MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 23 April 1907, Page 2

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

THE MAYORALTY CONTEST,

MU PIPER AT THE THEATRE.

Mr Jesse Piper, a candidate for the ilayoralty, addressed a large meeting of he electors at the Theatre last evenii", the building being crowded. Mr G. il? Rout occupied the chair, and there vere also on the platform Crs Grace, jiehtband, and Turner, and Messrs J. K. Johnston, E. Webley, and T. H. Lukin. . The Chairman said he was not surprised at the large attendance, as the citizens had been fully roused. He was convinced that a washing-up was necessary, and the man best able to do the washing-up was Mr Piper. (Applause). Had he not thought so he would have supported his old personal friend, Mr C. J. Harley. Speaking of Wainui-street of which so much had been heard— Mr Rout said that in the latter part of 1903 he wrote to the Council asking it to exchange a small blind road for a piece of land of similar dimensions in another portion of the Wainui estate. The Council replied that it would give him the blind road if he would give a road right through his property— an offer which he immediately accepted. Ihe Council made a very unbusinesslike bargain. Eleven houses had been erected in the street in 15 months, and these paid £61 in rates. With the houses built and about to be built in the locaity, the rates would be £93." The Council had spent £180 on Wainui-street, and £450 in the locality, not £600 as Cr Atmore had said. He had spent a large sum of money and had made that part of the city very attractive. The Council had done so little that he had not been encouraged to do further reclaiming. The Council discouraged enterprise. (Applause.) Mr Piper had plenty of backbone, and that was why he supported him— he was the better man to do the dirty work that had to be done. (Applause.) He did not consider the Councillors had treated Mr Piper fairly (applause) — and the vatepayei thought this too, and would show it at the ballot box. (Applause). Mr Rout said a week ago a man called on him and asked him whom he should vote for? He asked the man to go away, but he refused to do so, and to please him he (Mr Rout) had written on a piece of Building Society waste paper the names of Crs. Atmore, Hampson, Hounsell, Harrison, and Pcttit, and had told him to strike out those names. That piece of paper got into the hands of a Councillor, and that Councillor had brought the matter before the directors of the Building Society, with a view to making trouble. Mr Rout considered such an action unfair. (Applause.) The Chairman then called on Mr Piper to address the meeting. Mr Piper, who was received with applause), first explained that he was not on the Council at the time of the Wai-nui-street business. He was pleased to see so much interest taken in the election. He had, at least, done some good in stirring up a vital interest in civic matters. During his year of office he had not had a bed of roses, and he had not been able to do as much as he would have liked to do. Much of his time had been taken up in unveiling the fact that there was a power behind things in the Council that was not making for the city's good. (Applause). Unbiassed men, in Nelson and outside, he found were i/tanding on his side. He did not mind criticism, but he had not been treated fairly. He had replied in •he paper to some of the strictures of Mr Harley. Mr Harley had said he was in estimable citizen and a good Councillor, but that he was not a success as Mayor. Mr Har)ey said he (Mr Piper) was the father of the prosent overdraft, yet a]so said he war. a good Councillor ! The two statements did not .it. The Municipal Buildings had been built because the old place was rotten, and unhealthy for the Council servants, and he admitted that he had a great deal to do with so much of the overdraft as was incurred in connection with the Municipal LSuildings, though he had proposed a sound scheme tg pay ths interest on the buildings, and "to wipe ■>ut the debt in 10 years. But the Buildings we're to Have cost £3000, and lot £4300 as they did. Mr Piper asserted that £2400 worth of goods was jrdered from England for the gasworks without the sanction of tl)e Council, and then he said that Mr Harley was the lather of the first financial plunging of the Council, by