UNPAID BILLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 209, 4 September 1929, Page 10

UNPAID BILLS.

MOUNT ALBERT'S PROTEST.

AGAINST WATER CHARGES

OTHER BODIES APPLAUD,

In their refusal to pay their water bill, the Mount Albert Borough Council have obtained the support of the Newmarket and New Lynn Councils.

At last meeting, the Mount Albert Council decided that, in the absence of notice of the increased price, they u'ould refuse to pay the City Council's bills for water. The report of the finance and legal committee, presented last evening, stated that accounts were authorised for payment "with the exception of the City Council's account for £670 2/1 for water supplied." The clerk reported that the solicitor's opinion regarding the legality

of their action, and the City Cpuncil's power to amend the by-law, had not arrived. The New Lynn Borough Council wrote stating that they had asked tho City Council that the increase in the price of water should not come into action until they had time to alter their by-laws to meet the new situation. They supported the stand taken by Mount Albert. A letter from the Newmarket Borough Council expressed sympathy with Mount Albert's action and promised .co-opera-tion. In reply to a protest forwarded by the Mount Albert Council, the City Council wrote that the increase had been necessary in view of the present financial position of the water undertaking. This was the result of considerable extensions which had become necessary on account of the increased demand for water. As regards notice of tlje increase in the price of water, the City Council pointed out that the amendment to the by-laws had been advertised in the public Press for four weeks before it came into operation. The letter was received without audible comment.