TRAMS VERSUS BUSES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 200, 24 August 1926, Page 15

TRAMS VERSUS BUSES.

THE QUESTION REVIVED.

A BELATED WARNING,

EXPENDITURE BY CITY COUNCIL.

(By Telegraph.— Tarliameutary Reporter.)

WELLINGTON, Monday,

"When there has been wilful expenditure of money voted for some other purpose, then the House ought to be very careful in validating it," said Mr. V. H. Potter (Roskill), when it was moved that the Auckland City Council Empowering Bill l>o read a third time, the bill having boon read a second time and put through tlio Committee stage a few minutes prc\ inuplv. without discussion.

Mr. Potter called the attention of the House to what, he considered, a breach of fnit.h. >lr. A. Harris iWaitemata) started to* explain that the Auckland ratepayers had authorised £280,000 for tramways extension, and that the Auckland City Council had purchased motor buses without authority. Mr. McC'ombs (impatiently): Oh! it has all been advertised in the Auckland papers. Mr. Harris went on to say that with a portion of tlie money the council had purchased motor bu-cs. and the n<?t result was that a of .£34.000 was sustained last year. That meant a loss of £34.000 on vehicles which had never been, authorised by the ratepayers. While the Council might have thought, it justifiable to purchase those buses, there was nothing to justify the expenditure of an additional £50.000 to purchase more motor buses. There was a clause in the bill which not only validated the past expenditure, but authorised _the additional expenditure of faO.OOO. Mr. McCombs (in a tired voice) : Oh, they all know up there. Another Loss Probable. Mr. Harris: They do not know and that is why I am calling attention to Mr. McCombs: Your duty was to call the Committee's attention to it. Mr. Harris went on to say that the purchase of additional motor buses would probably mean the loss of another £34,000. He thought the people of Auckland should understand the position.

Mr. H. E. Holland (Leader of the Opposition) expressed surprise that the two hon. members should have said the people of Auckland did not know what was proposed. He understood that neither of them had been heard by the Select Committee which considered the bill, nor had they raised the matter when the bill was read a second time, and put through the Committee stage. That was surely the time to tell the House there was something wrong. , The hon. gentlemen had left the matter too late.

Mr. G. W. Forbes: They missed the

Mr. Holland: And it seems that they deliberately missed the bus. Mr. J. A. Lee (Auckland East): Too much "pottering" about. (Laughter.) Mr. Holland ' thought they had put themselves right out of court.

"It's Their Own Fault."

Mr. W. D. Lysnar (Gisborne), in the absence of the chairman of. the Select Committee, explained that the Committee had taken care to see that the proposals contained in the bill had been published and circulated in Auckland. The hon. member for Waitemata shou'id not be taken seriously. If the people of Auckland didn't understand, it was their own fault. If they had no organisation or person sufficiently interested to take the matter up and make inquiries then it was their own fault if they suffered. The preamble in the bill explained everything. As there had hopn no objection raised the Committee had had no alternative but to lot the bill proceed. Mr. J. A. Lee rose to say that, in his opinion, there had been too much "pottering"' about. They should have got in earlier. Mr. Potter: That is a very poor joke. Mr. H. G. R. Mason (Eden) confessed to a certain amount of sympathy with Mr. Harris. It seemed to him that the procedure x was not calculated to bring the legislation under the notice of members of the district. . .

Mr. Lysriar: The notice was put up in the lobby.

Mr. Mason thought members interested should be notified.

Mr. M. J. Savage (Auckland West) Mid this was a big question in Auckland, the question of trams versus buses. The point was that the money was for the Tramway Department, in order that they might purchase buses which they had been forced to do by private bus owners in competition with them.

Mr. Potter: The public have forced them.

Mr. Savage: Well, I'll leave that to the House. The bill was read a third time and passed.