OR GORE AND THE 'STAR.'

Evening Star, Issue 12999, 19 December 1906, Page 8

OR GORE AND THE 'STAR.'

B‘ HE SAYS THAT HE WILL NOT BE | GAGGED. tL Ai tbs outset of the Si. Kilda Council jpf maeting last night Cr Gore said that after ftj'tic w. meeting of the Council he was Bk favored with notice in a leading article in I' tho ‘ Evening Star.’ The writer began |t by stating tnat at tho Council meeting V there was a somewhat heated discussion L as to the treomont the Council were ro- • cciving at the hands of the Drainage He (Cr Gere) did not know that - there was a boated discussion. Certainly & there was no heat on his part. Then the article went on to quote tho resolution passed by the Council, that the Drainage - B 1 be asked to abate the nuisance canned by the New street and Driver ' street drain, and from the wording of the article it would lead anyone to be- ' lieve that the resolution was his, whereas as a rmviier of fact it was not his motion at all He simply seconded it, and - . that was all he had to do with it. The i" article continued to the effect that Dr Ogaton drew attention to tho unsafcis- ? faclorv and insanitary nature of some of " - tho ditches in the borough, ami that ■ “there was no serious attempt on the part of the indignant councillors to question tho accuracy of Dr Ogston's statements." Ho (Cr Gore) would ask the fWnr-TI to bear in mind that Dr Ogston’s mmm'l.-v referred to the New street ditch. Well, they all knew that this ditch was a nuisance, and that Dr Ogston’s statement could not be questioned, therefore it was surely not a wonder that nobody at • Council table questioned it. Tho ar- - fidfl continued : “ On the contrary, Cr ". Gore be was ashamed to stand at {he table and say that this particular dlfaA, wry- a disgrace to tho borough, - whilst, speaking generally, their drainage • wows in a worse state than it had been , twenty years ago." Well, he still said ♦tat Ka was ashamed to have to say that - thl, mnsanoe continued without _ their being able to do anything to abate it. As » fact the Council had done all they conld to Ah.-ttj, ♦.Ms nuisance. He maintained rtvprf. be was perfectly correct in stating titat the drainage was in a worse state than it was twenty years ago. Twenty years, or anv any rate twenty-five years . ago, the borough drains were all open • ditches, and they could be kept thoroughly ■ cleaned by being flooded by the incoming tide. The article went on; “Where, however, tho Council found justification : far their indignation was in the assertion that it was not they who were blameablc . for the unsavory and intolerable condition nf the borough ditches, bat the Dunedin Drainage Board.” This answer to this was that tho drainage was now under the jmt kA irtinn of the Drainage Board. That -Board would net allow the Council to clean this ditch out, Tho Board had fenced t-his ditch off, and would not allow . the Council to get at it. If it were flushed with salt water there would not be Tnnft the matter. It was a strange thing that immediately after the last . meeting men were put on to clean out "that ditch and flash it. If this were con--1 tinned he had no donbt it would stop Dr Ogston from writing any more about this nuisance. The article went on to say that bo {Cr Gore) said that they were paying a. 4d and an 8d rate, and what were they .getting for it? He did not know how he , .came to mention an 8d rate, because he .knew there was no 8d rate. He should have said 4d and 7d. That, however, was -,a mere slip on his part, and it was not so great a slip as the ‘ Star ’ itself had made, jaw? be would deal with this later on. In tbe meantime be was referring to his question as to what they were getting for the rates they paid. Ho had asked tbe clerk to take out the figures for him, a»id {be facts were these: —There were 265 new bouses in the borough, the number paying the 7d rate were 59, and only t«n of these were connected with the drainage* so as to get the benefit of tbe jjystam. Tbe others were paying the 7d tate amply because the drains put in by -||ta Dunnage Board happened to pass their properties. During that time the Council lad put in sixty-three different drains to residences in the borough. He —. V-a * I-. rO. ... -work should In- done by tho Drainage Board, but the Council bad bad o do