REDUCTION WANTED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 139, 14 June 1932, Page 9

REDUCTION WANTED.

SINKING FUND PAYMENTS. TRANSPORT BOARD DECISION. MOVE TO APPROACH GOVERNMENT. Whether or not the Government should be urged to give consideration to the passing of legislation to empower the reduction of sinking fund payments was a, question that was argued at some length by members of the Auckland Transport Board at their meeting this morning. A motion favouring a proposal that the Government should bo approached along the lines suggested was finally carried. Discussion arose when the chairman, Mr. J. A. C. Allum, reported that he had interviewed the Mayor, Mr. G. W. Hutchison, in regard to the matter of the board's sinking fund payments. The Mayor had said that as far as the city was concerned he personally was averse to any action being taken to disturb the payments at present made. Mr. Allum 'also issued to members a long memorandum, reviewing the position. In conclusion he said he would attend a meeting of the Municipal Association executive in Wellington to-morrow, when the matter of sinking fund payments would be considered, and he suggested that he should be empowered to submit the board's opinion. In the prevailing circumstances it seemed to him that the Government should be urged to give consideration to the passing of such legislation as would empower the reduction of sinking fund payments to such lower rates as were commensurate with the life of the assets acquired by the expenditure of the various loan moneys. Mr. G. Grey Campbell said the Transport Board should not take any action at the present time. It was not in a perilous position like some outside local bodies. If bodies like the board and the City Council were going to act as suggested a great deal of damage would be done to the country's credit. The policy of the Loans Board in making sinking funds sufficient at maturity to pay for the loans was a sound one. It would be a brave man who would guarantee that Auckland would still have trams in eight years' time. Mr. T. Blood worth: We may all have wings. Mr. G. R. Hutchinson regretted that the board should be one of the pioneers in seeking a reduction in the rate of sinking funds. Mr. R. G. Clark said that the position the board would find itself in in 1940 would be that 05 per cent of the present loan indebtedness would be repaid, and £95,000 per annum, which included interest and sinking fund on £1,250,000, would be retained by the board, thus placing the board's finances in a most satisfactory position. When put to the vote the motion that the chairman's report should be adopted and that the suggested action be taken was adopted, Messrs. Hutchinson, Potter and Grey Campbell voting against it.