GREATER TIMARU

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14058, 16 November 1909, Page 6

GREATER TIMARU

SOME INTERESTING FIGURES. A special meeting of the Timaru Borough Council was held last nignt for tne purpose of purther considering the greater limaru proposals. Present —Deputy-Mayor Hawkey, Councillors Harney, Sinclair, Gilchrist, Satterthwaite, Raymond, Porter, Oborn, and Sealey. ihe Deputy-Mayor outlined all that had been done in the matter up to tne present. The Council had not committed itself to anything yet, but the proposed new boundaries were practically the same as those suggested by the Council three or four years ago. Mr Hawkey read a telegram from the Mayor stating that lie thought the Council should stick to the watershed area.

Councillor Harney asked if that meant the Waimataitai Creek; Councillors Porter and Satterwaite said no ; it meant the crest of Belfield Hill so far as the north end of the town was concerned.

Councillor Raymond said the boundaries seemed to be causing a good deal of discussion. Some people seemed to think that they should stick to the original boundaries, but there were objections to this and he had thought it better to modify the original boundaries. He considered that the boundary at the north end should be the crest of Belfield Hill, across Waimataitai to Otipua Road, ! and down this road at the back of the several sections —not parallel with the road as the sections were not all the same depth. If they took a fixed depth of 2$ chains in, back from Otipua Road, it would mean that part of some of the sections would be in the Borough and part in the County, and this would lead to endless complications He was in favour of taking in as much of Kensington as possible. The Council could get Mr Marchant t supply a plan of the proposed area, showing the backs of all the section? from Belfield Hill to Saltwater Creek. It would be a very good thing if thoy take in the Talbot Hospital as the Council should get control of the septic tank there. Councillor Sinclair said he felb that the exact position should be pointed out to the people, from a financial, as well as a health point of view. Th" committee had suggested very good boundaries such as would stand for some years to come. Those who were opposed to joining the Borough, sa-'d the Borough wanted them in for the rates it could get out of them. He had gone into the matter carefully and found the position would be as follows, if the. area as originally proposed, wer eall taken in: — The new area would be about 17,000 acres and the capital value, £360,000. The ratepayers in the area referred to paid Id

in the £ rate to the Levels County Council at present, and this amounted to about. £I,oUO. In addition to this, thev paid the Borough Council a bo*u t £I,BOO for water (exclusive i)i' the water supplied to the freezing works). The total rates within the proposed new area was therefore approximately £3300 per nullum. If this area came into the borough the rate would be L's 10.1 to those who did lmfc have the water, and 3s Id in the £ to those who did take it. Striking an average, they might sav that, the" rate would be 3s Id, and this, on a rental value of £IB.OOO '■', per cent, mi the canital value) would produce C"_'77s. Thev wrrr paying £3300 at present, and if they came into the boroutrh, they would be paying only £27flfc in other words they would effect a saving of £525 per annum. It could not, therefore. be said that the borough had anything to gain by taking in the new area. Councillor Satterthwaite: They have everything to gain by coming into the borough.

'>■ Councillor Sinclair said that the valuations were revised every three years in the county and since the last valuation a good, many buildings had gone up. He further pointed out that the borough is now receivimr £IBOO for water every year from this outside area, without taking any liability in respect of it. Tf only the smaller area were taken in, the Council would be in a worse position financially, than if it took in the area originally proposed. This was one of the reasons whv he was opposed to the amended boundaries. He was also opposed to it

from a. health -point of view. They should have control of their reserve of 150 acres at .Saltwater Creek, together with the dead water there; and though some people said it could not. bo drained, he thought otherwise, and knew of a man who was willing to drain it, he to make ho eharge if his work did not turn out a success. Councillor Sinclair said that a further reason for taking in the larger area was that tlu Council should get control of as many of the roads near the town as possible, as they would need such control when the electric trams came. He would oppose the smaller area as strongly as possible. Councillor Raymond said thev had to thank Councillor Sinclair for the trouble he had gone to in going so minutely into this question, but he doubted if the figures quoted bv Councillor Sinclair would stand close scrutiny. Since the valuations had been last made in that part of the country under discussion, a good nianv houses had gone up, and so had the rental values. Councillor Sinclair had based his calculations on 5 percent, on the capital v'a luo hut if they rook the values in the borough they would iind them very much more than 5 per cent., so thev could liardly take the proposed extended bOioiigh on a 5 per cent, basis. Thou there was another objection to takin-r in the big unbuilt «,n areas outside! m that rating on unimproved values- might come in, and if it should it would be very hard on those who held these big sections On the unimproved value the rates would bo equivalent to a. rent. They should not force the outer area to come in; it would be unfair to do so, though it would probably lessen the rates in the town. As regards the tramways and what had been said about getting control of the roads for them, he thought that the amended boundaries woi/ld be quite embracing enough. GounaifJor Satterthwaite expressed himself as in favour of the amended Iwundaries as they embraced tho watershed and that was all that it was necessary to take in at tho presen time. The main thing was drainage, and they would have control of the drainage area if they adhered to the boundaries proposed by the Council on Thursday last. A well drained town would be a healthy town and they could do all that was necessary by taking in the watershed area. He proposed that tho, boundaries, as defined by the Council on Thursday last, be agreed upon and that Mr Marchant be instructed to prepare a plan of such .boundaries.

