THE CITY LOANS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13780, 19 June 1908, Page 6

THE CITY LOANS.

ADDITION OF £10,000 FOR STREETS. , A SPIRITED DISCUSSION. DIVIDED OPINIONS. The /report; of the committee of the whole Council laid before the City Council meeting last evening embodied the loan proposals as amended since last Council meeting. Tiie proposal at the last meeting was for a total of £100,000, but the Council in committee had added £30,000 to meet the difficulty over the Town Hall tenders, and had reduced the loan for street improvements from £32,000 to £22,000, thus making a total of £120,000. ' When the report was read, however, the Mayor (Mr. A. M. Myers) moved as tin amendment, that the loan for streets bo increased by £10,000, thus bringing it to the original amount. He said he believed the reduction was a mistake.. No one could question the advisableness of expending £32,000 on the streets. The works were urgent, and should be earned out- at he earliest possible date. Of course, .the expenditure of £32,000 would ho spread over several years. He referred to the wonderI ful progress the city and the province were i making, and said that if there was a temporary lull—he could not call it depression ■«—the" province of Auckland would feel it less than any other province. Mr. J. Court-: I second the amendment. If it had been £50,000 I would have second? Ed it, willingly. No one could say tit© streets of Auckland have received justice. Beyond three perfect streets on the western side there is not a roadway anywhere along the tram routes in decent condition. VIGOROUS CRITICISM. Mr. R. Farrell remarked that the cost of maintenance was steadily going up. Mr. G. Knight advocated wood blocking as in Wellington: Mr. R. Tudehope opposed the amendment, as he thought the loan proposals were big enough as it was. He believed if the streets wore maintained in a proper manner, with proper material, there would not be such a great cost, for maintenance. Even if the Council had to get Coromandcl granite it would.pay better than, tho rubbish now being used. ""Mr. Pan- said ho had the most serious misgivings regarding these loans. In the main the city revenue should be able to , maintain the streets and to make new | streets from time to time. The expendi- I ture on streets in; the last six years had | doubled itself, and it was now £-15.000 a year, and he would like, as a ratepayer, to know that value was being received for that £45,000. He bad very serious doubts about it. The expenditure by the engineering department on the various works was greater than he had expected, and he doubted if loan works would be carried out any cheaper. Labour and material were almost, at famine prices, 33 per cent. •at least higher than a. few years back, and he believed that in a few years these prices would drop back to something more reasonable. The Council was attempting to do too much at once; it had the electric light, town hall, Grafton bridge, "a small item of drainage at half a million," new abattoirs,' and a few other "trifles." He could not agree that £32,000 should be borrowed for street improvements. The borrowing of such a largo sum, it seemed to him, was neither justified nor reasonable at the present time. • Mr. L. J, Bagriall remarked that members did not seem to remember that while there had been increase in expenditure there had been enormous increase in traffic. What appealed to him was that the metalling did not last. In Wellington the wood-blocking was a great success, and was solving the dust question. Was it not bolter to look ahead and do something in a businesslike way, and make roads that would last, instead of putting down metal one week and having to scrape it off in dust the next. He was convinced that the streets where the heaviest traffic was should be woodblocked. ' •'■'.'■ Mr. M. Casey was sorry the Mayor had not left the £22,000 as i^was. Mr. A. J. Entrican said it was evident the Ponsonoy members expected the whole lot to be expended in Ponsonby. (Laughter.) It was the opinion of a good many councillors that far too much money had been spent in Ponsonby of late. (Hear, hear.) He- instanced St. Mary's Road. He was going to vote against the proposal to. add £10,000 on to the loan for street improvements, and hoped that the amendment would be withdrawn. Mr. J. Patterson was satisfied that the city works were costing too much, and he believed in contracts instead of so much day labour. The wrong system was being carried out, because men were shifted about from one job to another too much. Mr. W. -J!."' Hutchison supported the Mayor's proposal to increase the allocation for "'streets by £10,000. , ■■.'"■.." , THE MAYOR IN JUSTIFICATION. The -Mayor admitted that there were a lot of engineers who were prepared to give advice gratis, but it' was not very gratifying to the engineer to hoar the sentiments expressed. One member had said he did not believe the city engineer couid tell the cost of anyone work. Tho city engineer could tell "the exact cost of anything that had been done since he took office, and he was engaged morning, noon, and night, and if councillors thought they should speak as they had been doing in regard to any particular work, they should take the proper course, and table a notice of motion. With regard to day and contract labour, if the Works Committee could be shown that contract work was better, the system would be altered at once. There was in hand £15,000 for new. works. The £32,000 was not for maintenance at all; it was all for new works. If the Government of the country did justice to the possibilities of this province, there would bo no falling off in the great business of this city, and no stoppage in its progress. His opinion was that Auckland wou'd, in the next five or 10 years, grow into a very much larger city than it was at present. Were they prepared to ask the present generation to do all the foundation work? It was surely a fair proposition to ask posterity to pay the interest on sinking fund, iu order to provide works, the benefits of which would last for all time. Mr. Tudehope: If the engineer has a scheme of new works we should know about it. WORKS THAI" ARE NEEDED. The city engineer said he had a rough list of works. Firstly, there was Bowen Avenue, as part of a scheme extending along Waterloo Quadrant. Emily Place was next' —and it was in a shocking state. Eden-street was a perfect disgrace to a city like this. Then there was Gordon Terrace, at the far end of Ponsonby, which had never had anything done to it. He proposed to do the work so that it would not require constant upkeep. In Grey-street he proposed to bring the kerb outside the trees. In Hamilton Read there was a section requiring kerbing and channelling. Hepburn-street required kerbing and channelling. James-street required making. Jermyn-street was in a very bad state, and John and Oliphant Streets, if not done properly, would Swallow up a lot of money "in temporary works. Lawrence-street had been the subject of four petitions, and Parliamentstreet wanted doing. Richmond Road required extensive works, Turner-street was set down for compensation for streetwidening, and Wood-street needed a good deal. The great cost was because the streets had to be made to the permanent levels. At St. Mary's Road between 4000 and 5000 yards, of earth, were shifted. and the piece was 1700 ft long and 66ft wide, and covered 12,500 square yards, at a cost of 2s a square yard, whereas Queen-street, cost 22s 6d a square yard. lb- did.'not 111 ink that even in England the'.work would have been done as -cheap-' ly. * This street was done by contract, [

