HASTINGS MAYORAL ELECTION.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 109, 22 April 1911, Page 11

HASTINGS MAYORAL ELECTION.

MR. GARNETT ADDRESSES

THE EuEL lUiw

A SYMPATHETIC MEET Ac

Mr. J. Garnett, a < audi i-ite for the Hastings mayoralty. addressed a meeting in the Prin.-ess 'Theatre last evening. About thi»«c hundred persons were pres-.mt. >'lr. G. F. Roach occupying the chair. Mr. Garnett, who was received with applause, said that he would have had no fear or hesitation in coming before them had it nut been for what had been said at Mr. Thompsons meeting. Mt. Thompson had referred to him as a candidate for the mayoralty who had had no experience in borough affairs, whilst he (Mr. Thompson) had had seven years' experience as a councillor before he was elected to the position of major. But no one would have been surprised if it had taken Mr. Thompson seventeen years to get his experience. Mr. Thompson had devoted the first twentj- minutes of his address to the speaker, and would have given him a splendid advertisement had it not been for the fact that some of his statements were incorrect.

CONCRETE PIPE QUESTION. With regard to concrete pipes. ; Mr. Thompson had asked if het the speaker) was playing the game in condemning concrete pipes, con-1 sidering he was chairman of the committee which accepted the tender for the pipes, but he wished to explain his position. His opinion to-day was the same as it was twelve months ago. At the meeting of the committee, of which he was chairman, seven councillors > were present, and after about an hour’s discussion a vote was tak- '

en, and he had five against him. He asked what Mr. Thompson would have done in the same position. He (the speaker) was bound to accept the decision of the majority, but he still held the opinion that a mistake had been made, and that the glaze pipes could have been procured with a better and less costly result. Mr. Thompson. had also said that he (the speaker) had. as a practical man. assisted to draw up the specifications. Or. Styles and himself, along with the overseer, were appointed a sub-committee to draw; up specifications, and Mr. Hallett 1 was asked to get all possible in- j formation from Dunedin and from I Mr. Climie. They met in due course. and attempted to go, through Mr. Hallett’s copy, but owing to the many alterations and ' corrections it was found impossible to read it. Mr. Hallett «ould not, read it himself. Mr. Hallett was 5 then asked to supply a copy that was legible, and the committee would meet again as soon as this was done. The next they saw of, the specifications was at a meeting j of the council, when they were ’ laid before the meeting, and they were asked to approve of them: there and then. He told the Mayor on that occasion that ‘.he | sub-committee had never seen the, specifications, and yet in face of[ this the specifications were pts sen by the council.

APPOINTMENT OF INSPECTOR OF PIPES.

With regard to the appointment of an inspector of pipes, Cr. Stvies and himself had been elected a sub-committee to appoint a clerk of work or inspector, which he considered was the right thing for any public body to do. Mr. Thompson had hinted that the council were afraid that Mr. McGaffin (the contractor for the pipes) was going to rob them, but Mr. McGaffin’s integrity was never in question. The duty of the subcommittee was to do their best for the ratepayers, and with this end in view they appointed Mr. Sollitt at a salary* of £lO per month, and their action had been unanimously approved of by the council. Mr. Thompson had said that he (the speaker) had been connected w;th the appointment of Mr. Sollitt as continuous supervisor at a salary of £350 per annum, when, as a matter of fact, he (Mr. Garnett) was in Auckland when the appointment was made. He excused Mr. Thompson for making the mistake, but the Mayor (Mr. Mdler) had got up at Mr. Thompson s meeting and corroborated Mr. Thompson’s statement. If Mr. Miller had made a mistake, he should have corrected himself when it was pointed out to him later. HIS VISIT TO DUNEDIN. Referring to his visit to Dunedin, which, he stated, was not paid for by the council, he went to see which were the best pipes f->r sewer purposes. When he came back he made four statements.; The first was that the pipes ti> • were then lying in Omahu roa-! i from Nelson street had never *en I tested, although he had been told by Mr. Hallett that the engineer*

