NAPIER'S NEW MAYOR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14284, 28 April 1917, Page 3

NAPIER'S NEW MAYOR.

CRITICISM OF EXISTING POLICY

Addressing a meeting of electors at Napier, Mr- H. Hill (the newly-elected Mayor), briefly referred to the advertised address of Mr Brown m which twentythree reasons were given for his re-elec-tion. Personally he (Mr Hill) had only one reason, like the cat m the fable. He had been 35 years m Napier, but he did not claim any great experience as a councillor, ihe city's rating was inordinate, and the borough debt was very great. The present council under /the present head was certainly not the arena of free speech and courtesy. He decided to consent to nomination m the desire to bring, the council to a higher standard, and to institute closer attention to the expenditure of public money. He claimed' that the time was ripe for a change. In the case of roads, £15,000 was raised on loan and the roads for attention were al] named. The moment the loan was approved, the proposed plans were cast overboard, and the money frittered away. The Municipal Theatre scheme was to include a theatre, corporation offices, and shops, and the people readily adopted the scheme. The architect had received £2000 for the- theatre erected, and was paid £340 for preparing plans for a Town Hall. The shops, borough oflices, and town hall were yet m the air. Why were they not erected and the money spent for the purpose for which it -was raised? The tramw---

were riot paying. The very interest on the Tram Loan (£60,000) was paid by a rate amounting to £2760 per annum. The trams were doing good work and were capably managed. The town was not increasing at all m comparison with other towns. Greater thrift should be praoh'sed m municipal affairs as well as m domestic affairs. The present debt was £440,000, including sums approved for expenditure, while m 1907 it was £123,000. The borough's overdraft -was £20,900. How was it to be met and pro C*ress made? Tlie present Mayor with his successive councils had borrowed over £2000 per month on an average since his first elevation to the Mayoralty. The candidate claimed that one thing should be done at a time, and that done well. A programme should be planned each year and carried out faithfully. The city could be made the most attractive m New Zealand, and the centre of winter residences. In this way the business of the city would improve and the town advance. He had no bias on the question of the Mayoralty, but was opposed to a continuous Mayoralty. He maintained that the Mayor of a town could not give reasonable time to his work, aud be a member of Parliament too. He promised, to put his heart and soul into any forward- movement m the progress of favored Napier. (Prolonged applause.) >