AUCKLAND'S ZOO

THE FINANCIAL SIDE

A SURPRISE FOR CITIZENS.

(UK TELIQUAPB.—SPECIAL 10 TIIE POST.)

AUCKLAND This Day. The "Star" devotes an article to the finances of the City Council's Zoo. It says : "Most citizens will be surprised, we think, to learn that as much as £76,----000 has been spent on the Zoo, and that of this £31,000 has come from the electricity funds. Nothing like such a cost was contemplated when' the Zoo was founded. First of all, there was a loan of £10,000, and then there was a loan of £20,000, which was overspent by £6400. Of the balance, £31,000 has been taken from the electricity money, which, we presume, is money received by the council for the sale of the old tramway power plant to the board. Surely this kind of financing is objectionable. If the Zoo required the. expenditure of another £30,000, and we have nothing to say against it as a Zoo, the money should have been raised in the ordinary way through a loan. The money that the council got for the sale of the power station should have been set aside for some tramway purpose. It was part of the capital account of the tramway system, and should not have been spent in another department. Another point of interest is the liabilities on the Zoo Ihe Town Clerk said in Tuesday night's discussion that if the interest and sinking fund were charged the estimate for the Zoo would be increased by £5000. There would be on the whole a capital expenditure of £76,000, but about hali of this was not loan money. If, however, we cut down this interest charge by half it will still leave the Zoo with a deficit on the year's estimates. The public have been told more than once that the Zoo paid its' way. This may have been true in the limited sense of the relation of revenue to maintenance, but was it quite candid? It was rightly decided at Tuesday night's meeting to have a report prepared on the, finances of tho Zoo. The institution should have a separate account in all respects, so set out that its position can be plainly seen. The discussion on this subject, however, has a wider significance. If suggests that the new council will be more inquisitive about finance than the old council, and less inclined to leave things to the Mayor."