PUBLIC MEETING AT NORTH- EAST VALLEY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11198, 22 August 1898, Page 4

PUBLIC MEETING AT NORTHEAST VALLEY.

A public meeting was held at the NorthEast'iValley on Saturday night to consider matters relating to the service. Mr 8. Myers occupied the chair, and Messrs A. Moritzson and.l. Green occupied seats on the platform.1 There were about 100 present. ; The' Chairman said that the object of the meeting was, as those present were doubtless aware, to try and induce the Tramway Company to grant further concessions with regard to the tramway service to the ■ North-East Valley; .residents, and particularly -the residents) in the north. end of the valley. .Although, as most of them in thinking the matter over.would be awara, the interests of the north end of the valley were identical with those of the miu.ie and the south, it was the north end that would suffer with the arrangements that were pending between the company and.the Valley council. They all knew, as sensible business men, that the tramways-were riot-a philanthropic institution,;bvitLthit'naturally they had,to be run to pay—that; if directors did not riVake them: pay the shatieholders wduld: cry. out' againet'them, and: it' could- riot 'be" expected*that' a 'service should' be'kept" up fin' the Valley that wo.uld land the company in a loss. At.the same time,, the Valley had granted the. company certain concessions^ '. He believed "that the council on Monday night was to arrive at, an understanding with the company in the matter of those concessions. For those concessions they, the residents 'of the North-East Valley, naturally, wanted something, and while that something ought to be moderate, it ought to be sufficient, at. any rate, to supply those who travelled up and down .the Valley with a reasonable number of cars. At the present time there-were running into th& Valley 18 cars, and really, as a matter of fairness between the public and the Tramway Company, those 18 'cars were sufficient. — (Applause.) He was glad the meeting applauded that statement, because he had thought he would have been jumped upon for making it, but he did'think, and he thought the council should be determined .in the matter, "that those 18 cars should run up to Normanby.—(Applause.) .He was glad again to hear the applause, because he noticed that there were a great many present who lived bolo'w thq tramway stables, and to those people it. made no difference whether the cars went up to Normanby or not. They knew that the company had brought residents into the North-East Valley through a cheap service, but so surely as people had come there to live, so surely .would they go away again if they did not get a reasonably cheap and fairly frequent running tramway service to and from town. ,He himself, and several to whom he had-snpken, would be-quite willing, if an extra fare were imposed, to. pay that extra.fare, although he really did not think that such was necessary. He did not think that it was much to ask that the cars should run beyond the stables to Normanby because it was only an additional onethird of a mile. Another matter which should be gone into was the question of-a time table. He thought that the residents were the best judges of what times would be the most suitable for them. At present one car left town at half-past 7 in the evening, and the next at 11, while no car loft the Valley after 7.30 p.m. Rather than vthe council should give way to anything less than 18 cars, and that the terminus should bo Normanby, he thought it would be as well to do without cars altogether.—(Applause.) _ They would then get a service of some kind or another,

