AMALGAMATION

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 29, 4 February 1927, Page 10

AMALGAMATION

HUTT VALLEY PROBLEM

IS THE TIME OPPORTUNE?

AN INTERESTING DEBATE

An open conference was held last evening in the Lower Hutt Council Chamber, attended by members of the Petone and Lower Hutt Borough Councils, to discuss tho subject of the amalgamation of the two boroughs. It was announced that the opinions expressed would be purely personal. The only members absent were Councillors J. Sharpe (Petone) and J. Mitchell and H. G. Teagle (Lower Hutt).

Mr. W. T. Strand (Mayor of Lower Hutt) welcomed the visitors, and on his suggestion Mr. J. W. M'Ewan, Mayor of Petone, took the chair. Mr B C Kirk (ex-Mayor of Pctone) and Mr c' P. Bunny (ex-Mayor of Lower Hutt) occupied seats on the platform. .. The chairman invited Councillor A Scholefield (Petono), on whose initiative the conference had been called, to open the discussion.

Councillor Scholefield made a plea for a broad outlook, and asked councillors to forget for the time their own respective boroughs. The united boroughs now had a population of 19,000, who had the right to demand the best communal service that could be given. This could not be effectually done while the boroughs remained separated. Better and more economical service could be given if the boroughs amalgamated. There were great problems demanding immediate attention. A comprehensive water supply was urgently needed; a destructor or destructors were a necessity, and the whole district should be made the subject of a town-planning scheme. Such a scheme included the provision of separate residental and industrial areas, the setting aside of reserves, reclamation of the riv^er estuary, and the planning of this area on each side of the river, also the provision of the new bridge to link the eastern bays with Petone, and the laying out of waterfront of both boroughs. These were ultimate needs of the district, and a;, definite - plan should be prepared at an early date to enable the work to be carried out from time to time.

A GREAT WATER SCHEME,

Of all the problems which faced the district, said Councillor Scholefield, the biggest was the water question, and for each borough to tackle this separately would only bo tinkering with it. The Government had acquired a block in Akatarawa as a catchment area, and the question of united action in regard to a joint water supply should be gone into immediately. '

In regard to town-planning, it might lie said the two boroughs could work together without amalgamation, but if people looked back at the petty parochial feeling of the.' past it might be found that "history would repeat itself." The present was the most favourable time for amalgamation. There was no difference between the .people of the two boroughs. Petono had the greater population, but this was "no drawback, and neither should any difference in financial standing be a bar, as provision was made in the Municipal Corporations Act to meet these questions by the provision of wards. He moved: "That the interests of the people of the area comprising the two boroughs could be served better by an early amalgamation."

Councillor E. N. Campbell (Petone) seconded the motion, and pointed out the advantages of amalg:unation in considering such big questions as water, drainage, and town-planning. It was a great pity amalgamation had itot como about'sooner. The idea was not new, and had been adopted in all the cities. The advantages from an administration point of view would be very great.'

At this stage Councillor L. T. Watkins asked if the moving of the motion was in order. The conference, he understood, had been called merely for an open discussion, and it might be unwise to pass a resolution. '

.Councillor Scholefield said a motion was necessary in order to have a dis-

eussion;

The chairman said the motion.might be used as a text, and he would use his discretion later in regard to putting •it to the meeting. MR. M'EWAN'S VIEWS. Mr. J. W. M'Ewan then outlined his own views, stating that he found himself rather" antagonistic to the motion before the meeting.. Cities, he said, grew from a small industrial and business centre, and steadily absorbed residential centres on their " outskirts that had enjoyed the benefit of municipal government. The manifest tendency here was for Petone to be, as it has been, the principal industrial and business centre of the Valley. Already Petone was known throughout Australia as a growing industrial and business centre. He had seen goods made in Petone Woollen Mills in shop windows in most of the Australian cities, and its preserved meats wen to be obtained in the best shops., The conclusion, therefore, was that the Petone Municipality would continue to exist as a separate entity, with possibilities of expansion in the years'to come. This of course, did not mean that something like a London County Council would be brought into, existence. Already they had combined for gas lighting, etc. and the Powpr Board was a co-operative concern in another form. As local bodies, they had joint interests in the Hutt Park, and some of their area w : taxed without district representation by the Hutt Eiver Board. A proper course to take m-the meantime would be to add all the area on the weist'ern sid of the I river to Petone, and for the Hutt Borough to extend its boundaries to the gorges. The Upper Hutt control could in course of time, be carried to the gorges as a dividing line. Following on the lines laid down for the work of the London County Council, a local council (" Ca n it a county-council if you l* c' ) would absorb the Gas Board the Biver Board, and the Electric Power Board, and make provision for a valley water supply and sewerage for the val-, ley, reconstruction and maintenance of mam arterial roads, and any other duty requiring uniformity of action throughout the whole valley.' Councillor C. P. Brockelbank (Petone) said that while he was not a straight-out supporter of the motion, he would like to plead for closer co-oper-ation in the immediate problems which faced the two districts. There were the questions of rating and borough indebtedness to be gone into, and those questions could not be discussed at the present stage. The immediate question was to arrange the services of the two boroughs so that bolh districts could be served to the best atvantage. Councillor Cook (Petone) said he would not like to vote* that night definitely on the subject. All the advantages had been outlined, but not the disadvantages. A large amount of information would have to be produced before members could vote intelligently on the subject. The two districts were getting on well together. They had combined on the Gas Board and the Hill drainage, and he hoped would do so on a water scheme. Before voting figures and facts should be given as to how it would affect each dis'rict.

Councillor W. H. Edwards favoured the proposal, which would enable a

large scheme of foreshore improvements to be carried out.

At this stage the chairman invited Mr. E. C. Kirk to express his opinions.