at the Dunedin works had tested them, and they bore his mark. Mr. Hallett had subsequently admit ted a mistake had been made. His second statement was that the council had been misled in regard to the pipes. They were distinctly told they were to get the pipes made by the Kielburg machine,' , but they were not getting them. and this fact was admitted. Wheny ' in Dunedin, Mr. Hallett had ad-< mitted that the pipes made by the Kielburg machine were superior to those made in Hastings, but when : he returned he said he was not able to give an opinion. Continuing. Mr. Garnett said his third statement was that when he was in Dunedin they were using < nothing but earthenware pipes, up to and including 12in. in their sewatre system, and he did not see one concrete pipe used. Naturally ! he wondered why. ami he had been told by the Dunedin engineer in the presence of the chairman of the Drainage Board, another member. and the secretary of the board and Mr. Hallett, that a contract had been let for three years for 4, 6. 9. and 12in glaze pipes, . ami could use no other. Consej quentiy he could come to no other j conclusion than that they were us- , ing earthenware pipes up to 12in. A fortnight ago a report signed bv Mr. Clirn ie had been broueht be-

■ ‘ fore the council asking them co ' adopt IS miles of old sewerage. ■ This line of sewerage had been '; constructed with earthenware pipes, which had been in the ground for 25 years, and he (Mr. C’limie) recommended that they should be left in. although this line was included in Mr. Hallett’s, scheme. He had enough confi- < dence in Mr. Climie to think that | he would not have made this re-| commendation if the pipes were l not in a tit condition. THE STRAKER WAGGON. Continuing. Mr. Garnett said that after listening to Mr. Thomp-{ son’s speech the only crime of which he (the speaker) had been guilty of during his two years in office was that he had an opinion t of his own and dared to express it.! With regard to the purchase of the Straker waggon, Mr. Thompson had said in the first place that it was the pet scheme of Cr. Cassin in and out of season then he said J ' that Crs. Cassin and Fowler were J responsibly for the purchase, and finally told them that Mr. Hallett had recommended the acquiring of the waggon, and his suggestion was adopted by the council. SEWERAGE. I When the sewerage scheme was i commenced in Omahu road at the 'Nelson street corner, an order for concrete pipes was given by someone without the consent of the

council. He had found fault with this action, but it was endorsed by the council. Later on, he had asked what was the liability for that order, and after a lot of trouble had been told that it was £145. But this was not correct ; the order really cost the council £245. Was this a business trans-, action, he asked. He had also: objected to the alteration of the specifications without the consent; of the council, and one of these had made them liable for an: amount of £3'Xh>. He had been sent to the council to look after: their interests, and he did so! without fear or favour. He could not sit at the council table without objecting to these alterations. CONCRETE CHANNELLING. Referring to concrete channel-! ling and footpath formation. Mr. Garnett said that he had never been able to obtain a correct re-! port of the cost. He had been; nvpr every street in the borough, and had seen the quantity done. A committee had been set .ip. and h.id found that there were ten miles of streets not included in the e-i-’mated cost. It had been stated that a schedule of streets had been made by the overseer and approved by the council, but the council had passed a resolution that no schedule had been

laid before them. There was no need of a schedule when a certain area which had been marked on a map, and signed by the Mayor as approved, showed the two-side area, and that in the balance of the work one side of every street was to be done.

ESTIMATES OF COST OF WORKS.

I He had tried hard for many J months to get a return showing the cost of the sewerage scheme. A fortnight ago a statement of cost had been placed before the council, but it had to be sent back to be corrected. The corrected return showed the cost to be £1 S 10 per chain more than estimated. The haulage of metal from i Bridge pa had been given at first as 2- and 3 - per yard, and it finished up at over 6/- per yard the cost of channelling had been from £3'ls/- to over £-1 per chain. The cost of asphalting footpaths had i been given as £l per chain; yet another return showed that the tar alone had cost £lO7 for 100 chains, without considering the cost of sand and labour. The statement of the cost of the sewerage work had to be sent back to be corrected after being signed by the overseer. He did not blame the Town Clerk for the incorrect statement; the return presented by him on the previous evening was a correct one.

OFFICE EXPENSES.

