BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 4012, 11 June 1920, Page 3

BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

THE MAYOR'S SPEECH. The following ■is Mi- G. __ar*urd's address at 't'ne meeting of tlie Borough "ratepayers on Wednesday -lAgiit: — •me promises made by the present Council on taking office have been kept. ihe year has been a strenuous one in regard to'public work, and..there lias been a.complete change of olhce staff, which has' worked remarkabfy well. Then there has been many civic functions. Notably the peace celebrations, civic reception 'to General Hart, to Lieut.-Commander Bourk'e, Y.C., Major McLean, and also the reception to His Royal Highness the Prince of \V'iiics« At one time-we were in danger of having to cut off; the electric light, on account of shortness of oil fuel and coal. The loss of machinery entailed .several visits, to Wellington, wliicli were successful. At the present time we have gpod -Hocks of both coal and oil fuel. Our baths are not a success financially, but taking into'consideration the number of children that have been taught to swim, fully justify their existence. ~ , , Electrio Light—The electric light is proving a great success. We are now running a continuous load. Out con- , nection number 750 arid it is estimated by the end of this year we shall have 1,000 consumers. There is an accumulated overdraft of £1,600, which includes £3Oo_ cost qf_motor lorry and spare parts, etc. W T e are also extending the lines wherever possible. Considering the enormous increase in oil fuel, coal, "and wages, it -has been found necessary to increase the charge for light, but itihis is still much cheaper than any other form of illumina tion. We have also erected a house for our electrical engineer. This was absolutely necessary, as we could no» buy or rent a house. Our "general maintenance, owing to increased- wages and material, shows a substantial increase ,*"being £3,489 &» lOd, of which £1,951 8s was for wages only, oyer £250 aboye_ our estimate, and this despite the fact that part of our staff were employed during the year in repairing breaks in" the pipe line, cleaning out reservoir, and proitec'tve work* at intake. lii 1911 our maintenance cose £1,638 16s lid, so that it has practically doubled during that time.' This is largely owing first to the" obsolete methods of keeping our roads,.and secdnd to increase of wages and material, and unless the , ratepayers sanction the loan for modernising our roads, I see no possibility of meeting our expenditure hut by raising the rates. This, I feel sum will be avoided if the loan is carried and wo tar-seal the roads. There h no doubt but 'that the working staff will have increased in tins fieai future, owing to Tho immense amount of work that ratopjayers are clamouring for. I am'pleased to bo able t< report 'that under the new system the staff arc working well, and thai the Borough has "been well-cleaned and disinfected during the year, with the result that it is one of 'tTio healthiest in the Dominion. Reserves. —During the year the Council have spent £482 9s "7<l on reserves which includes convenience to Victo'f.a Park £120. This park is a great asset, and wjtih tlieTTelp of the hockey and other clubs we hopie to be able to drain the playing portion this yea.r» -Kowhai Park has ben Improveß and is very popular. The latest acquisition to ;our playing grounds is; Johnstone Park, comprising approximately four acres of pJanltlation of English firs, Australian and New Zealand native trees,, probably the most unique plantation in New Zealand; also about; ten acres of river flat and plantation of'poplars, making a splendid picnic and playing ground. The Hon. Mr Guthrie has had placed on the estimates the. sum of £300 to improve this reserve, and we can confidently say that" this reserve ia in the truest) sense of the word a real snip, and I believe in the, sujomer time many ratepayers will go there instead of 0,0 Palmerston. Its value is £3,500. Many of bur residents cannot take a trip to the seaside, but at Johnston- Park that will have a splendid riverside resort. As soon as the monoy is available the Council intt'end to fence the plantation. with a concrete and iron fence. We have al ready done some work to stop river erosion with good results. General Account. —At'trie end of the year our overdraft was £5j992 13s sd, at the beginning of the year £4,553 10s 4d, being an increase of £1438 14s Id. As against this we bought th© land at the corner of <Macarthur Street for the sum of £2286 5s -sd. As this land was about to be built upon, it was advisable rto purchase to save extra cost in the future. We have had the land valued after widening the road, and its value is £2,750. The Council has not offered the land for »alo yeti, as they believe that if the street improvements loan is carried the land will Increase is value, being one of the best "building sites in Feilding. ! Cemetery .—Our loss on the cemetery for 'the year was £48, on the library £147 lis 3d, on the water supply "£BO lis, and on electric lighting £772 12s lid. The electric, lighting loss is largely accounted for by the fact that ; while all fuel, material, ancl wages had gone up in price, the price fro consumers was not raised till April Ist. Abattoir..—-Under hew management the profit for the-yea.r was £71 3s 6d. We shall have to i expend a consider-, able sum on maintenance this year, and the septic tank also requires recovering. Water Supply.—We have ral ittems. of extraordinary expenditure' at our waterworks this year. Additions to caretaker's house cost £86, cleaning out reservoir and break in pipe line £700.' As you know the only loan that was carried at the Has* loan proposals was the water loan of £10> 000. The intake has been protected by our own 6taff -under Mr Fitzgerald's supervision. • The contract for the large reservoir has been left, and is well -under way, and ahould be ready for the coming .summer. Contracts for pipes, fittings, etc., for reticulation have been accepted and the work shoutcT be finished for the amount of the loan. The Council propose (to sell the mechanical filters which should bring in £2,500, to be spent on water extensions. The Council also granted £500 to the Agricultural College, of which £250 has been paid. Drainage extensions have been mado during the year, including Owen, Harris, Ednay, South, Easit, Welimg : ton. and Aorangi Streets, Awahuri and Giesen's Roads, at a cost of £3,300. There are still several stret- . ches to be done before the borough is properly sewered, and we hope in the near future to go on w-th this work, as your Council considers earn-1