CITY MAYORALTY.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13455, 29 April 1914, Page 5

CITY MAYORALTY.

MR. LOCK AT TOE PROVINCIAL { HALL.

Mr. W. Lock, the retiring Mayor 1, addressed a fairly well attended meeting at the Provincial Hall last evening in support of his candidature for a further term of office. Mr. H? Baigent occupied the chair, and in introducing the candidate, said he thought Mr Lock should be given another term. One year was not sufficient for- a .Mayor. Mr. Lockhad performed his duties yery honourably and successfully. He had exercised great discretion and judgmsnt 'n -hi* conduct as Mayor, and he admired his actions as a member of <he Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. He intended to support Mr. Lock, ,nnd hoped he would be again returned. '.Mr. lock r-ad been charged with violation of some of his promises, but he would point out that the Mayor was only' one member of the Council, and it was sometimes impossible for these promises to bo carried out. Mr. Lock, who was received with applause, said the last election was one of the most bitter ever fought in Nelson. That was largely owing to the attitude of the Press, which did its best to keep him out of office. To-day,, owing to the education of the democracy, the Press had not the power it once had. The attitude of the 1 Press was-no doubt due, to. the fact that he had the courage of his opinions and criticised the then Council. "The Colonist" repeatedly criticised his figures, but he could tell "The, Colonist" that his figures were correct. He w,as against the glowing accounts given by the Council of its work. He did not say the Council did „ not do anything, but the last Mayor's statement did not tell them that t'c-re was more rate revenue amou l jing to £4,139 available for expenditure -than previously. At the close of his .year of office he was unable to give them a full statement of the affairs of the k'AjJ as the figures were not yet available. The la*st Mayor's statement criticised others who had done great work for the city, and that perhaps made him criticise it more strongly than he w*uld otherwise have done. Since the election he had received very fair treat nent from the Press, and he had no r--m----plaint on that score. There seemed to be a probability that there would be no contest on this occasion, but his opponent had been nominated by Mr. i*ij er and others ■ Mr. ■ Snodgrass'c: claim seemed to be his previous experience, 1 two years under Mr. Piper as Mayor. What did that amount to? Mr. Lock pioceeded to describe his own service to the public ou the Education Board, Citv^ Council, Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, and other bodies, showing that he had held the confidence of the public for over twenty years. He had always , acted independently, and had the courage of his opinions. He was not g( ing to indicate any sort of progressive . policy, for it seemed to him that with , the finances in their present state there ■ was no room for progress unless it was ■ out of overdraft. They had 40 miles of roads and footways to keep up, and though the last Council..no doubt laid down a good policy in doing a little at , a time and doing it well, it could rot be carried out, beea-iso the expenditure must be distributed over the city. ■ It was "his intention not to place any more irurdens on'the people .without • their consent. He thought they might • spend lesff money or. reserves this .year ] ihan last, but they rould not neglect ■, the attractions of the city. They had. certain'things to consider —drainage, s facilities for locomotion, baths, and so ] on. A short lime ago a doctor drew i their attention to the increase i» diph- ] theria, which he suggested was due to i the defective drainage --ystem. A com- - mittee of the Council was now investi- ] gating the matter, and it- would be.nee- , essary to ascertain to what extent the ] disease was due to the sewers, and how: ■, to put things right. They had had a , very bad deal over the drainage sys- i tern It was a scandalous affair, but he ] doubted if it was as bad as represent- i ed, though there was no doubt about ] the increase-of disease. In the .Wood : there was some especially bad work- ' man ship, and they knew positively that there were defects throughout the city. ( Last year they spent £1900 on drain-. acrft. 'That came out of general account and was not right. That money should -, come out of loan. The Council laid 48 ( chains of new sewers, and besides the < heavy upkeep charges, the / City En- i gineer said they would require a per- j manent man to flush out the sewers. ]

Tho drainage matter.was a.very serious one and they must put it right at the earliest possible date. Mr. Lock then referred-to the city water supplysaid an eminent engineer who had visited the works had expressed the opinion that -their trouble was in front of the big dam. There must, he said, be nil. enormous waste going on. The engineer also praised the design of the dam, and said that it would stand for all time. This engineer gave the Council some very valuable advice, which it wasintended"to take. The cause of. the lack of water on the heights was due to the reticulation. To meet this the Council was obtaining suitable pipes, and the trouble would probably be rectified for about £500. During the past year very satisfactory results had accrued from the gas works. Last year the account was £2297 in credit, and

this year the credit was £3504, an increase of ■ £1307. During the year an engineer had been appointed. Personally he was of opinion that one engineer: coiild do the work of the city and at-" tend to the gasworks as well. However

the Council had appointed an engineer. During the 'strike the gasworks had been kept going with the utmost difficulty, and thanks were clue t(» councillors for the arrangements made to keep the supply going. The new engineer had told them that very great improvements were required and if these were carried out the works would pay even better than they did at present. On the streets last year £3845 was spent. Three thousand yards of metal had

been put on the streets, mostly from the Maitai quarry, which was. however, not so good as Boulder. Bank .stone. The Council had done a wise tiling in arranging for a supply of 10,000 yards of Boulder Bank metal. The speaker then detailed the expenditure that had been made on various