bringing forward a scheme involving an expenditure of over £50,000, in asphalting and improving streets, drainage of the Wood and other parts of the city, cycle tracks and jathing sheds, up-to-date train, t-o\vu .mil , etc. Lttiei' another scheme in-,-olving £65,000 was brought— £ls,ooo for water, £35,000 for drainage, £4000 for gas, £1000 for road roller, and £10,OOU for streets. A man who proposed such vt'jid-rnt schemes sljoulU nol be put in as Mayor." ' (Applause). The iverdraft, Mr Piper said, had grown, but he would show that Mr Langjamls had been paid £6675— £3955 for extras at the dam, £3GO for the Tasman-street washout, £280 for the stoned-usher, £140 for a bridge in Brook-street, and £2000 for stone-crushing. Then there was £400 for the water meter, gasworks £6000, Municipal Buildings £4300 (for which alone he was responsible), or a total of £17,375. Mr Piper referred to his connection with the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, and claiming that he had done good vpr|r >n the lioard, and Mien spoKe of■.vhat he had found out — extras at tlie lam, water meter, stonccrusher and itonecrushing, timber transaction, and •arthquake cracks. (Laughter and applause). He claimed [hap a good" deal of money had been saved as a result of his action in regard to the septic tank, md said that his "want of lacfc' 1 hail been profitable to the ratepayers. Passing on to the septic tauk contract, Mr Piper said Mr Mcstayer had said that the specifications if styek to would give a good -job, and he thought the Councillors would have boiled over with indig•latirin ,nt the specifications being departed from. If they were going to have extras right through at the same rate as was proposed for the septic tank it would mean that the drainage scheme would cor.t £78,000. He would oppose further contracts in connection with the drainage scheme, and would support day labour in future. (Applause). Dealing with the gasworks Mr Piper considered that with good management they could reduce the rate for gas by lOd a 1000 feet, and that the works could pay oif their own overdraft in three years at £2000 a year. He was opposed to funding the present overdraft because it left room for another overdraft, How could the burdens be reduced ? By strict administrative efficiency. That was what was wanted, and they were not getting it. He instanced Emano-street, where a job was wanted which the Council was told by its executive officer would cost from £100 to £200, and the job actually cost £10. If the Councjl(or!j had pot' gpne to the locality the Souncir would have had to pay the larger sum. (Applause). If elected, he would place a scheme before the new Council that would be satisfactory to the Coui>cll and the general public. (Applause). Mr Harley was going to reduce the rates, and reduce the overdraft at the same time. In his two years of office he had not raised the rates one penny, and if returned he would try to reduce the rates. Low rates were necessary for the prosperity of a residential city. He could only see that they might save id on the water rate, and perhaps for a year the Abattoir rate of lid. The Maitai Bank road was briefly referred to as a {jopd a3s»i which Mr Piper assisted in getting, and the speaker went on to deal with the bridges, and said that if he could have had his way the bridges would have been repaired long ago at a small expense by the Council's carpenter, who was a thoroughly competent man. As to Normanby Bridge, it was strange that it was not discovered that the bridge was too bad to repair until the contract was let. The "timber transaction" was briefly dealt with, and Mr Piper then expressed the opinion that a steel structure oil the present understructure of Normanby Bridge would not be a good thing, and he would prefer a steel bridge over the Halifax-street ford, and temporary repairs only to Normanby Bridge. At Collingwood Bridge competent judges said that all that was required was new decking and new joists. He said the Council's action in reference to gas reticulation had cost the city £100 extra for the pipes, which had been bought in the colony, instead of having been procured from England as he had desired. He had no axe to grind, and did not have to leave any companies before he could serve the public. If He found anyone after the treasury he would sit very tight in