T ■which lie had no doubt would be suitable to ] the ratepayers.—(Apnlause.) j Mr Moritzon said that they were not there , that night to traverse the action of the coun- i cil or in any way to criticise its line of con- ; duct in this .matter. They were there for the purpose of strengthening the hands of the council to get for the Valley that which it was entitled to. He read an advertisement which appeared in the newspapers signed by tho mayor, who asked the Valley residents not to prejudice the council's position by »"y illadvised motion at the meeting which was called by the minority in the council. The reference to the minority in the council, tho speaker deemed to be uncalled for. Tho whole onus of what had been done up to the present rested upon his own shoulders. He got up a petition to the directors of the Tramway Company and called that meeting, and if anyone were to blame he was that person. The minority in the council had. done what the ratepayers had elected them to do. All the council proposed to ask from the company was one car more than they were at present; getting, and he thought that what they should ask. for was the full concession. Tho mayor lived at Opoho, one of the councillors had a bike —(laughter),—and another scarcely ever tised the -cars. A petition had been sent to the directors of the company, which he would ' read. The petition was to the effect that the petitioners were grieved, to say that they had been informed that the said council had asked* only for a. service of six tratas per day as far as Normanby. t The company asked to resume | the old time table in force before the dispute ', arose. A reply had been received that the S petition would be considered at the first meet- ; ing of directors. • He (the speaker) next en- ', deavoured to get somel information on.- the ! question from the council, but without sue- : cess. He next; consulted, Messrs Stewart and,j Payne, solicitors, and showed Mr Payne a ■'. copy of the petition: he had sent in. iMr Payne ■ was**of opinion that the demands of the peti- ':-, tioners were reasonable, and., he saw Mr Mondy, the solicitor for the company, and "-:, ! Mr Eunson," the manager, and they thought i there should be no difficulty in getting the : concessions asked for. A number of repre-; sentative people in the Valley had waited • that morning upon Mr Fen wick, chairman of . directors of the company. Mr Eunson,' the general manager, was also present* and the ; matter was talked over. That was what hail been done in the matter up to the , present; He thought that if they brought pressure to bear, on the council he, had no doubt a ma- | jority would be got to vote at next meeting | for the Normanby terminus or nothing at all.l I Subsequent to tho interview Mr Payne-called j upon-him, and wrote out a resolution to bo j submitted to that meeting, and which reso- j lution he would . afterwards move. The j speaker then went into figures to prove that with the concessions the company were gexI ting it could very well afford to grant the;request that'118 cars-should run to Nornrariby. j He then moved " That this meeting of North- j. East Valley householders approve of the concessions made by the North-East .Valley Borough Council to the Dunedin pity and Suburban Tramway Company, but 'do not approve of Kelvin Grove being made the terminus of the service, and instead insists upon Nbrmanby being' the terminus of. any time table issued for the Valley service, during the term in which concessions'' are in force as a fair'^quid pro quo; -failing- this^demand being j granted rio: concessions whatever be made-to j the company; and that this meeting respectfully ask the council not to close or to enter into, any agreement- with tho Tram Company until the company agrees that all their 'cars for.the Valley, stop at Normanby,and^a minimum of 18 cars being.insisted upon." Mr Short seconded.the motion. Mr Thomson said that he went to the meeting of the.council, but Cr Green moved that they go into committee, and he was forced to retire, although the-mayor was averse to this. Tlje council had kept the ratepayers in the dark in this matter. Mr Green said he would not like to reply to Mr Thomson, as it might give away the mayor. He was understood to say that thtemayor had promised-to allow Mr Thomson to remain till : the communications from the-Tramway Company should be read, and that then' he:should j retire. He. did not know of this arrangement. ■ Mr Short asked if Mr Green could not tell them what was done in committee.—(Cries oi "No" arid "3Tes."j ' Mr Young said that Mr Green was not justified in doing such a thing. Mi- Green said that the resolution before the special-meeting of the council was to the effect that the council' grant a lease for 19 ■ years, and after, that the right of renewalfor'i another 21 years, the terms to be then .fixed by arbitration. He asked what could be made of such a bald resolution. What the council - were offering, he took it, was to give the company, a 'lease for 19 years, and another one after that if >they wanted it for 21 years.: He ' did not want to say anything in the Aayor's absence, but he could; assure'the meeting that there was-a<lot sajd and written which the ; council was not aware of. When the.matter camo up for consideration the mayor:said,he • thought they, should consider it quietly and secretly, that they should close the doors and not let anyone' in. !i When he, (the speaker) got up he spoke pretty loudly, as he generally did, and the mayor seemed to be afraid that someone might be listening, and he said, "Oh, wa.it a.moment, :Mr -Green; .the -window's open." and he caused the window to be .shut;— i {Laughter.) That.was how the :thing was i done, and when he saw these things he thought ! the. heavens were going to fall.: The speaker j then went on to refer to the interviews that j had taken place with the managing director j of the Tramway Company, and asked why ■. should two;thirds of-the ratepayers be taxed in order that'the company might stable their horses and house their trams. He wanted the meeting 'to strengthen his hands for the 'big fight on Monday night, because he was going to-fight to the bitter end.—(Loud applause and laughter.) He meant to have a tramway , to-Normanby orrno tramway. If he had had. his way.ho would.have ordered the company to lift.thre.e lengths of the rails, and would not . let them haye1 the accommodation ■in the stables. If the company would not grant the j concessions they asked for now;, he would not let them take their rails away.' If the cars stopped • running there was sufficient capital in ttfe Valley to. substitute just as efficient a service.—(Loud applause.)1 He was-told-thatJ theie was a vital clause in the Valley lease which was' in no other lease, but he said that such a clause was in the lease the company: had with the City Corporation. • ■ After further discussion, in which it was stated that all'the traffic on the, Valley road (Went on the part maintained by the company, and the borough parts were oftentimes impassable, ■'■' . - ■ '•' ■' ■,Mr Rhodes asked if it were a fact that the council-could be compelled to take over; theplant? •', ;■. : . ■ • . , .'• '■' :i Mr Moritzson replied that the advice- of j the • solicitors was that it could. not, •for.'-any j clause in the lease to- that, effectfiwasj.ultra !. vires.- ■•• .■-; ■ .'--1 :- ;:;-- ■■'■■■■: : ■ <•;<.-..'■■ "■'"■•' ~'.\ /Mr Edward Chaplin, moved as an amend-. ment-^"- That the should- ;only,;:be gra,nted a five years'..lea^e:''-.;- '. ! •:•-..'--. >- .v.-;-; ■ Mr Green said such an amendment would ;; only harass the company and the council. :' Mr J. E. White, said that if the company did not1 accept the recommendations of the council a meeting, should be called to form a syndicate to institute a service.—(Applause.) Mr Moritzson said that the mayor had,intended to ■ consult the ratepayers in this matter, but the solicitor' had told him (the j speaker) that he had advised the mayor, not to. call a public meeting. • He believed the mayor had fully intended to do so otherwise., ' . ■ ■ ■•.-'■ ■.■■■' Mr J. H. Spencer also moved as mi ariiend-. ment to the effect that no concessions what--over be given to the tramway company. He said let the. council grant them every use of the line, but let them not provide-the company ■ with' metal,' because he thought v- the council could not stand the extra expenditure.— (Applause.) Grant the company no concessions' but the free U3e of the line.^(Applause.) ■ , ■ , ~.-■. .- .- ', .; ■' The Mayor mado a few. remarks in which he pointed out that it would.be very unwise to carry Mr Spencer's amendment. ■ , .'. There was no seconder to Mr Spencer' 3 amendment-. . ■•■ ■•■ ■•-. Mr Chaplin's amendment was then seconded;, and- a vote being taken, about- a dozen hands were held up in-its favour.- . The motion, was then put, and as only one hand was held up against it it was declared carried. ...."■ . .':■■ On'the motion of Mr Moritzsoniit was,re- -j solved that the resolution be. forwarded to ! the mayor, and that a vote of thanks, to the chairman and. to the. minority in the .council be passed. ~ . . ■ - - - ' .' ' The proceedings then terminated.

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