LOCAL BILLS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 32, 15 October 1912, Page 3

LOCAL BILLS

WELLINGTON GETS THE USUAL CRITICISM ADMISSION CHARGES TO RESERVES I RESENTED MB. ELL BADLY DEFEATED. Last night's experience in Parliament 1 when the Wellington Local Bills were under discussion was the usual one, invariably lengthy criticism and not a little antagonism- In all there were 16 Bills o» the order paper when the House met at 7.30 p.m. to specially deal with these. ' * Mr. A. H. flindmarsh moved the second reading of the Wellington City Empowering Amendment Bill, which gives the city corporation power to make a charge on thirty days of the year to various reserves. It was a permissive Bin. Mr. H. G. Ell said he had.no'iiiteiition of stonewalling the Bill, but he intended to divide the House on the measure, fie knew of no local body which had made sach monstrous proposals as the Wellington Council had lor making charges to its reserves. Hie council on one occasion had asked for power for various associations to charge on 120 days per year to grounds leased from it. Because the Wellington City Corporation Council was an elected council some people seemed to imagine that the House must necessarily adopt any proposals it put forward. He objected to that doctrine. If it held good there was no need for Local Bills — Parliament should have' nothing to do with local self-government. (A member : Hear. hear). He had no antipathy -bo th'e Wellington City Council; he simply opposed the proposal on principle. For three years Wellington City Corporation had not raised its rates. It had no need to do this. The whole of its rates did not come to more than 3d in the £. The rateable value in the city of Wellington was £10,000,000. That value had j been created by the people and it was the doty of the City Council to see that sufficient rates were levied to maintain the reserves. The proposals in th« Bill meant placing a> tax on everyone who used a playground. Why should the city not provide playgrounds? If there w»8 any town in. the country where the reserves should be made free for all time it was the city of Wellington. .How many houses in Wellington were built on a- quarter of an acre of land ? There were thousands of towns in the city with "blanket" backyards. The Hon. A. L. Headman said that Mr. Ell was no doubt actuated by the best motives, but he entirely missed, the design of the Bill. It was put forward with a view to giving Wellington better and more playgrounds. If Mr. Ell studied the interest* of the people from the best point of view he wotud allow the Bill . to go through. In the past i&ft years the city had spent enormous sums in making playgrounds. As a, matter of fact, under the Bill the privileges of the people would' be very little curtailed. He pointed to the case of Melbourne, with its. beautiful parks, where charges were made on a certain number of -days during the year, ! Mr. Wilford referred to the cost of ! reserves in Wellington, and went on to> say that the various athletic associatiows were greatly *in need of grounds. The. idea of making the proposed charge was} to enable the city to provide more groctods for the people. The city had to ask tffce public for a contribution towards) the upkeep of Ms reserves, and he coirt-ended that the proposals in the Bill covratifcuted a very slight tax on the general public, seeing that on the thirty days of the year referred to they had full Access to the Town Belt. The making of a sports ground in. Wellington was 3& expensive luxury, and the proposal would not entail any hardship on anybody* ' . ■Dr. Newman contended that the principle, of the Bttt wag not new, and many branches of sport would not be able to continue without some (touch proposal. The city had spent a great deal of money on the Zoo, and he thought it was only that Mr. Ell and other "strangers" should pay for -the pleasure they received' from a visit to that attraction. Mr. V. Brown strongly objected to people being charged for admission to the Zoo. The motion for the second reading was challenged by Mr. Ell, and the Bill was read a second time by 34 votes to 23. . IN COMMITTEE. When the Bill was in committee Mr. Elfrepeated his objections. A division was taken on section 3 (to empower the - City Council to fix charges for admission on not more than thirty days a year to the Basin Reserve, Kelbume Park, An* dersori Park, Newtown, Park, and any other sports ground constructed out of loan moneys on any public reserve in the ■ city). The section was retained by 34 votes to 18. Mr. Pearce moved, as an amendment to section 4, s tfiat zoological gardens should be excluded from the scheme of charging. The Han. "R M. , B. Fisher held that a# tection 3 authorised the council to charge for admission to the Zoological Gardens at Jfewtown Park the amendment could not be accepted. The Chairman (Mr. Lang) ruled the amendment out of order. Mr, Ell then moved the following new clause i— "This Bill shall not come into operation till a poll of the electors has been taken and the proposal endorsed." ThJs would give the people of Wellington a chance to express their opinion on the matter. ,Mr. T. M^ Wilford said Mr. Ell had delivered the Same speech that he did the previous year. He could just as easily have said ditto to last year. The matter, Mr. Wilford -said, had, been before the people for years, it had been brought under the notice of the City Council over and over again by deputations, and had been discussed at great length in the public Press. During the time he was in office he had never heard a single objection. Mr. F. H. Smith asked the member in charge of the Bill whether the Mayor (Mr. D. M'Laren) was in support of the Bill. Mr. Herdman replied that he did not know whether he was or. not. It made no difference. "He is only one member of the council." The member for Wellington Seuth added s "We don't defer to him as you do to yoar leader." Mr. Smith retorted j We refer to our leader with respect. The motion to read the 'suggested new clause a second time was defeated by 40 to 5. The Vl was reported without amendment and finally passed, KARORI SANITATION AND WATER SUPPLY. In Committee on the Wellington and Karori Sanitation and Water Supply Bill, Mr. Bollard moved to amend clause 7 by making the system of rating capital value instead of unimproved value, and by limiting the rate to %4 in the £ instead of Id as proposed in the Bill. Hon. Mr. Herdman said he could not accept the amendment. The objections to the Bill came from a comparatively f«w people, who owned large areas of land in the borough. Mr. Okey held that Mr. Bollard's 'amendment was a quite reasonable one. The /arm lands included in the Bill <