the public interest. The question was whether the electors were going to run the city or whether the power behind the Council was going to run it? (Applause). He had been holding the foit with tlie help of the minority in their | interests, and he hoped they would re- j turn the minority. He was a man of peace, but he could fight — ho had a little Welsh blood in him, and he would continue to light in their interests. He asked them to stud in with him a majority of Councillors, and at the end of 12 months even Mr Harley would admit that he had been an estimable Mayor. (Applause). Cr Grace, who was received with loud aplause, desired to refer to a statement made by Mr Harley that the Mayor would not speak to the City Surveyor, and said that Mr Harley's reply to an interjection by him (Ur Grace) was a quibble. M riP per he said did speak to the City Surveyor — in the Council, in Committee, and in the lobby. Therefore when Mr Harley said Mr Piper did not speak to the City Surveyor he said what was not true. (Applause.) But Mr Piper gave his instructions to. the City Surveyor in writing, and so 'would they. (Applause.) More than that, they would make a copy of them. (Applause.) Passing on, Cr. Grace said he had understood fully that contractors were mado of very common clay, and that they did not take up contracts for the good of their health. Mr Mestayer had said he would stake his reputation on the success of the drainage scheme if the specifications were rigidly adhered to, and the Council had passed a resolution (on his motion) that the plans and specifications were not to be departed from. Cr. Grace went on to deal with the extras for arches at the tank, and the embankment, and said there had been deviations without reference to the Council.. The principle laid down by the Engineer-in-Chief that there should be no deviation was a sound and good one. An engineer was paid to give good specifications, and when they were prepared they should be adhered to. He would not support another contract being let in connection with the drainage scheme. (Applause.) Cr. Grace said he thought the minority in the Council with Mr Piper as Mayor would be better for the city than the majority with Mr Harley in the chair. (Applause.) Cr. Lightband, who had a good reception, said he was proud to be one of the minority. There had been bickering and trouble in the Council, but he had tried to apply his intelligence to the work of the Council and the progress of the city. (Applause.) He did not think the City Surveyor had ben loyal to the Council — (hear, hear). The City Surveyor had not made proposals that would lead to economy, and he would like to see more devoted attention to the wants of the city. The gasworks had not made the progress they should have done after four years under the City Surveyor. He hoped Mr Piper would be re-elected as Mayor. (Applause.) Cr. Turner spoke of the waste of money in the Council during his term of office, .laming the "majority" therefor. He complained particularly of the amount spent for crushing stone, and "brought down the house" by declaring that Crs. Pettit, Atmore, and Harrison "did not know mud from gravel." Referring to the water meter, Cr. Turner said it would be found when a big supply of water was suddenly wanted that the meter was choking the supply, for it was useless to try to convince him that 12 inches of water could get through a 4-inch pipe. Mr J. K. Johnston explained that at the Druids' Hall when advocating that the office of City Surveyor be abolished, he did not mean that a foreman should bp paid £300 a year. Really good men could be obtained for £200 a year. He contended that the City Surveyor had proved himself incapable of administration. Tho "Mail' 'had cast a reflection on working men by its statement that there was a "Government stroke" I in carrying out Council work, and he asserted that if there was such a "stroke" the City Surveyor was responsible for it. (Applause.) Questions were Uivked, but none were ashpit. br. Hounsell proposed a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Piper for his address, and hoped there would be a large attendance at this evening's meeting. The motion was not seconded. Mr E. Webley said he was going to move a hearty vote of thanks to and confidence in the Mayor. In doing sc he denied that the meeting at the Druids' Hall had been got up in the Mayor's interests. He also maintained that he had a right to criticise the actions of the Council provided his criticism was fair and truthful. (Applause.) Ua moved that the meeting thank Mr Piper and express confidence in him as Mayor of the city. (Applause.) Mi Piper had served the rateoayers faithfully, and in view of what had to be dono in tha future was the better man or the two candidates. (Applause. )He had worked with Mr Piper, and he was confident that if men were sent to the Council who would work with. Mr Piper things would come out all right. (Applause.) Mr Lukin seconded, and in doing so said there had been too much axe-grind-ing. M rPiper had been loyal to the ratepayers, and had no ax« to grind. The motion was then put and declar ed carried on the voices. Mr Piper returned thanks for the al most unanimous vote. The meeting terminated- with a vote of thanks to th^ C.iai_,ii_au.

Mr C. J. Harley's Mayoral Electioi Committee will meet in Grant's sample rom (A) at 7.30 this evening to compiety, aiarngenieuts for the polling to morrow. This will also be the Committee Rooms to-morrow.

An inset, containing the full text oi Cr. Grace's speech last night, ig publish ed with this issue,