and Cnr-ran-street was being done by «**•'■;,■ .',; tract. The contractor hart ■ worked **. :.'■;'. ;= : i. (cediWiy well. a»d >* he (Mr, Bush)'found ' ■■contractors'- who would do as well h« ■'..'■> would bo only too happy to have contractors. '~,., /., -t Mr. Glover asked if the Council was gaI -'j3> to do all the work in Ponsonby and ! City East. He." advocated a fair Allocation all ov«3r tho city, and if the mm was to so I onlv to ■■the* streets mentioned, ho would , I work against any such loan. : The Ala von - The . list I have seen i* > ? ; ' : ;s three''or-'four'time*, as long, but' ..will I have a scbednlo of- works later. ■ The engineer said that on every side '| [■ !of the city there were stress that needed /',;'' attention, and ho intended to do mmm Ii '' : ;: as possible for each one, to enable the, people "to get to and fro in comfort. But ' the only way to effect permanent work was to taka streets one by one. ,' .'iljj ~/' The amendment was then put, and carried by nine votes to five. • The loan proposals ■;.«» finally adopted - j J are as ;follows: — . ■ : ; i -;'.S .-.■-..: .■.■-.. £ ,'■ ■!-_■ ::. Two new reservoirs at ArehhilS and Kbyber Pass ... ... ...... «0.000 ;■ Improvements Ctwtom-street West ... Ia.COO Widening Upper Symontls-atrcet ... 4.OCG Widening High-street. ... .. ~.-• ■'&.«» New morgue, (city - * allocation only) ... |.a» Parks improvements ... ... ... _3.W ;; Street* ■: improvements -.. — >-• ->-.<ko Town Hall (additional ... ... ... oWW» ,•.;.; Total ~ ... : ... ... ... ... £130.000