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Evening Star, Issue 12726, 1 February 1906, Page 4

At? last night’s meeting of the City Council Councillor Lawrence, discusIs It to be sing his motion for the eetAnothcr ting up of a special commdtWaiporl! tee to deal with the question, of lighting Cavershara and- South Dunedin wards electrically on the completion cf the Waipori power scheme, made a statement that must at once challenge attention, and ought, we thmk, to demand the closest scrutiny by the ratepayers,at large, 'it was, in effect, that a persistent and determined effort is being made to saddle the City with the Gasworks at a cost- of anything between £15,000 and £20,000. The senior councillor for Leith Ward is not in the habit of concealing his opinions when he has reason for thinking that the interests of the ratepayers are likely to be jeopardised; and, therefore, it may he taken for granted that he felt compelled to enforce his argument by reference .to a matter that was in a sense sub judice; in fine, though the business is under the consideration of the Gas Committee, that body have not yet thought fit to take cither the Council or the ratepayers into their confidence. In ordinary circumstance) a councillor is bound by the four comers of the Standing Orders, which Jjujo .aitiroosed to prevent him disclosing

negotiations before they are ripe for report, but there are times in the history of a public body when, Standing Orders notwithstanding, it becomes imperative to announce the drift of transactions that are perilously near the danger line. And such, in the judgment of Councillor Lawrence, is this Caversham Gasworks purchase, otherwise we feel sure that he would not have run the risk of being carpeted by his brother councillors. It would seem that at the very time that the City Fathers axe considering the propriety of inviting tenders in Britain and elsewhere for the expenditure of £50,000 on the existing City Gasworks, with the avowed object of mnl-W them thoroughly efficient and up to date—when the energies of their electrical engineers are being bent to the perfection and early utilisation of tho Waipori power as the source of electrical supply—the Council are being silently but systematically moved to acquire the Caversham works at a cost of, say, £20,000. One 1 would have thought that the Council had had trouble enough over the acquirement of the. Waipori rights without attempting to repeat that fiasco. What is (he City likely to get for this montj, and what purpose null the expenditure serve? Councillor Lawrence does not habitually tread on thin icc, and we therefore assume that in,-; conclusions on these two points arc the result of diligent inquiry into the whole of the surrounding circumstances:

t 11 f l ' s judgment ?t would bo criminal l ° ' Yast<i tic ratepayers’ money in buying % lon'' 11 company’s concern at a cost ~ - J O,OCO, and in spending probably ano.her £IO,OOO to put it to proper use. i j reporting on them, said Ire had inspected these works, and the plant was obsolete, and with the exception of tho gasholder was quite useless for any extension of the City’s works. The holder was the only thing of utility. Yet in the face of this report, with the full knowledge of the amount of money being spent and the quantity of gas and electric energy the Council would have to find an outlet for, a determined attempt has been made—and from a direction which had astonished him—to hand over £20,000 of the ratepayers’ money for there works. And for what purpose? To compete against tho Waipori supply.

That is the position in a. nutshell. Some councillors require £20,000 or £50,000 to be spent in acquiring a concern the true value of which to the City ns a whojo is represented by (be company’s gasholder and their mains hud in the boroughsof Mornington and Itoslyn, for it is an open secret that their mains on the portions of the Flat, now under the jurisdiction of the City, will pass into the possession of the City at tho expiry of three and a-half years. Why, then, this questionable haste to take over a property that can never be worth to the City what is fought to be got for it? Of course we shall bo told that no deal has taken place. That may or may not bo true—w© do not know the mind of the Ctas Committee, nor have we been able to find out what communications (if any) have passed between the wonld-bo contracting parties—but we have no hesitation in telling the citizens that if they are not watchful a move may be sprang on them that will give them much uneasiness, if not actual concern. But so long as His Worship the Mayor retains his present attitude of hostility—be openly declares that the £20,000 can be much better utilised—and Councillor Lawrence plays the pari, of municipal watchdog there is no cause for alarm, since both may be depended on to place the citizens in possession of the history of the entire negotiations, and invite an expression of opinion from the ratepayers before a contract for sale is attempted to be signed, sealed, and delivered.