FIFTY YEARS PROGRESS,

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17323, 8 February 1928, Page 9

FIFTY YEARS PROGRESS,

IT is almost impertinent to attempt to condense the history of fifty years of civic effort into what may be read in ten minutes. Even the story given by Mr E. J. Davey in the Jubilee Book issued to-day, is closely condensed. Far more, in what follows here, must good deeds be dismissed with all too brief allusion or honoured namelessly like the unknown dead. Leaving behind the anxious days of Maori troubles, Hamilton began its peaceful civic life, and on December 27, 1877, was proclaimed a borough. The first Council began to function in the second week in February and had immediately to face the question of providing a bridge over the Waikato. Until this time all traffic across the stream had been carried by a ferry. A proposal to raise a loan of £7OOO for a bridge was placed before the ratepayers and was adopted by 107 votes to 6. -The Government assisted, and the bridge was opened for traffic in 1879. At first a toll was charged, but four years later free transit was instituted. Conserving a Birthright. To the first Council fell the pleasant duty of selecting a hundred acres of town land to which the borough was entitled. Hamilton has, in fact, preserved about 120 acres of endowment land—an exceedingly valuable asset to this and future generations —in addiX tion to the hundreds of acres under the care of the Domain Board. The borough endowments include the splendid parks on each side of the river, the town hall and library sites, and others. Many sections are leased, and the rents make up an appreciable contribution to the town’s revenue. The amount for last financial year from borough and Domain Board sections was £5580, or just about 100 times as much as forty years ago. Some of the endowments that have come into the town's possession were lots originally granted to military settlers and abandoned by the grantees. As time goes on and the needs of the town increase, the revenue from the endowment lands will increase also. However, the revenues from the reserves of Hamilton are a small matter by comparison with the boon the town enjoys in its beauty spots and places of recreation. The cultivation of the river banks and the lake and other reserves belongs to a later date, but the pioneers did their part in seouring for the people’s happiness such splendid possessions. Lean Ymts. When the borough was formed the prospects were of the fairest. The railway from Auckland had just been completed, and the bridge was quickly put in hand. But the hopes of rapid progress were to be sadly disappointed. The whole of Australasia fell upon a period of lean years. A fever of speculation had brought its reaction.. Just as in the late boom, people had not been content with their actual well-being, but had sought to capitalise the prospects of the future by inflating land values. In the collapse that followed Hamilton shared in the sufferings of the whole country. The population actually declined and , did not recover for over 20 The borough had 1361 inhabitants in 1881, and in 1901, although there had been some recovery, the number was only 1253. The railway helped the town and district, of course, but its business was gained largely at the expense of the river service, which was ruined. Many individuals and families suffered irreparable losses in those lean years, but for the country as a whole a new period of prosperity was at hand. The chief causes were the refrigeration of cargoes on overseas vessels and the use of the cream separator. The separator gave keeping quality to the butter. Refrigeration added enormously to the value of New Zealand’s meat as well as her dairy produce. Other improvements in methods of farming and marketing —for instance, topdressing, herd-test-ing and co-operation—'have since been adopted and, with continued progress of like kind, it seems that man will yet draw much more from Nature’s resources. Hamilton began to grow apace with the new century. The number of inhabitants increased from 1253 in 1901 to 3542 in 1911. Since then there have been successive additions to the old borough by the amalgamation of Claudelands, Frankton and Maeroa. With these added areas, there are now about 14,000 people in the borough and 4000 in the suburbs. The whole town has increased about tenfold since 1901. Naturally in the years of hardship the efforts of the civic leaders were largely confined to making ends meet and keeping roads and footpaths. in passable order. In reading the 'records to-day, one is struck by the small cost of services in those days. Contracts were let in 1878 for gravelling the road to the railway station at £55, and for gravelling Victoria Street footpath at £6 17s 6d. X' The Period of Progress. With' the new century came new hope, and the town fathers felt confidence to initiate a policy of progress. In 1903 waterworks wefe constructed. Later the privately-owned gasworks were taken over by the borough, and later still the electricity department became an important municipal service. The story of these two undertakings rnay well be told as recorded by Mr Davey in the booklet issued to-day: “One of the largest undertakings of the Council is the supply of light, heating and power by way of its Gas and Electricity Departments, and this supply involves quite extensive business, giving an annual turnover of £63,000. “The Gas Department is the result of the acquisition in 1911 of the business established in 1895 by the Hamilton Gas Company, Ltd., under an Act which provided that Hamilton had a right to take over the concern at any time after the expiry of twelve years from 1895. In accordance with this provision the action necessary was put under weigh in 1907, and after long legal delays, caused mainly by the° Company appealing to the Privy Council against the decision of the New Zealand Courts as to the price to be paid by the Council, the business was placed under the control of the Council from February, 1911, at an award price of £34,402 14s 3d, this price covering the plant, interest, to shareholders, and £17,843 7s for goodwill. “This loading of goodwill has caused users of gas lo pay through the years A a higher price than was expected, al- I r though careful management has on- i abled accumulated profits, invested in iurlher extensions'of gas mains, etc., |

