MODERN MUNICIPAL MOVEMENTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7330, 17 February 1902, Page 4

MODERN MUNICIPAL MOVEMENTS.

♦ .- ■ ' (Compiled by the Secretary of the ■ Burgesses' Association.) At the inauguration of the Battersea electric lighting undertaking, Mr Join Burns spoke warmly in support of municipalities performing their own large "works instead of relying upon private enterprise. Concerning "local indebtedness," which a " company " circular had set down at 350 millions sterling, Mr .Burns asserted that the credit side could show assets up to something like 500 millions. In this connection, it may be stated that, at the time he spoke, 232 towns owned gas works, 800 their water works, 70. their tramways, 230 their electric light and numbers their markets, baths, libraries, etc. Hull's tramway experience 'has been odd. The horse cars,' started by a private company thirty years back, never became popular, and after keen rivalry with swarms of waggoneties, the plant got into the 'hands of aitt official receiver, who kept the traffic going until, after .three- years of fruitless negotiation, the corporation ibought the permanent way and depots for. £12,500, and then spent £300,000 in reconstruction. Last year; ; after all expenses and provision for interest and sinking fund, there- was a profit of £27,680. . When the Manicliester Corporation opened a second watsr "main,^^thbauth.orities. embraced the opportuhityjol'. haying. the original main , 'cleaned put>- ; No less than 700 tons of moss, shells and other refuse resulted from the overhaul, "thus proving the difficulty of efficiently -filtering the water. : Dr- W. H. Crocker, the only, free man of Blackpool^ and" a member of the Town Council, desired to obtain a license for a hotel to be erected on his grounds. Drinking was to be kept in the background, a.hd strawberries and other refreshments were to be procurable. Although the doctor proposed to hand the hotel over to a trust and to build a- museum, the licensing powers did not act "according to Cocker." The Portsmouth Corporation by 23 to 12 decided to purchase: the Waterworks Company- on the" ba«>is of guaranteeing to shareholders an. incomp.' equal! to that previously •obtained! To /obtain the necessary interest, at the current value of corporation stock, £1,500,000 must be raised. This plan somewhat aaialagoug to- that adopted for the purchase of Cheviot, might well be used in adjusting financial arrangemerits betWeen colonial corporations and public companies. The Lord Mayor of London, Sir Joseph Dimsdale, M.P., of -whose hospitality our Premier will, no doubt, partake, is a genuine London citizen, having been born in Cornhi'll. Sir John Wolfe Barry, the eminent engineer, has induced! the Works Committee of the London County Council <© consider the practicability of planting >tre:es' on both sides of .Whitehall. and v J P v «pam€nt s^tre«t. It is' believed that' ,th^ /iwcesMul-adbption of the idea would be quiokly followed by tree planting on the north side^ of the improved! "Strand.' In bur. own city the impossibility of forming : an avenue in certain streets ought not to .prevent the attempt to rear a line •of trees along . sfh% .|pt?6 of a few' of our streets. ■ Such ;«. Ejhelter down the South Belt might be v advantageous. " J: :..;;.■-■ i~Dr Paikes, Chelsea : health. ofli|!er j .-Jhas recently compared ,th c. death, rate's in. :}flttflel buildings with those of groups of JuHl«| inhabited by a. similar class of reffldiente of tenement- houses, not, however, off .the "slum" type. The dearth rates wete:— In Peatoody's Building's,' 16.5 per 1000 }*. in Maryborough Buildings, 16.4 ; .■ iti Ofcslow •Dwellings. 17.7 aiidi -in Guinne^s's . Buildr ings, 21.7. In private groups of ordinary houses the rates were : —Gilray Square, 29. ; Ives Street, 40.2; Shayton Street, 25:8 ; Francis Street, 31.5 ; Pond Terraces 43.6 ; Oakham Street, 48.7 ;■ Little Keppel Street, 53.5. The doctor attributed the striking difference to improved schemes- of sanitation in the model buildings. Portsmouth, like Glasgow, Sheffield and some other progressive towns, has decided to keep the electric . tramway system quite distinct from the, motive power set apart for lighting. « When the system, wag lately opened for public use the Tramway® Committee caused' their- visitors to 'begin their journey-in the old dilapidated, unpainted horse cars so as to accentuate the advance made by Ithe corporation of pur great •naval centre. The. wife of the committee's chairman (Mrs Kimiber) 1 hadl been, given- a cardriver's license, much to the benefit of the travellers who were f ortunate enough to obtain seaits; in the most popular car.