MORE CIVIC PRIDE NEEDED

Southland Times, Issue 23796, 19 April 1939, Page 4

MORE CIVIC PRIDE NEEDED

COMMENT ON STATE OF STREETS COUNCILLORS’ COMPLAINTS ABOUT REPAIRS The need for more civic pride in Invercargill was emphasized by Cr A. Wachner at the meeting of the City Council last night. A report from the Works Committee stated that it had had under consideration a suggestion made at a previous council meeting of allocating certain gangs to specific portions of the city, so that certain individuals or groups would be responsible for the maintenance of the part allotted to them. The committee had carefully considered the suggestion, but was of opinion that the arrangement would not be an economic one.

Cr Wachner said that there were many jobs which required attention. Some parts of the city were an absolute disgrace, being untidy and punctuated by potholes. There did not appear to be adequate supervision of the requirements for repairs and if gangs were made responsible for certain areas they would be encouraged to show civic pride. 1 Cr R. T. Parsons said that many complaints were received by councillors about the state of streets and they were passed on to the engineer, often without result. The Mayor (Mr J. R. Hanan) said that for some time it had been under- _ stood that any individual could leave a " message at the engineer’s office about necessary repair work and it would be attended to. Cr A. W. Jones said he could not see why the city could not be divided into 12 sections each of which would be placed under the control of certain members of the permanent staff. This would encourage a certain amount of competitive civic pride among the staff. It would not then be necessary for the gangs to go to the depot for instructions as they could carry ouf necessary work where required. The city engineer (Mr F. M. Corkill) said that there were not 12 men occupied entirely on street work. The bulk of the money for street work was expended in grading and repair work. To divide the city into 12 sections would be impracticable. There were some men who were watching the requirements of the city. No one was better aware that the streets were sometimes very untidy than himself and when he first came to Invercargill he had engaged a gang to keep the streets tidier. When economies had become necessary, however, this expenditure had been eliminated and had not yet been restored. The finance available to the department would not permit immediate attention to be given to all complaints about potholes and other minor matters. If individuals were encouraged to leave telephone messages about complaints at the engineer’s office the messages would be passed on to the foreman of works and attended to in due course. The engineer’s department had no jurisdiction over the town hall and reserves. The report was adopted. “Extravagant statements derogatory to this city’s streets and footpaths are so frequently made that I would like to point out that such statements appear to be made as a result of comparing the conditions in the main streets of the larger cities with the conditions in outlying residential districts in Invercargill in which building and development is still going on,” stated a clause in the report of the city engineer. “I am convinced, as a result of my other observations in many towns, that Invercargill does not appear unfavourably when comparison is made between properly comparable districts."