streets. In regard to the small expenditure of £5 in Washington Valley, Mr. Lock said that if elected lie intended! to see that this street was done,

as it was in a disgraceful condition. (Applause.) Details of expenditure on public reserves were also given. The increase in the general account, ho said, was due to extraordinary expv."iiture.'which could not be avoided by

any Council. The.previous Council had exceeded its estimated expenditure by £1278. The present Council had exec oded its estimate only by £1633, ot which £509 was in repayment of monkon fixed deposit. The balance of the* expenditure, was in connection v, ita Trafalgar Park, repairs to Eocks road, and the Church Hill. There wen* al-o election expenses, the printing o'i the roll, the visit of the battleship X<?\\ Zealand the visit of the Governor, making 'roughly a total of £1309. The Council also paid £300 for a piece of swamp land in. Hastings street. The Council should;not have bought it,_ but should havV made the owner drain it before purchasing if it was wanted. It was the first time the City Council had paid its recounts'right 'up, and ihi^ made a difference in the state of it* finances. This year's Council would not have the legacy" to pay that was left by

i ' the" previous "Council. Regarding hia promises*, so far, as he knew, there wa» ;obly fctfeifrtfinis^e did riot fulfil. It (had-, been .'reported that he said, if .electedj'he would reduce the r^tes ox .reduce the overdraft by £2000. He did say that-he wotild reduce- the crates, buthhre r never said he would reduce the overdraft- -, 'The question was Iteing asked why he'did not reduce the rates. \% was because he did not hare an ~oppor-"< tunity'of doing so.' It would be said that he could have seconded Cr. Piper's motion. There \t-as not a Buckley's chance of getting the rates reduced •then.' When he. made that promise he did'not intend-to reduce the rates when he first went, into the Council, but he ■would try and do so at the end^of his term. It would giot' bo fair for him to reduce- rates without knowing what legacy had been left to him l>y the previous Council. The rates could bo 'reduced if ]ess monov wfii sp^nt on , public reserves. If reduced by £400 ii would mean a saving of a penny rate. .Regarding the harbour loan, as a private citizen, he supported the proposal, for one reason alone, that if it was not carried itwould.be three years beforo it could be brought up again, and it would be five years at least before furtner improvements could be effected Regarding-the present Council. Mr Lock said that when he was elected a<j Mayor all the councillors excent Cr Piper, were hostile to him. Ndw'he be-'----heved all the councillors "except Cr ■Piper were with him, and he ventured to say that they wore satisfied with the I way he-.conducted the meetings. Mi Lock then referred at length to the at- , tacks made upon him ■by anonymous correspondents in the Press, and he replied .to them, at some length. As to his raising- the-.r;xtos. hrt was nor .whoto do such a" thing/but was going to reduco them if it was possible. It was being said that party politics were being introduced into the election If it was it was a thing to be deplored(hear, hear)—and he hoped it was not true. He had been told that thieieventh hour nomination was an unholy alhance. He did not know himself, but the other candidate had been nominated by ,Cr. Piper, upon whoso account he had resigned from the Coun.£il- .(Applause.) It was stated that ms opponent had come out under extreme pressure—personally, he had come out without any pressure because he was glad to be able to do-what ho could for the city. (Applause.) During his term of office as Mayor he believed he had a. record for attendance. He had not missed a meeting—a commit tee meeting or a special meeting, ancH ? uri nf V ie visit of H.M.S. New Zealand had attended as many as thirteen meetings ,in one week. He knew thej could not get as much work done for the same money as formerly, and perhaps they ought to get more work done for the money they were spending, but t tnoy were doing the host they could. He was disappointed that the camp was being held at the time of the elections, and he thought the Defence Departmeht should have given the men an opportunity Of .'casting their votes. The .Government'had no right to stop men from votmg,'bn the harbour loan partisularly.,""because if it was carried a number of, men would be taxed without having an .'opportunity of recording their,votes. Mr. Lo<?k then concluded by urging all electors to record their votes, and if they thought him better fitted for the office than his opponent to record them in his favour. Mr. Locfc then thanked those present for their patient hearing and resumed- his seat amidst prolonged applause. Cr. Hampson, in a lengthy speech, gave the Mayor credit for his honesty. He said that when Mr. Lock got behind the scenes he found that the city could not be run with less rates were then levied, and instead of .supporting a reduction in rates and keeping his promise, he voted on what he conscientiously believed to be right. After referring jto.'the work that devolved W?on ft>e Mayor he concluded by expressing the opinion that it was in th© best interests of the city to return Mr. Lock. He moved a hearty vote oi' thanks to and confidence in the present Mayor.. The motion was seconded by Mr. J. Taylor and carried unanimoxisly. A vote of thanks to the chairman, concluded the meeting. The poll for the election of Mayor will be taken.'to-day between the hours of 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., and the candidates are Messrs. William Lock (who is seeking re-election) and W. W. Snod--grass (who was defeated for the offico last year by 92 votes). It is expected

The poll for the election of Mayor will be taken.'to-day between the hours of 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., and the candidates are Messrs. William Lock (who is seeking re-election) and W. W. Snod--grass (who was defeated for the offico last year by 92 votes). It is expected that the result, will be announced between 8.30 and 9 p.m.