it themselves, because they bad been asked by the residents to do -something, and because they (tho Coun’cH) recognised that tbe ratepayers were errrifWl to some relief. At the same time, they were making the propertyowners pay twice over; they had to pay for tbe pipes, and tbe work thus done would not be part of the new scheme. The writer went on to say : “ It was hardly to be supposed that Cr Gore would Tmrti#, Ms charges rashly. Our inquiries, however, do not bear out either tho accuracy or tbe justice of his assertions.” And tho ‘ Star ’ went on to answer his (Cr Gore’s) query “ What do wc pay rates for?" Well, be again asked the same question. He was paying a 4d rate m|H getting nothing more for it than he got years ago, and some were paying a 7d rate. Here was the mistake that the ‘■Star’ made. It said : “ Wo find that «dnre the draining of tbs borough passed into the care of tie Drainage Board the St. TTildn. Council have paid in rates, from the year ended March 31, 1905, to September 50, 1906, a total of £BO2. and ♦hut during the same period tbe Board have spent in cleaning the borough's drains £597, a deficiency of some £SO a year.” This was beyond him. If it could be down that by spending £597 one got £BO2 back, he failed to see where a deficiency of £SO a year came in. The ‘Star* oontinaed; “But the Board have also spent from £5,000 to £5,000 on sewage works within tho area of the borough.” Well, if the Board had charged St. Kilda. with the big detritus fanlu that were put up in that borough, which to his mind would never be used, and with the coat of that part of tire intercepting sewer that was in the borough, they could, of course, easily bring np the expenditure to £5,000 or £6,000 or more, and whilst they were about it they might as well charge to g£_ EHda the cost of the pumping station ™l the Diessel engines, for they, too, were in the borough, though as part of the general scheme. Just one other thing. TSfl .‘Star* said: “St. Kilda has been specially favored in this regard; in other parts of the drainage district the Board have refused to accept any responsibility or to provide means for taking away storm water, unless delivered to them in properly-constructed water tables.” In reply to that ho would ask what the storm-water sewer in Forburv road was pat in for. That was purely a stormwater sewer, and it had twice flooded St. KTlftu On that work the Drainage Board spent thousands of pounds. The ‘ Star ’ ahn said : “ We protest against the airy may in which tho possibility of litigation over the dispute was referred to bv Cr Gore.” Ho resented this. He referred in do way to litigation. No one would bo mere averse to litigation than lie was. Everybody knew as ho did that any who took action in the Supreme Court, being themselves within the drainage area, would have to pay part of tbe expense if the Drainage Board were forced into expenditure. Nor was it correct on the part of tho ‘Star’ to say that St. Kilda was asking the Board to spend anything np to £20,000 to deal adequately with these ditches. All that St. Kilda asked fK» Board to do was to abate a nuisance on the borough’s road lines. It was all tbe same to him (Cr Gore) whether people wrote to the papers or whether the papers had leading articles about him—he said fearlessly that if they expected to shut his mouth they were mistaken. He represented the ratepayers, and so long as he held seat he would net let anyone gag 1 him He always spoke what he believed to be the truth. If he made a mistake he was the first man to own up when it was jointed out, but he would not submit to >e gagged by any scurrilous writing. He tfd jot say that this article was scurrilous, I hot some of the things in the papers were, and he wished it known that whatever people wrote about him he would bare his say, and would not submit to [tDve a gag put into his mouth, the ‘ Evening Star' notwithstanding. ;-'Tbe Mayor (Mr Burk) remarked that prerr councillor was in accord with

what O Gore raid aA the last meeting. The ditch ■was a mristnoe, the Council were being forced hr the Health Officer to abate hj, and the only remedy was to attack the Drainage Board. . Cr Gore suggested that if the Drainage Board would not flush the ditch they might allow the Council's men to do so. Thefo the matter dropped.