AGAINST AMALGAMATION

Evening Star, Issue 17328, 16 April 1920, Page 3

AGAINST AMALGAMATION

ST. KTLDA "ANTIS" ORGANISE. I '^ ue .advertisement calling a meeting of i those St. Kilda residents who are opposed j to amalgamation with Dunedin was ! answered by an attendance of about 40 ; at the Council Chambers hist niglit. i Cr 0. Densem, the convener, took the j chair He said that the amalgamation uts ! had formed a com-mitli-ee to forward the movement for amalgamation with I'he City, and he thought the anti-amalgamationisLs should also set up a committee. He did not think the time was ripe for amalgamation. St. Kilda was not yet all it should be. The old Park Ward, or some i parte of it, was in a beastly state. That, I however, was not. the fault of tho St.'Kilda ! Counuil, for they had been marking time until the Drain-age Boai-d had finished their work. Park Ward had been left without drainage because the system started at the wrong end. Not only"that, but the- pipes which the district already had had been taken by the Drainage Beard for the conveyance of storm water. The Drainage Boaid had promised to give some relief, bill were already rating up to the. i'uil extent, and could not, incroa.se the present rate without the consent of Parliament. He thought the meeting should I appoint a committee to divide the borough into blocks, and go round and canvass. They would have to do this, because the ania!ganiaiion.ists were doing it. A lot of people had signed the petition, but they had heard only one side of the story". What the amalgamationists had told the people was something marvellous; they were going to get them flying machines". (Laughter.) IV would like'to'know what grounds the amalgamationists had for going round and promising things. The City Council had not authorised them to i do it ; and ho did not know where they j were obtaining their information. Amal- | gamatiim was going to get them another | tramway, a nice esplanade, at the K-aeh, | and more water. ' The St. Kiiua (own ; clerk, however, hold a letter from the Citv Council in which it was stated that it was impossible to give St. Kilda more water—- ! that Hi. Kilda wad only suffering in the same way as the oilier borough.-* which bad amalgamated. a:ul instead of getting more water there was evoiy chance that ithev might <ri>t less. He knew for a fact that that day there was no water in Upoho. and he understood they were carrying wcter from St.. Kilda to Anderson Bay. lie did not see, therefore. ■ wheie the amalgamaitionisis were going to get the water they were telling the people about. He did not think they could get aiivthi::g beyond probably obtaining a free' book from the Public Library. " Tliey had the assurance already from' the Ci':y Council that as soon as the raila and the vehicles were obtainable they were going to put a tram round Richardson street through to St. Clair. That had already been told them, so one of the main platforms of the amalgamathmists had already gone up" in smoke. The tramline was promised,, whether amalgamation came about or net. Mr P. Cruoiin saul that he did not know much about the disabilities of St. K:id:>. He had been living in St. Kilda- for only about a month, and he was very pleased to be -residing in it. The tram? were certainly far superior to what they had in Mornington. Mornington amalgamated with the City some few"years back!' and he thought the hulk of the residents (here had been regretting it ever since. The City Council had raised the valuations, and at the same time had closed down the two branch lines. He owned two sections, and the action of the i'itv Council had cer- I tainh- militated against him selling oven I one of them. The City Council also" raised the valuation of the sections some 300 percent. He understood the City Council were "oing to make a new valuation, and if St. Kilda- amalgamated it would come ruder the new valuation. In his opinion, however, the rates in St. Kilda were a little on the low side, and he did not think there would be any gre:>t objection to the rating being ineieased in the boron-h by. say. 5 per cent. In Mornington th-\v had put up the valuation, and down had'come the accommodation. He thought the Sr. Kilda people were on ai good 'wkket. If they joined the City he "considered that I they Mould hav-? io pay considerably more! in rates on a number of bouses, lie under- j stood that people- who lived on the Queen's j drive considered they were heavily rated. ■ but they should remember that they lived j in a fashionable quarter and did not have ' tn associate with the common people, and I they should be prepared to pav for thej luxury. (Laughter.) Considering the j present turbulent state of the Citv Council! ami how very little the council knew about | their o'.vn affairs, he did rot think it advisable for St. Kilda to amalgamate. If the city councillors took so little interestin their own affairs, what would be the result if St. Kilda linked up with the City'.' Practically each and all of the city councillors voted no-confidence against the other man. (Laughter.) He could assiuei

them that the experiences of Morrringlon Ui JL. i-j be-ddon said that as the roll closed on lueeday night next ithev should at once take step, to see, that every person 3 natPOTO on it. The question of caimwsnur coiiJq stand over till then. H e had blocked off the borough into 10 divi""'m /, fter l the oi lire roll thev could take steps to counteract the lie's that had been spread through the borough by people who had absolutely no a-nfhoritv lis knew that fallv 60 or 70 per cent, of the resident* would have their rates at least, doubled if thev joined the Citv H e mover]—" That this meeting form into a committee, and nroceed at once to Fee that all the names of the residents of the borough are on the mil.'' Or .1. C. Ritchie seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. Books containing the namra in the directory were then handed out to those in the meeting to enable them to make «. personal house-to-house visit to see that everyone was enrolled, and another meeting is to be held on Tuesday next.