HISTORY OF THE BOROUGH

BRIEF SUMMARY OF EVENTS.

to about equal the goodwill item, and it is therefore now practically extinguished. “The Electricity Department came mainly as a result of the amalgamation of the two boroughs of Hamilton and Frankton in 1917. Frankton had established a steam-driven generating plant some years before, and in 191617 was supplying part of Hamilton with current. The hydro-electricity proposals of the New Zealand Government to supply current from Hora Hora soon had their effect on public feeling, and after various differences between advocates in the borough of | ‘steam generation’ and advocates of ‘hydro’ supply, the Council has now a. well-established business which obtains all its supplies from the Government plants.” Rating System and Finance*. A notable departure was made h» 1901, when the system of rating on unimproved values was adopted by the* ratepayers. Three years later the. opponents of the system attempted to-1 induce the town to return to the old plan, but without success. Some idea of the increase in the borough’s financial responsibility may be obtained from the fact that the revenue receipts for last financial year (including £36,800 from the sale ,of' loan debentures) amounted to £109,000, against £IOOO in 1878. Valuations have risen rapidly since« 1904, as shown below:— i9O4 —Unimproved value, £157,422; improvements, £95,620. Total, £253,042.

1925—Unimproved value, £2,590,696; improvements, £2,953,056. Total. £5,543,752. The loan accounts showed a total debt of £766,918 at March 31 last, against which there were sinking funds amounting to £67,079. A large part of the loans has been raised for reve-nue-producing services and the amount actually chargeable against rates is £509,292. If the water supply is counted a commercial service, the loan burden on rates proper is reduced by another £66,108. . The Fire Brigade. i? In 1904 a volunteer fire brigade was formed. Its only plant was a hosereel. The present brigade, with three permanent men and 22 auxiliaries, has two of the most modern pumping engines and a hose tender. There is an up-to-date alarm system, with 40 call boxes. There have been only two very big fires in Hamilton in many years. One destroyed Ellis and Burnand’s timber stacks and works, and the other burned down the Hamilton Hotel, with a loss of three lives. In general the fire losses have been very low, and for this boon credit is due largely to the efficiency of the brigade, which receives much praise in the reports of the Dominion Inspector. Since 1913 the brigade has been under the control of a Fire Board, consisting of representatives of insurance companies, the Borough Council and the Government. The Library. Hamilton’s library in the early days was housed in a tiny room of what had been the toll-keeper’s office at the traffic bridge. In 1888 the Council took over the room, but little progress was made till ten years later, when Mr A. Swarbrick became active as chairman of the committee. The municipality, with aid from the Amateur Dramatic Club, raised sufficient funds to build a library between Victoria and Grantham Streets.

The present library owes its existence largely to a grant of £2OOO from the Carnegie fund. In 1922 improvements and additions were made with £2OOO from a municipal loan. The number of subscribers last year was 892. The library has about 10,000 books, besides a goodly supply of newspapers and magazines. Visitors remark on the good selection and the courteous aid of the attendants. Frankton also has its library, built with a municipal loan of £2OOO after the amalgamation with Hamilton. This record of Hamilton’s progress relates entirely to the borough. The important work of the Domain Board and the Beautifying Society is mentioned in a separate article. Those | who would know of the town’s social and religious activities, its schools, industries, sports, hospital, transport by rail, road and river, its importance as a dairying centre and its great shows, winter and summer, will find much of Interest in the Jubilee booklet. There, too, the story of the borough itself is told much more comprehensively than in this small space.