A NOISY MEETING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19459, 15 October 1926, Page 14

A NOISY MEETING.

TRAM PURCHASE OPPOSED. OBJECTION TO A CIRCULAR. STATE OF BOROUGH FINANCES. Noisy demonstrations and interjections punctuated a meeting in the Auckland Chamber of Commerce yesterday, when the Takapuna Borough Council's proposal to purchase the plant of the Takapuna Tramways and Ferry Company was opposed by a number of speakers 011 behalf of the Takapuna and Milford Ratepayers' Association. The chairman, Mr. J. F. Colegrove, had a difficult task in obtaining order during the earlier stages of the meeting, his voice being completely drowned at times by excited argument among those present. Mr. A.Harris, 31.P., spoke through a running fire of interjections when he referred in scathing terms to the circulation of a leaflet in Takapuna that morning. Ho quoted from the leaflet: "Do not be misled by deceptive half-truths. . . . Support the Mayor and council, who tell the whole truth and are in nobody's pay." .Objection to a Leaflet. "That," declared Mr. Harris, with some heat, "is the meanest and most contemptible dodger ever put before the public." (Uproar.) I ask the authors to say which of those men opposing the tramway purchase is in anybody's pay. Mr. Oscar Moller: Is not Mr. Gould the paid advocate of the busmen? (Renewed uproar.) Mr. Harris: Mr. Gould in his professional capacity can act for anyone he. likps. 1 repeat that no one person opposing the rnunicipalisation of the trams is in anyone's pay. Mr. Moller : 1 have always been on good terms with Mr. Gould, but we are all in this business for political purposes, and I say that Mr. Gould went to Wellington as the paid advocate of the. bus people, and the issue is now between the bus people and the company, bluff it as you like. (Cries of "No!") Mr. Harris: I would plead with you not to stoop to innuendoes that are not. worthy of anybody. Mr. Moller: I made the statement-. Mr. Harris: ,'Well, you ought to be ashamed of it, (Applause and dissent.) Did you suggest that. I was in anybody's pay ? Mr. Moller: I did not. I spoke of Mr. Gould Statement by Mr. A. M. Gould. Mr. A. M. Gould said he was the professional adviser of the owner of the bus service to Devonport and. went, to Well ington to represent his interests before the Parliamentary committee. When, however, ho addressed a public meeting; as he iva? doing then, it was not as professional adviser to the busowner,' but as a ratepayer of the borough, and he did not propose to be gagged "in the contest, just because, through his former capacity as Mayor; he had gained special knowledge of the tramway question that would be useful in the present campaign. Continuing his address. Mr. Harris said that even if the Borough Council received the consent of the ratepayers to the proposal, he did not think it would find a single money-lending institution in the world that, would lend the necessary money at the present time. A Voice: Rubbish! Mr. Harris: My point is that (he Takapuna Borough Council is practically in the receiver's hands and could never find the money. (Uproar, and cries of "Oh!") It has not, the security to offer for n highly-speculative enterprise such as this. (Applause and dissent.) Indebtedness of the Borough. What would happen if the ratepayers gave their consent, Mr. Harris continued, w-as that debentures would be issued to the extent of £65,000. the Ferry Company would get out gladly and the borough would take over the liabilities of a concern which was not paying its way and which was incurring a loss every day. The public indebtedness of the borough was £419,000, which, deducted from the gross equity of £867.000, left a net equity of £446,000. If the tramway system was purchased and electrified at a cost of £175.000, the borough would be left with a total equity of £273,000. Mr. Moller: On what authority do you say that ? Mr. Harris: My own. (Derisive laughter.) And it would be my duty as your representative in Parliament to hand a copy of the borough's finances to the financial institution to which it applies for advances. (Further interruption.) The average indebtedness of • all the boroughs in New Zealand was 11,9 per cent., yet Takapuna's was 22.88 per cent., or more than twice that, of Devonport's. Land agents would agree it was very difficult to sell property in Takapuna at, the present time, and if the council persisted in its intention it. would be difficult even to give property away. (Cries of "No" and "Nonsense!") Council's Monopoly Questioned. Mr. Harris occasioned further protests when he declared the, Borough Council would never have a real monopoly of transport. It was true the monopoly seemed to be conferred on paper, he said, but if an adequate service were not provided 50 ratepayers could petition the Transport Appeal Board to grant a licence to a rival company. The Borough Council possessed the power to ensure an adequate service being given by the Tramway Company, but it had never exercised it. Let it enforce its rights under the new Act, and if the company went into liquidation the borough could then purchase the plant at its. true value. (Applause.) Mr. Gould also outlined his reasons for opposing the purchase of the trams. He criticised the report of Mr. Blair Mason 011 the ground that it was based 011 wrong assumptions concerning the running costs per mile in Takapuna, arid produced figures from which he deduced that the system would never nay. The meeting ended inconclusively.