THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE WAIPORI COMPANY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12607, 10 March 1903, Page 3

THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE WAIPORI COMPANY.

10 TOT EDITOR. Sin,—Why certain members of our council should endeavour to doprociate and belittle the undoubted value of this company's rights is inconceivable. Cr Lawronco, for example, at the last council meeting' quoted that " they had the statement of one of their engineers that he would not hqvo their rights if he could get them for nothing." Why did not Or Lawrence honestly say that this statement was mado by the said engineer in reply to data sufflied to him, which are now proved by the actual tenders to have been utterly unreliable and erroneous? Put the samo engineer in tho samo position, but with reliable estiraatos of cost and water, and I think tho council would get a rudo shock. Cr Lawrence seems to liavo the knack of changing his opinion very easily. Ho is reported in your issue of June 6, 1901, as follows:—"At ono meeting of the committee lie voted against tho purchase of the Waipori rights for £10,000, but he bad silico regretted ho had done so." Was Cr Lawrence a member of tho committee that instructed an official to "jump" the Wainori rights after making the foregoing statement? Cr Braithwaite usod figures to show the advantages of tho Lee Stroam works, When the works are completed these figures may be interesting for reference. X havo no wish to quote figures for comparison. They would not provo palatable to cither the council or the ratepayers;' but if any person is sufficiently inquisitive let him divide the capital cost of the hydraulic works of each scheme by the horse-power available, and the result will bo startling. Cr Braithwaite holds that "the water rights should belong to the people for the benefit of the people." What people? Does he include the people of our suburbs, Mosgiel, Abbotsford, the Taieri farmers, and manufacturers outsido tho city? Then he blunders again when ho says a private company ought not to hold any of these rights. A privato company doos not hold the Waipori rights. I agreed with my co-directors that the Waipori Falls Power Company should be .offered to tho people, and all and sundry have the opportunity of acquiring an interest. The company is founded as a commercial concern that will, I trust, before long bo looked upon as ono of the soundest and bost of our publio companies, benefiting aliko citizens, ratepayers, and shareholders, and forming another strong lover to hold up the prestige of our fair city by helping our manufacturers. Is there one single member of the council who honestly believes that the City Council could make a greater success of tho undertaking than a well-managed publio company could? Would tho City Council conserve the interests of the various suburbs and townships outside its jurisdiction with equal impartiality? Would not tho ever-changing personnel of the council detract from the continuous administration DBCOSsary for such an undertaking? , , • Now, with regard to the company s attitude to the council, from first to last it has endeavoured to meet it. Take a brief history. Tho company wrote a few days after registration offering to supply water or power. No answer. A deputation of the company waited upon the Tramways Com*

initteo and, upon invitation, quoted certain figures which were to be submitted to the council, but through somo misapprehension wero not so conveyed. Tho Mayor and oouneil were invited as guests to visit the works and thus obtain useful information, but with the exception of Crs Maitland and Tapper no member of the council has seen tho Waipori Company's works. Lastly, tho Waipori Company was astonished to hear that it li?d made no direct offer to tho City Council, and hastily endeavoured to make a'monds by submitting tho simplest form—viz., charge per brake horse-power at Waipori. How this was ieceived is now ancient history, except that the council did not appreciate tho small difference between a. horse-power in Duncdin and Waipori. Our former tender was for an equivalent quantity to generate one horse-power in Dunedin. I fear this letter is already too long for your available spaco, my apology being the importance of the electrical industry in general, and in fairness to the Waipori Company in particular, a clejr statement of faots is essential. If my reforence to any particular councillor is resented, I am sure lie will, upon reflection, remember that men who are public spirited enough to serve their city are' generally capable of bearing without ill-fcoling criticism of their public actions and speeches, when knowing that no personal animus inspiros tho critic.—l am, etc., Dunedin, Maroh 6. Frank Oakdejj. ADVICE TO RABBIT TRAPPERS. TO THE EDITOR. Sir.,—As ono who has appealed to trappers through your paper , beforo and also been identified with various endeavours to get them to talco united action, I trust? that you will kindly allow me space for tho following, especially as the trapping season is aliout to commence in full swing. For years past tho howl of tho trapper has been, "We want a union for the purposo of bettering our. position and putting a stop to tho impositions. and injustices of the buyers' ring." Woll, Sir, thanks to tho energy and ability of Mr Espie, we have a union to-day, under, the wing of the Trades and Labour Council of New Zealand, and it rests now with tho men to support it. I think that the trappers outfit to bo thankful to Sir Espio for the bold stand lie made in their interests and for having brought matters as far as he has done. I can assure you tliat already the benefit of having a union is being felt by every man engaged in.trapping. Even at fliiij early stage of the season the " exporters' ring" is paying up to 7d per pair for rabbits at country stations, whereas last year, in the absence of a union, tho price opened at 3Jd. Do -the men who are not supporting tho union' think for a moment that the "ring" would pay present comparatively high prices if wo had no organisation? If they do, they are very far wrong in their idoas, and I can assuro them that it is only when the " ring" realise that they stand a mighty big show of losing the rabbits that they como out of their shell with tempting prices when compared with _ former seasons. Tee, Sir, I I maintain that it is due to the agitation of the past year or so and the union being an accomplished fact that prices to-day are I what they are, and it is, to my mind, the duty of every trapper in the colony to support the union. Many, no doubt, will feel tempted to accept tho prices the "ring" is offering, in preference to taking the union's advauco of 6d, with a promise of a division of tho profits later on. I think the very fact of the "ring" coming forward with the offers it is doing is as good as an admission on its part that it will pay the trappers to accept 6d advance and send the rabbits' Home in their own interests. One tiling is very certain, even if the "ring" does pay 7d straight out, it will take good care that there is a substantial margin of profit .left to protect itself against any possible loss. Then, Sir, if it is safe business for the "ring" to ship the rabbits to London at a cost of 7d per pair at country stations, with the expectation of a. profit over and abovo that price, what may tho supporters of the union reasonably look forward to for distribution over and abovo the 6d advanced? I sincerely trust that every trapper will give this matter his earnest consideration and decide to support the union at all' costs. We have got nothing to thank the "ring" for in the past, and they cannot expect us to support them now simply because they are paying present prices after they have been forced to do so owing to our combined action. '• I am glad to eay that at a meeting of the trappers, held here on Saturday last, they wero nearly all unanimous in their decision to support the union. We realise that it will be & difficult task to pull through the first year, but even if the union meets with a fair measuro of. success for tho first 6eason it willy be more strongly supported thereafter. On tho other hand, if the union'is allowed to collapse,'owing to a want of sufficient support on the part of the trappers, I give them tho tip, " Look out for the 1 ring,'" for if they become convinced that wo cannot stick together they will grind us down to their own miserable prices again—perhaps 3d ner pair.—l am, etc., * Trapper, Clinton, March 2.