"LEVY STUNT?"

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 179, 30 July 1936, Page 17

"LEVY STUNT?"

METROPOLITAN COMMITTEE.

CRITICISM AT PAPATOETOE,

"It looks to me like another hospital levy stunt, and we have to be very careful how we commit ourselves, said Mr. W. A. Cairns at tlic meeting of the Papatoetoe Town Board last evening, when the proposal of the Auckland City Council for the a permanent metropolitan committee was under discussion. An outline of the scheme was explained in a letter fi om Mr. Ernest Davis, Mayor of Auckland. Mr. Cairns stated that co-operation with the Auckland Drainage Board was hotli wise and essential, as the only solution for a drainage scheme for Papatoetoe was to secure an outfall, but such matters as the Waitakere ridge l'oad were on a different footing. Caution in considering the matter was urged by Mr. J. Franklin, who said that if the board appointed a delegate it would be difficult to evade financial obligations. ' ' . , , Mr. W. Young, the town clerk, stated that according to section 53 of the Municipal Corporations Act it seemed that if the committee adopted the Waitakere scenic drive or any 0 ,, G1 scheme the board was automatically committed. . , , The Chairman, Mr. W. J. Nicholson: We are in the proposed metropolitan drainage area, but apart from the major drainage scheme, we are not in a position to undertake any financial commitments for metropolitan schemes. The chairman added . the comment that that mean of population ancl valuation referred to in the memorandum could only an apportionment of any costs among local bodies on the same basis as the present hospital levy. "If we appoint a delegate, he continued, "we should make it clear that it implies no commitment of financial obligation." The board decided to refer the matter to the legal and finance committee for a full report to the next meeting o the board.