Referring to Mr. Thompson’s comparison between the expenditure in the Napier and Hastings Corporation offices, he wished to point out the following:—Mr. Thompson’s figures for Napier were: Town clerk £4OO, assistant town clerk £250, collector £3OO, clerk £156, typist £BO, valuer £2OO, engineer £5OO, overseer £3OO, three assistants £450. total £2636 ; as the work will take two years to complete this amount has to be doubled, making £5272, to which has to be added engineers’ commission of £2028. making a grand total expenditure of £7300 in administering £126,000, or £1 for every £17,10- spent. The Hastings figures, as compiled by him, were :—Town clerk £3OO. overseer £3OO, assistant town clerk £126. assistant engineer £l5O (these were included in Mr. Thompson’s figures), inspector £2OO. ranger £lOO, assistant overseers £7lB 16-. timekeeper £124, total £2048/16,'- for two years — £4097 12 —to which had to be added engineer’s commission £2750 and assistant surveyor £4O, making a grand total expenditure of £6887 12 - in administering a loan of £85,000, or £1 for every £l2 7 - spent. On the above comparison, the

Hastings staff seemed to be rather more expensive than the Napier staff. (Applause.)

HIS PLATFORM.

In asking for their support, Mr. Garnett said he was fully convinced that they had reached a critical period in the history of Hastings. They had succeeded in raising the loans, but they had now a far more important duty to perform, and that was to see that the money was spent economically, and wisely, and to the best interests of the town. Most of them

had known him for a large number of years, and since he came to Hastings 26 years ago he had taken a deep interest in the progress of Hastings. The administration of the borough affairs, if carried out wisely, would make the town up to date and prosperous, but if the money was not spent judiciously it would throw it back for how long they did not know. To attain this advancement it was necessary to appoint a first-class permanent engineer. Mr. Thompson thought this would be a waste of money, but he did not see it. By appointing a capable man at the head of affairs, the Mayor and councillors would be saved a lot of worry. The town was getting too big to be without a thoroughly competent engineer in charge of the various works. He did not refer to Mr. Climie, whom he considered had plenty to do. One of

his first considerations if elected would be, as far as possible, to see that all roads and footpaths were at least made passable till the loan works were completed. It would be a waste of money to do more than this till all excavation work was completed. When this was done, he would endeavour to have all roads put in first-class order. It was quite necessary that where there was population they should have footpaths to bring them to town dry shod. That was why the loan was sanctioned a little over twelve months ago. (Applause.) Regarding sewage. he would like to see this much-needed work pushed on I through the winter as far as pos- i sible. and as far as practical con-; sidering the difficulties to be overcome in the different localities. He had every reason to believe that the sewage loan would not be sufficient to complete the scheme, but with careful management, and the extra loan allowed by law to be raised, he had hopes that the work would be finished. A statement of the cost of sewage had been submitted to the council on the previous evening, but several items were left out. He contended that the first year’s interest on the loan should be taken out of the loan itself, because if it was taken out of the rates, they

would be paying interest right away. If there was a shortage of loan money to complete the sewage scheme he would endeavour to get the Council to sanction a loan equal to 10 per cent of the original loan of £30,000. They were empowered to do this without the sanction of the ratepayers . HIGH PRESSURE WATER.

Mr Garnett said he was proud to be a member of the Council which had adopted the high pressure water supply and electric light scheme. The scheme was an admirable one and would provide the purest water it was possible to get. He had every reason to believe that the work would be completed well within the estima’te. a considerable saving having been effected on the estimate cost ofr the pipes. The scheme would provide an up-to-date water supply, and also water for fire extinguishing purposes. The speaker said that if they believed in his policy of progress with economy, he asked them to say so at the poll on April 26th and if they thought his practical experience in municipal matters, his knowledge of the various works in hand, and his business capacity were of any use to the borough his services were at their disposal if they placed him at the head of the poll on Wednesday next. The candidate was loudly applauded as he resumed his seat.

QUESTIONS

In answer to questions Mr. Gar* nett said the Council had a liability to meet in August 1912, but there was no sinking fund to meet it. The liability, however, was the old loan of £25,000. He was very much in favour of a public park for Hastings—Cornwall Park and Queen’s Square were only pieces—but the question of acquiring Macdonald’s Park (43 acres) at £25 per acre would require due consideration. VOTE OF THANKS. In moving a vote of thanks to Mr. Garnett for his able address and wishing him every success in his candidature for the Chief Magistracy of the town, Mr. G. S. Clapham paid a warm tribute to Mr. Garnett’s work as a Councillor. MR. D. O’REILLY VIEWS. Mr. D. O’Reilly said that after listening to the previous speakers he had come to the conclusion that it was only necessary to elect a Mayor, who seemed to be responsible for everything to the exclusion of the Council. The motion was seconded by Mr Joseph Hiron and carried by aecia ma tion. The meting closed with a vote of thanks to the chair.