The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1907. MUNICIPAL FINANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 135, 7 June 1907, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1907. MUNICIPAL FINANCE.

i ■ m ■- War the cause that lacks assistance, far the wrong that needs resistance, for the future in the distance, ii«l the good that we can do.

The financial statement laid before the City Council la6t night gives, on the whole, a fairly satisfactory account of our pecuniary position. The estimated expenditure reaches the large total of over £90,000, including a debit balance of over £23,000 from last year. This deficit is, however, made up by transferring ,£23,600 from the water account, which is, as usual, in a very flourishing condition. With the help of the general rate of lid., the estimated receipts from various sources should easily balance the municipal ledger. Among the more important items of. expenditure we may observe that the actual expense of carrying on the eity'3 business affairs amounts in salaries, office expenses, etc., to not much less than £8000. It will be noticed that the sum of nearly £3000 is to be spent on the city parks and suburban reserves; and few will object to expenditure on such attempts to improve and beautify the city. Indeed, we think that the Council might well consider whether it would not be possible to opeit up our splendid and picturesque reserves on the Waitakerei and make them more accessible to city folk. As a set-off to these luxuries, w_ note with satisfaction that about £40,000 is put down on the estimates against street works and street maintenance. It must not be imagined that this is anything like enough to bring our roads and pathways even up to the level of excellence attained in other New Zealand cities;, bat

it means a step: in the right .direction. This is by far the largest item in the estimated _3_penditure of £91,000; and the urgent necessity for a far heavier outlay for this purpose should be alone sufficient to convince our municipal rulers of the need for careful economy in the administration of the city's finances.

j The Mayor's comments upon the various items in the accounts are on the whole encouraging and reassuring. We are glad to see that the destructor has begun to pay its way, and, no doubt, when the electric installation is complete, it will go much further toward justifying this interesting experiment. That, however, is .still in the future, so far as this year's finances are concerned. But our debts we have always with us, and there is no denying that they amount to a very imposing figure. At present our total net indebtedness, after allowing for accrued sinking funds, stands at £626,000. But it must not be forgotten that we have already made ourselves liable for further loans, which bring up our indebtedness to a much higher figure. What with the project*.. Town Hall, Cemetery Gully badge, abattoirs, and electric lighting, our actual and authorised debts and loans come altogether to about £934,000. It must be observed that the Council proposes to create sinking funds for old loans not thus provided for, utilising for this purpose the profits on water account and the Council's share of profit from the tramways. This fund is intended to be" retrospective in its action,' and will certainly help to improve our financial position. R must not be forgotten that against our debts we have to set a long list of valuable assets, which, on the approximate valuation set forth by the Mayor last night, considerably outweigh our liabilities. But though on paper we are sound enough, and though, as the Mayor pointout, the natural growth of the city means a constantly growing revenue and a rising scale of valuation, there is a less satisfactory side to the picture; and we are not inclined to accept entirely without question the splendid outlook suggested by Mr. Myers' rather optimism. " a

In the first place, we have already on hand, or in immediate prospect, a heavy necessary outlay on water supply. Then the sanitation of the city—as everybody admits and as recent events have revealed with painful emphasis—is still in a very rudimentary condition, and the amount of money necessary to bring the city up-to-date in this respect is still entirely a matter of conjecture. It is certain that no permanent improvement will be made till we have a complete system of drainage ; and what that is going to cost us we would not yet venture to say. These matters are of vital importance to the health and well-being of our city. Then we have to remember that our streets are still-a disgrace to us, and that even when £40,000 has been spent

upon them during the coming year, they will not show many signs of improvement. The fact that the allocations were not all expended last year was due to* the inevitable change of system under the new city engineer. What our roads want in many cases is radical reconstruction; and a rough estimate has already fixed the cost of this work at fully £120,000. There is no adequate provision for sanitation, drainage or street construction and improvement in the municipal estimates; and till we face the responsibilities entailed upon us in these particulars we cannot profess to know much about our financial future. For all this work must be done, and done thoroughly, before our City Council can claim to have discharged its obvious duty toward the people of Auckland. We admit that there is far too much in all this to undertake at once. But the worst feature of the situation is that we are lightheartedly spending on luxuries the money that we ought to reserve for serious public necessaries.