•would not benefit by the water supply, scheme. The Minister replied that ike water rate would be based on the capital value. The City Corporation had agreed to provide a drainage and water system for Karori. It could not accept any system other than rating un unimproved value. If a vote in favour of capital value was carried he would have to drop the Bill, and the people of" Karori would bo without the essential services intended to be provided. Mr. W. H. D. Bell strongly counselled Mr. Bollard to drop the amend1 ment. Mr. C. K. Wilson asked whether, after the Bill had been passed, any of those people who objected could get rid of the liability? The scheme would not benefit all tho inhabitants in the area. The Minister said the fact was simply this : that four people who owned considerable areas of land— — • Mr. 313 1 S. Dickson : Why not cut them out? The Minister : That would be ridiculous. Mr. Dickson: Oh, no, it. would not. The Minister j If you introduced that' principle into a Bill like this it would reduce tit© matter to an absurdity. Mr. Harris (Waitemata), answering Mr. Wilson, said that everyone in the district would 'benefit by the carrying but of a water and drainage scheme. Mr. G. Laurenson said he knew of one man who would have his rates doubled under the Bill without obtaining any benefit. At present he paid rates of over £100 per year, and could not sell his land. The Hon. Mr. Herdman said this was an amazing statement, coming from one who was a supporter of the system of rating on unimproved values. Here he was opposing the Bill because one of his friends objected to it. Mr. H. G. Ell also said he could not understand Mr. ( Laurenson's attitude, and Mr. Isitt similarly expressed astonishment at the attitude of Lyttelton's Radical member, in pleading for the exemption of comparatively large landowners. The amendment was lost by 46 votes to 12. The Bill was reported and passed. . HARBOUR BILL. ■ The second reading of the Wellington Harbour Board Empowering Bill was moved by Mr.' Hindmarsh. It proposed to give the Board power to lease certain land at Lyall Bay, and Mr. Hindmarsh. said not a word in moving the motion, which was agreed to without debate, and subsequently put through committee without amendment and passed. OTHER LOCAL BILLS. The following Bills twere put through their final stages: — Waimairi County Differential Rate Empowering Bill (Mr. Buddoj, New Ply- j mouth Huatoki Stream Diversion and .Exchange Bill (Mr. Okey), Westland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board Vesting and Empowering Bill (Mr. Seddon), Whakatane Harbour Bill (Mr. MacDonald), Akaroa and Wainui RoaH District, Akaroa County, and Wairewa County Alteration of Boundaries Bill (Hon. Mr. Rhodes), Christchurch Tramways District Amendment Bill (Mr. Laurenson), Oamarti King George's Park Reserve Vesting Bill (Mr. Lee), Ross Borough Council Vesting and Empowering Amendment Bill (Mr. Seddon), Tauranga Harbour Bill (Hon. Mr. Herries), Taien Land Drainage Bill (Mr. Scott), Dilworth Trustees Acts Amendment Bill (Mr, Myers), Auckland Harbour Board Bill (Mr. Bradney), Auckland Harbour Board Empowering Fill (Mr. Myers). The House rose at 1.20 a.m.