A GREAT CITY VISUALISED,

Mr. Kirk was received with applause. He said he regretted that any efforts he had made while in office for co-op-eration had been rejected by Lower Kutt, and so the boroughs had drifted on as separate entities. Since the successful effort, of which he was the iniator, of forming the Gas Board, the •question of amalgamation had been constantly in his mind. Amalgamation was thirty years overdue. It was improbable the Valley would be absorbed by Wellington and equally improbable 'that Lower Hutt would consent to be absorbed by Petone. The division was a paper line only, and the interests of the two were in no way antagonistic. The question should not be one for the future; the present economic waste should be stopped by immediate amalgamation. Better engineering and technical advice could be obtained, and better machinery. Every separate service was an economic waste.

Mr. Kirk then outlined how he had approached the Hutt Borough in past years with schemes for joint water supply, joint stop bank, and joint hill drainage, and all had been rejected by Lower Hutt, to its great loss; and in the case of the water supply unfair advantage had been taken by Lower Hutt of the knowledge- gained. There would, said Mr. Kirk, be a great city in the Valley. Forty years ago a visitor had said that in fifty years the Valley would be the Athens and "Wellington the Piraeus of New I Zealand. Were -the councillors going to dally? Were they going to be parochial? It was just a question of getting together, and he declined to think the parochial feeling -vas strong enough to prevent amalgamation. NOT AN OPPORTUNE TIME. Mr. W. T. Strand (Mayor of Lower Hutt) said in the main he agreed with i Mr. Kirk's very clear and concise expression of opinion. The time was indeed overripe, and the two boroughs should have been one long ago. When first elected he had tried several times to get unity, but without success, and rather than wait for that unity had considered that the best thing* to- do was to go right on with the development of Lower Hutt. To that end he and his council had given five years of unstinted labour. He was not going to sit on a rail, however, but was going to say that although amalgamation should have come long ago there never was a more inopportune time than the present. A very comprehensive scheme of town planning and development had been adopted for the eastern area, and that scheme was now being carried out almost 1 in its entirety. The job had taken longer than he had foreseen, and perhaps if he had known what was before him he would not have opened the furrow; but it was working out beyond his highest expectations. The scheme was now about half-way through, and the time was not now opportune to swap horses. There should, however, be complete co-operation, as had been in the case of the Gas Board, in hill drainage and the union of ihe local bodies for roading purposes. "When a water supply scheme was discussed it should be not for Hutt and Petone, but for the Valley from Upper Hutt to the Heads, including Eastbourne and the Bays. Eecently he had'endeavoured without sucees to got the Hutt Cousty to join with the borough in a sewage scheme. In, say, two or three years, when the Hutt had spent the £150,000 developing the Government land, amalgamation should be considered.

Councillor A. J. Hobbs (Lower Hutt) said Mr. Kirk had put the matter in a much better way than he could. He had always held the opinion that amalgamation should come, and the sooner the better. The question should not be further shelved,,but considered right away. THEORY AND PRACTICE. Councillor L. T. Watkins (Lower Hutt) said-an immense amount of good had been done by the gathering. The subject had been approached from the theoretical side, but there was .".practical side, and that had not been discussed. Mr. "Watkins raised a laugh when he said that Lower Hutt was building a new bridge, and he hoped that Petone in the spirit displayed by councillors that evening would willingty pay their contribution towards it. Amalgamation was a good thing, but the matter should not be hurried Councillor W. G., Meldrum (Lower Hutt) said he favoured early amalgamation, and could not see how proper town planning could be carried out until the two boroughs were united. There should be one scheme from the gorges to the sea. He was gla!d) to find that no speaker had yet been opposed to amalgamation.

Councillor A. Grierson remarked that a lot of information was needed before a decision could be arrived at. The question of amalgamation with Petone should be discussed at the same time as the Epuni district was brought into the borough.

Councillor A. M'Bain (Lower t Hutt) said he was not at the present stage prepared to vote, and if asked to do so would oppose amalgamation. The question of the financial position seemed to have been studiously avoided. Mr. Kirk's speech had been an education, but it did not convince the speaker in favour of amalgamation. Councillor E. W. Hunt remarked upon the great development of "Lower Hutt during the last, four years. The two boroughs had developed on different lines—Petone industrially and Lower Hutt residentially. It would be wise for the two boroughs to concentrate each on its own development for the next few years. Nothing would be saved by bringing the Gas Board or Hutt Eiver Board, each of which was doing good service, under the control of the amalgamated boroughs, and candidly he did not think the present time opportune.

Councillor E. Waldie (Lower Hutt) said he did not favour present amalgamation.

Mr. E. P. Bunny (ex-Mayor of Lower Hutt) Baid he saw no reason why the discussion should not be carried on to a further stage.

Councillor V. Jacobson urged the closest possible co-operation at the present time and suggested the setting up of a committee to discuss questions of mutual interest, say once a month, so that mistakes of the past should not bo perpetuated. He had come to the conference with an open mind, and strangely enough ' the arguments of .thoso who argued that the time was not opportune because of Lower Hutt's present development had convinced him the other way. Was development going to stop in two or three years? Would not Lower Hutt then be developing the Wainui Hills and Petone the Horokiwi district? The time for amalgamation seemed to be now before further development was carried out. There would still be development in five or twenty years' time. Petone, for instance, had just tackled the straightening of Jackson street, and now realised that it should have been done before. This would be true of amalgamation. After some further discussion Councillor Scholefield withdrew his resolution. The following resolutions were carried unanimously:—

"That each council be recommended to set up a committee, such committees to meet together at frequent intervals to discuss matters of mutual interest"; and

"That the Town Clerks confer and gather figures and other data for a further conference on amalgamation in the near future."