his opinion Petone would greatly benefit, and it would bo to the advantage of both. He had had some figures prepared showing the indebtedness, etc., of both boroughs, and from these there did not seem to be much for either to boast about. The Petone figuree, which had bsen supplied to him by courtesy of the Mayor, of Petone, were, as follow :-j- . Total debts— £ Unreproductive works ... 59,734 •Reproductive works ... 28,700 Total debt 88,434 'Includes gas works and municipal buildings. Population, 1906, 5803. Cnreproductive works, £10 5a 8d per capita; reproductive works, £4 18s lOd per capita : total, £15 4s 6d. Unimproved value of borough, £705,141. * , ■ Unreproductive works, 8.47 per cent", of unimproved value; reproductive works, 4.07 of unimproved value : total, 12.54 per cent of unimproved value. Capital value of borough, £1,110,725; Unreproductive works, 5.37 per cent, of capital value ; reproductive works, 2.59 per cent, of capital value : total 7.96 per cent, of capital value. Area of borough, including Korokoro, 920 acres. In reply to the Mayor, Councillor Ward said he was not quite sure whether Petone's recent loans were included in the above figures, but he believed they were. The Hutt figures, as prepared by the Town Clerk (Mr. P. R. Purser), were as follow :— Total debtl at 31st March, 1906 (unproductive £25,710 8s Bd. Population (census, 1906), 3404, or £7 lls OJd per capita. Unimproved rateable value of borough (1905-6), £596,809. The debt equals 4.3 per cent, of the unimproved rateable value. Capital value of the borough ! (1905-6), £863,500. The debtf equals 2.97 per cent, of the capital value. £ 8. d. Assumed total debt 3 years hence 25,710 8 8 Water supply, etc., loan ... 52,000 0 0 Gas loan . ... 14,000 0J) £91,710 8 8 Unproductive works, 13.02 per cent, of the rateable value. Reproductive works, 2.34 per cent, of the ratleable value;, total, 15.36 per cent, of the rateable value. The assumed debt mree years hence : Unproductive, 8.99 per cent, of the capital value ; reproductive, 1.62 per cent. ; total, 10.61 per cent. Area of borough, 3255 acres. The following note was added by the clerk: — "Tho assumed debt three years hence and its relative percentages cannot be taken as a fair basis of comparison with Petone, as by that time our values will have so increased that if tlhe loans then should be approximately as stated, the percentages would be considerably lower." Continuing, Councillor Ward said that when the Hutt's present loans were expended, the Hutt would bo in a much -better position than Petone. But the position for both would be much better under amalgamation. Petone people claimed that their streets were better than the Hutt's, and their water supply was better. He would admit that. But Pelono would benefit greatly by improved means of communication and the Hutt's increase in population. If Petone stood in the way of amalgamation-" it would be cutting off its own nose to spite the Hutt. Councillor Ward moved, "That the Petone council be asked to hold a special meeting to consider tho question of amalgamation ; that in the event of the meoting being held and a joint meeting deemed desirable, a combined meeting of tho two councils be held. If the two councils

favoured amalgamation, that the ratepayers hold meetings in each borough and polls be taken." The wisdom of moving this full motion was questioned, and ultimately Councillor Ward moved only the first part asking Petone to hold a meeting to consider the question. Councillor Mason seconded the motion and emphasised a number of tho points made. He pointed out that at present everything m the matter of administration was duplicated, and with one body there would be a considerable saving. He believed that if Petone people thought tho matter over carefully they would sco that amalgamation would benefit both boroughs. The Mayor said that neither of the two speakers had' brought forward a single argument to show that it would be materially to the advantage of tho Hutt to amalgamate. He favoured tho principle of amalgamation, but he wanted to see conclusively that it would be to the advantage of tho Hutt to amalgamate. They had to study the interests of the Hutt ratepayers. He intended to bring up every point he could against amalgamation to assist in having the matter thoroughly threshed out. After amalgamation, ne presumed they would have wards, and for some years the Hutt would be beaten every time by Petone's preponderance of votes. On the council, the Mayor, who would have to belong to the ward with the largest population — at present Petone by nearly two to one — would have a casting vote. Councillor Ward : Surely the same thing was pointed out in regard to Melrose and Wellington. The Mayor said another point was the question of raising moneys and carrying out loan works. Petone would have the power to outvote tho Hutt. Councillor Ward : That very thing happened in this council in matters affecting the district where Councillor Mason and I come from. The Mayor considered that a different position. Should they amalgamate now and give Petone the whip hand, or wait till the Hutt's population was larger? As to the question of trams, he had