WEST HARBOUR BOROUGH.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20704, 30 April 1929, Page 9

WEST HARBOUR BOROUGH.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir.—l should like to enlighten " Groping in the Dark ” as to the work of the retiring council. . The number of street lights has been increased to such an extent that the borough is now well lighted. In addition. the lights are now available from 4 a.m. to sunrise This is a boon to early workers in the winter months. 2. After repeated rebuffs from the administrative railway authorities re a siding for Rothesay, the Minister of Rail.ways was interviewed in Dunedin, motored down to the spot by the Mayor,

shown the requrements, and there and then agreed to the council’s request for a siding, 3. Deputation after deputation from the council has waited on the local railway authorities in order to secure more trains, running at times suitable to the resident!. Thanks to these railway authorities. West Harbour (with the exception of the 11.16 p.m.) has more trains runnine than it had before the war, and at more suitable times. The 11.15 p.m. has been granted on three days in the week. Realising that the through trains will always interfere with the running of the local trains to timetable so long as both have to run on a single line, the council has watched closely the progress of the duplication of the line to Sawyers’ Bay. and immediately protested oh occasions of cessation of advancement. The residents of Rothesay have benefited most by the actions of the council. Not only did the council secure the siding for them, but, as a result of several deputations/ changed the stoppage of one train up and one train down daily to several important trains on week days and all trains on Sundays.

4 The proposed enlargement of the City Corporation dam at Waipori would have left our endowment of 500 acres without proper means of ingress and egress. The City Corporation offered another block of 540 acres in exchange. This offer was accepted, and an exchange made, which was equitable and suitable to both boroughs. 5. The Harbour Board approached the council with the object of securing certain concessions for a company which purpose? establishing works on the foreshore. Arrangements, favourable and suitable to both parties, were made. 0. Water has been laid on to the higher levels in Rothesay, where, under tiie present council, the residents have been supplied with water and light. 7. Thanks to the exertions of our then member, Mr Tapley, the Public Works Department used the unemployed to widen the main road from Dunedin to Ghalmerb. This necessitated a largely-increased expenditure by the council. Footpaths had to be re-formed, fences and railings removed and renewed drains altered and repiped, road and footpaths remetalled. and footpaths retarred and sanded. 8. Again ind again the council applied ti* have the Dunedin-Port Chalmers road declared a main highway, but the requests were refused. Before the request was granted the members were well on in their second term of office, A considerable time then elapsed before the board announced the subsidy it was prepared to grant towards the upkeep of the road. Meetings of the corporate bodies concerned were then held, but these proved abortive, and no agreement was come to. Finally, the Act was invoked, and the council applied for a commission to deternune the relative contributions of the public bodies concerned. A tally of the frame was then taken ,and the contributions of the city. Port Chalmers, and West Harbour to the maintenance of the road were fixed These contributions are now: Highways Board. £2 for £1: City Corporation, 50 per cent, of the remainder; Port Chalmers, 124 per cent.: W aft Harbour, 374 per cent. Owing to the Highways Board stating that •no reconstruction could be undertaken for three years, that question had to remain m abeyance. What should be done with the road in the. meantime? The engineer decided to have the road well metalled. this necessary on account of the Widening. Of course, our motor mends are impatient, but there is no doubt that a splendid foundation is laid tor a first-class bitumen road. During the term of office of the present council more important and far-reaching matters concerning the future of West Harbour have been successfully determined than have been dealt with by any previous council in the borough’s history For 50 years the residents of West Harbour have Been taxed to furnish a road mainly for. the people of Dunedin and Port Chalmers. The year before the Highways Board declared it a main road the borough spent over £llOO in maintenahee. Now, through the action of the council, for every £ spent on maintenance West Harbour pays 2s 6d—this means a saving of 874 per cent. What would have been the state of the internal roads if this saving had been available for the last 50 years/ Again, that “ white elephant," the reclaimed land on the foreshore, one may hope soon to be a “hive of industry.” If the council had done nothing besides removing the millstone that has hung round the necks of West Harbour residents for 50 years it wo Aid have justified its representation. There are many changes of policy that were discussed and agreed on to which I should like to have referred, but my letter is already long enough. In conclusion, I may say that I do not usually recognise an anonymous correspondent, but the second paragraph of his letter shows that he takes an intelligent interest in the problems of this borough. I cordially agree with the writer in the absurdity of the ward representation, the unsuitability of the present system of rating, and the desirability and ultimate certainty of amalgamation with the city. In bis next paragraph he is "groping in the dark.” I am satisfied that West Harbour has never been in a better financial position or had a more promising future prospect. I am proud to have been a member of a council which had the following accomplished during its regime:— Increased the water and lighting facilities; widened the main road and reduced cost of maintenance by 874 per cent.; made an exchange of endowment; arranged for establishment of business premises on the foreshore; secured a railway siding tor Rothesay and suitable trains for the borough. Lastly. I am pleased to have served under such an able, levelheaded, educated business man as the Mayor, Mr J. Fraser.—l am, etc., G. W. C. Macdonald.