Councillor Sealey seconded the motion. He thought it would bo a g>crat uistake to take in broad acres as they did not want that kind of property in the town. The unimproved value t/s----tem of rating might be adopted at i>ny time in which case it would press very hard on the owner, of say, a s') fr.ro paddock. So long as they nad wni:.i oi tiie watershed that was all they required. As regards the trains, he iiud little faith in that argument ,tor m Wanganui, where they had a p:ii»jlatiou oi irom iU.UOU t-t> i2,OUU tliey had made a big loss on their tr. Ms last year. It would be a very Icng time before electric trams would be required in Tiniaru. He a:-l" >d i rether it was proposed to t'iko in tl.e southern slope of The Deputy-Mayor said no, the mo tion left that area "out. A, govd people said the Borough wanted to annexe the outer area f.ir n hat n could get out of it. But he had taken out a few figures winch shoved that the Council had aothiag to io. ; :i by it. The Borough assiis \vt<- :..- follows: —Waterworks (based on 5 pr cent, on their earning capacity :a?t year; £120,000; Fire lin,vlo, iio'-tes, drays, etc., £4OOO, frot-nolds endowments £21,000, t.-.creation grounds £15,000, sinking funds £IO4O, Mechanic's Institute £1500 ; total £178,540. The liabilities of the Borough, including all past and proposed loans totalled £165,674, thus leaving a margin of £13,000 in favour of the Borough. The revenue which would be shared with the extended Borough, without getting any quid pro q.uo for it, was as under: —Rents £OO6, hotels £G39, auctioneer's licenses £538, extra water £2500, bye-laws i;2G4, subsidy on rates £450, motor ivg.stration £l7, dog licenses £73, lines £33, a total of £6120. He estimated that the annual rate from the new area would be £3OOO, and the cost of it would lie somewhat as follows: Scavenging £6OO, lighting £ooo, harbour and charitable aid £ojo, wages £IOOO, metal for roaus £t>Uo, loss on the extra water £1740, sununes £SOO, total £5405. Thus with a rate of £3OOO coming in, the Council would not stand to gain anything, ami taking Councillor Sinclair's estimate of the revenue, the position would be still worse lor the Council. . Councillor Raymond said that those who had promoted the greater Tiniaru proposals were certainly not men who would be in favour oi doing anything to increase the rates. One great advantage of enlarging the Borough would be that the Council would get control of the objectionable places where a good many cows from whom the town derived-its milk supply, drink | filthy water. Councillor Sinclair did not think it necessary to pass any motion that night. The petition with the original boundaries would be sent to the Go-vernor-in-Council, and they would have only one month in which to object if it was desired to do so. He hoped however, that after mutual consideration, they would see the folly of taking in any area but the one originally proposed. As for the unimproved value scare, he liked that, for it would make the owners of big sections, sell them at reasonable prices. In reply to Councillor Sealey, Councillor Raymond said that about 25 per cent, of those to the north of Belfield Hill, desired to' come in. The Deputy-Mayor said that if they adhered to the original boundaries it would mean that they would have to provide two more outlets —one at the north, and one at the south end —

and that would make the scheme too costly. The amended boundaries would be large enough for a. good many years to come.

Councillor Porter said tliafc after hearing the- explanations of the engineer on Thursday last, he had decided to fall in vritli the smaller boundaries proposed. He could see that it would be too costly to take in the larger area. He thought however thai the Counicl should have control of the whole of Kensington, but it should be explained to the ratepayers there, the exact terms on which they could come in. He believed that the Saltwater Creek district would be thickly populated within a very short time. After a little further discussion, I'"iinc-il!or Sattortbwaitv's motion was put and carried, Councillor Sinclair dissenting.