every reason to believe that the Hutt would before very long bo in a position to go in fpr a scheme of its own, and, if it did, it could run a tramway right to the Petone station. The comparative figures submitted did not ahow that the Hutt would benefit. It showed that Petone would reap the greatest benefit. The Hutt had gone up 86 per cent, in population, and Palone 56 per cent., since last census. Alieetown's need of surface drainage had been referred to. He would show how it could bs carried out with- • out any joint scheme. How would the special rates be affected? They would go up in the Hutt Ward especially. Councillor Croft : We don't want to pay their special rates, nor do they want to pay ours. The Mayor asked where was the reason for amalgamation if they were not going to combine in those matters? Councillor Ward : We would all get better transit facilities. The Mayor reiterated that he had strong hopes that they would get those even without amalgamation. Councillor Baldwin opposed the motion as the arguments he had heard were not sufficient to convince him that amalgamation was desirable. Councillor Ward considered that tlhe preponderance of voting objection was a very, poor bogey. Councillor Mason expressed surprise at the Mayor's opposition. He had always understood the Mayor to be sl'rongly in favour of amalgamation. Councillor Clark did not think the time had yet arrived for an amalgamation scheme. N The Mayor, replying to Councillor Mason, said thitt if at the end he was satisfied it would be a good thing for the Hutt to amalgamate he would support it.' -Otherwise he would not. He was in favour of ciilling a public meeting and taking a poll when the Tight time came. Councillor Mason said that if they adopted the chief line of argument of the Mayor the position was that at present the Hutt must not agree to amalgamation because of the fear of Petone outvoting it. Five years hence the Hutt could outvote Petone, so if tho same argument was adopted Petone would not then amalgamate. Therefore amalgamation would never take place. Councillor O'Sullivan objected to amalgamation, as "Petone could do us every time." ' Councillor Yerex thought that if the Hutt) wanted amalgamation at all now was its time. Further discussion extended to nearly 11 o'clock, and then Councillor Ward's motion was' carried after being altered so frliat it merely asked the Petone Council if It was prepared to consider the question of amalgamation. A cablegram published yesterday from Melbourne stated that the Imperial authorities were desirous of holding a conference on the navigation laws as soon as possible. Mr. Deakin and Mr. Seddon, it was added, were endeavouring to secure a date near that fixed for the Colonial Conference (15th April), and had sent a cable message with that object. The Acting-Premier, speaking on the subject to a Post reporter this morning, stated that when the Royal Assent (which had been reserved for over a year) was given to the Shipping and Seamen Act, 1903, the Imperial authorities forwarded a long memorandum drawing attention to the want of uniformity in the navigation laws of the various parts of the Empire, and suggested that a conference should be held with the object of securing that uniformity. New Zealand, it was proposed, should send four representatives, representing the seamen, the owners, and the Government. At that time, however, the Government did not see its way to fall in with the idea, but since then it has taken up a different attitude, and Mr. Seddou and Mr. Deakin are now agreeing to the proposal. One result hoped for from such a conference, said the Actingil,i 1 , would be tho improvement of the conditions under which seamen are housed on ships, particularly on coasting vessels, -and it was considered probbafck that if those conditions wcro improved there would be a largo influx of Britishers into the merchant navy. At present out of 257,937 seamen m the British merchant navy 81,417 were foreigners and Lascars. At tho monthly meeting of tho Wellington Racing Club stewards yesterday it was decided that the electric totalisator bo not used at the winter meeting, and that Mr. J. Ames aguin have chargo of tho totalisators. The disqualification of W. Brown by the Wairarapa Racing Club was confirmed. Messra. W. H. Moorhouso and J. W. Abbott were ck-ct-od delegates to tho racing conference. Tho programme committee was instructed to recommend suitable dates for next season's meetings, the majority of the committee being of opinion that the summer meeting should bo neld over three days instead of two. The dates suggested by country clubs nubmiitod, and consideration deferred pending the report of the programme committee. Owing to tho exceedingly inclement weather this afternoon, it i* notified that the sale of work in St. Jumcs'a schoolroom, Adelaide-road, will continue open to-morrow nftornoon and evening, when the entertainments in the marquee will be repeatod. Mr. Gcorgo Inglis Hudson, tho proprietor of oumenthol jujubes, of Ipswich, Queensland, recently disposed of the rctnil tura to dovoto his cntiro attention to hi* branch of hi* buiineei, and intends in fuwhehuile and E"«-""f"iti'Wng_inJ.>tiiU.