A CITY'S DIARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 222, 19 September 1929, Page 10

A CITY'S DIARY.

DUNEDIN'S INTERESTING REPORT. EXAMPLE FOR AUCKLAND. SOME COMPARISONS. (By TOM BLOOD WORTH.) A few weeks ago I read in the daily Press that in the course of his annual report the town clerk of Dunedin' had made a reference to the problem created by a city being required year after year to raise money for the relief of unemployment. Being interested in this matter from two aspects, namely, municipal finance and unemployment, I wrote to Dunedin for a copy of the report from which the reference was taken, and in duo course I received it. The report is included in a bound volume of departmental reports for the City of Dunedin for the year ended March 31, 1929. This volume contains reports from the heads of the various departments of Dunedin's municipal administration with the accounts of their several departments, and in addition to those Jt contains a brief summary of the principal civic and social oventn of the year, such as the Armistice' Day and Anzac Day celebrations, the visit of New Zealand warships, and of the ships of the American Antarctic expedition. A list is also given of persons of note who have visited the city during the year, and also a brief account of an inspection paid ; by delegates to the Empiro Forestry Conference to the afforestation work of Dunedin. Information for Citizens. .

This volume is not an effort for this year only. It refers to the activities of the year under review, but similar volumes have been issued in past years, and it seems to me that the publication of these annual reports in this form is a valuable contribution to the work of municipal administrations, and in doing this Dunedin sets an example which other cities in the Dominion might well follow with advantage to themselves individually and to municipal administration generally. I know other cities receive annual reports from their departmental heads, but they are not in all cases printed and bound in a form handy to keep for future reference. Some cities issue a bound volume annually under the title, "Abstract of Accounts," a mass of figures, useful and interesting no doubt, to the comparative few, but containing no explanatory matter with which to make accounts intelligible to the many. Dunedin is not like that. It publishes the account, and with it the report which tells how the money was collected and how it was spent. In addition to the .accounts for each department, completed to March 31, though apparently not audited at the time of publication, it publishes a statement of estimated receipts and expenditure in general account for the coming year, showing in three separate columns "the estimated figure side by side with the realised figure for' the year just closing, with the suggested relative figures for the year upon which we are about to enter." This schedule, with a report which suggests the rate which will be required to be struck to meet expenditure for the coming year, was, we are told, approved by the finance committee on March 28, 1929, and by the council on April 3, 1929." Members of councils in these northern parts will realise the significance of those dates.. Under the heading, "Financial Results," a series of "clock" diagrams are published clearly showing the financial results of each department for the year, and the proportion of income absorbed under the various headings —working expenses,

interest, depreciation, surplus. Debts of Cities. The trading departments combined made a net profit for the year of £66,705 15/5, and the city treasurer reports that is equivalent to 3.4 per cent on a capital outlay of £1,971,000, and is the net result after paying interest on that sum at an average rate of 5.1 per cent. He also reports that "the trading departments have again contributed £25,000 to the new Town Hall fund, thus completing their contributions of £100,000 during the past three years." Only in two instances are comparisons made with other cities; one is with respect to rates and loan indebtedness, the other in reference to. elections, and both are interesting. With respcct to thg first, the table given is as follows: — Welling- Auck- Christ- Duntoil. land, church, etlin. £ £ £ £ Rate per head 4.001 5.139 3.520 3.022 Debt per head 39.94 65.12 30.26 46.52 Other figures are given, and the report draws attention to the difference between the various cities in the amount of productive and non-productive debt, and states that when allowance for this is made the position of Dunedin is greatly improved. Further, it is noted that in the same of Dunedin the total includes the liea<l works of the electricity branch, a circumstance which does not occur in any other centre. (.Dunedin owns its own hydro-electricity works.) Elections. Some very interesting comment is made by the town clerk on the matter of municipal elections. He suggests a return to what he terms the positive method of voting, by putting a cross against the name for whom it is wished to record a vote, as being better than the present negative system of scoring out the names of persons not wanted. Dunedin Council, during the year, was asked by the Ratepayers' Association to consider the advisability of a return to the former system of subdivision of the city into wards, and a committee considered this matter, and its recommendation, which was adopted by the council, is included in the volume. Many interesting details of administration and statistical information are given. I have heard it said that Dunedin is the bestmanaged of our New Zealand cities. With that observation 1 can hardly be expected to agree, but I do think that by keeping the diary of the city in this form, and by publishing its reports in a manner which ensures their being easily accessible to councillors and others at all times, Dunedin makes good management of its affairs a much more easy matter than it would otherwise be.