CITY AND SUBURBS

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 128, 30 May 1917, Page 10

CITY AND SUBURBS

MATTERS OF ADMINIS-

TRATION

DISCUSSED BY RATEPAYERS' ASSOCIATION

Various subjects relating to the interests of the city and suburbs were discussed at a meeting of the Greater Wellington Town-Planning and Municipal Electors' Association last evening. Mr. T. Ballinger was in the chair.

The first matter to come under criticism was the expenditure by the City Council of. revenue on works which cost more than £10,000. Sir. E. C. Jack, _ after condemning the counsel for its policy in this direction moved:—"That this representative meeting of ratepayers is strongly of opinion that no new works which will ultimately cost over £10,000 be undertaken without the direct authority of the ratepayers as expressed by: a poll on the raising of a loan for euch works."- ■

The motion was seconded by Mr. Carwell Cooke, who strongly advocated that the ratepayers should take more interest in municipal affairs. The Chairnkn, after reviewing the position as far as the tramways were concerned, said he would like to see more reports made by the General Manager. As to the waterworks it was not right to :collect more rates than were required for any special work. ' . Mr. Jack's motion was carried unanimously. The chairman then Introduced the matter of the proposed alterations in the tramway service. The Hon. Sir James Allen, he remarked, stated that there should 'be universal economy and the Hon. Arthur Myers ■ had expressed the view that there was any amount of coal. These, were two conflicting opinions from different .Ministers. It had been stated in. connection with the electric power in Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin that there was no cause for anxiety, but Wellington, being a central city, wa«_ in a different position. As regards lighting in ■ this city 'he believed that this could be reduced without inconvenience. To his mind there was no reason why the City Council should not adopt the Engineer's proposals at once. The chief idea was to reduce the consumption of coa.l, and the number of cars should be reduced and the fares increased to compensate for the altered state of affairs.^ Tho chairman then referred to the increase in the. working expenses of the tramways, including £9034 per annum for employees on the trams. A member : What about the increased revenue? •

The chairman added that he was in favour of the proposal regarding the doing away with penny fares. The tramways were similar to a joint stock company, and the councillors were the directors. He was of opinion that the tramways should be controlled by a board elected by the people.. The public should be taught to walk—they were not fond enough of walking. > In the Old Country the people did not get on a car to ride a hundred yards, a 6 he had seen certain persons do in this city He was in favour of the increased fares, especi-, ally in view of the fact that there was no increase in the price of concession cards. He moved : "That (his meeting approves of most of the suggestions made by Mr. W. H. Morton, the General Manager of Tramways." Mr. Crichton Smith, in seconding the motion pro forma, threw out a suggestion that tho Mayor should have consulted the City Engineer regarding the tramway proposals.

Councillor W. H.. Bennett said that, the powerhouse was loaded up to an extraordinary limit. When the cars were crowded there was hardly enough power to take the cars on the up-grade. It was lamentable to see the little inter est taken by the electors in municipal business. • He did not believe in the large expenditure out of revenue, hut he was. sure that the public did not realise tho position.. Mr. Jack, after giving expression to the opinion that he die} not wish to condemn the City Engineer, said he could not see why it was necessary to raise the fares to the suburbs. He was not prepared to accept the report at its face value, and th© City Council should go into the whole matter, and see if economy could not be exercised by better methods.

Mr. H. Tolan said that first the City Council had been blamed, and then the Efficiency Board had been held respon sible. Then the suggestion had been ■made that there was trouble regarding the coal at the power-house, and he was of opinion that, to a certain extent, the council was to blame for not taking the public into its confidence.

The Chairman remarked that he did not think the people realised the difficulty in regard to the shortage of coal. He was sure that it was not possible to get the coal, and Mr. Morton was not to blame for that. It was absolute folly to talk about getting another power station when the hydro-electric scheme was bound to come into operation. There was absolutely no reserve supply in the power-house at present. Councillor J. 0. Shorland remarked that the lighting system of Wellington was twenty-one years out of date. The motion was declared lost on the voices.

Mr. Crichton Smith, dealing with the question of town-planning, stated that the Government had intimated that it did not intend, to establish a TownPlanning Board while the war was in progress. At the present time, however, there was a proposal to build a new railway station and alter the names of the streets in the locality, and before such alterations were made a TownPlanning Board should be established. It vvas absolutely ridiculous to state that such a board could not be set up at present.

Discussion in regard to a proposal concerning the width of frontages oC sub-divided sections was held over until next meeting.