MUNICIPAL INDEBTEDNESS AND RATES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 126, 28 May 1914, Page 4

MUNICIPAL INDEBTEDNESS AND RATES.

ii'rcrt..Uen'_ <|_-c_ti<ins arise as to ihecompaxative opprcssivenes.- of local rates in tire four chief cities of the Dominion, and also regarding ihe loan indebtedness of the different municipalities. It was apparency '■" meet _v.ii questions that Ih-e Mayor of Wellington the other day published a statement showing the position of "the four lilies in i heap respects anal March .list, 10]:;. This statement is worthy <>l" attention. It shows that .Wellington, with a debt of ,_2__B_,o.-O, lops .llie list an regards loan indebtedness, being followed by Auckland' with J_l,4:.:l.l00, llunedin wiih ._1_M...711. -.md ChTistchurch wiih X465,tiH2. In the matter of rates. Dunedin heads tire list with :i/'li,' 'if annual amount, followed by liir'isachurch with -/ti. Auckland -wii.il 1171. and AVcllingtoß with '2/8. The curious result is thus reached that the city with the largest, loan indebtedness has the lightest rattes. This, may ibe partly -explained by thft fact that Wellington has ttm largest population, but even with this advantage her debt amounts to £50 0/7 per head of population, agamst __26 1 - in Auckland, £2TI ]../!) in Dunedin. -i.nd only £7 l/_ in <"hrJ_lehorch. Tbeec figures a.rr all based on '..lie purely me__-opclit-.B area of each city, and refer only to the indebtedness of the. respective City Corporations. .The largeness .of Wellington's debt is chiefly due lo the fact -hat t.he corporation of that, city bus enin. and 'borrowed' money for. more reproductive undertakings- than any of the. other three. "Roughly, Wellington's proportion of reproductive to non-repTo-d__-_ivc loans _> as two to one: in Auckland it is less than one-half: in Christchurch il. is about two-fifths, and in Dunedin il is fully four to one. Wellington's reproductive works include tramways, electric, light, waterworks, abattoirs, and reclamation works, and ir. i<-. of course, tbe return from the profitable -working oi' these undertakings that operates lo reduce the 'burden on Ihc ratepayers. There ,-ecrns nn explanation "f why ChrtetcbnTch. with such small IfKin iiwte-htodnoso. and Dumsdin, with Mich a large •proportion ot reproduotive expenditure, a'e rated hig-her than Auckland and very much higher than Wellington, unless it be that llunedin and ("hristchlirch have followed the mere costly system of constructing nonrepfoduelive workc out of revenue inc-tcj.i of hot-rowing money for the purp,_3_. Th. «jUU-l I .-..0n d.-ducyblc. from Ihe .mil punitive figures compiled hy the, M.ivi.r ... Wellington is thai a m-unici-•p.-ilitv- n eeA -nft-t w afraid of _ontracting a lie'avy debt, s.. l-nrg -.is lhe money i* mainly applied lo reproductive undertakings, nnd ti-csc undertaking- arc maua_c.l so as in return a profit, after paying inwre*: and sinking fund.