DOMAINS BOARD.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18488, 16 September 1925, Page 10

DOMAINS BOARD.

, * PROPOSED ABOLITION. COUNCIL'S "PALTRY REASONS." "As a conference is to be held between representatives of the City Council and the Board to discuss the matter. I would prefer not to say anything at saidi Mr Geo. Harper, chairman of the Christchurch Domains Board, to a representative of "The Press" yesterday, when asked if he would make a statement in respect of the. resolution carried by the Council on Monday, recommending that the Board be abolished as from March. 31st, 1026. ■ "I do not think that members of the City Council realise just what the duties of a Metropolitan Board of Works should be," said Mr W. H. "Winsor, a member of the Domains Board. "The Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works, for instance, carries out such services as drainage, watersupply, tramways, and similar duties are performed by such bodies in other 'centres. Low Cost of Administration. "With regard to the question of what could be saved in administrative expenses should the proposed abolition take place, does the City Council realise that all t-hat might be saved would be the sum of £IOO paid to the Board's secretary to keep its books in order* Could the City Council do the work for any less than that? The revenue of the Board is close on £SOOO and £IOO of (.his—the cost of administration —represents only about 2 per cent. "I was for some time on the Spreydon Borough Council, which I think might be taken as a fair example of a-local borough, and I know that the cost of administration there ran into something like 8 per cent. When I went on the Board first about 10 years ago, it was with the intention of.fighting against the rate that the borough was paying. We considered it unfair that although the borough was uhabls to spend what it would like to on a domain of its own, it should be expected to pay towards the upkeep of the Christchurch Domain." '■" He did not mind admitting that he subsequently changed his views on the, matter when he saw the fine work that the Board was carrying out and realised how comparatively small the sum was that the borough was contributing towards that work. He was satisfied that during the whole of the time he had been connected with the Board, not a penny had been spent by it except to the best advantage. Party Politics. Mr Winsor said that he agreed with what had been said at the meeting of trie Council regarding the introduction of party politics into the administration of the work now done by the Domains Board in the event of those duties being undertaken by the City Council. There never had been any politics in the Board, all the members, no matter what their views on politics, working for the benefit of the citizens as a ■whole. He was afraid that if the duties of the Board were to be merged with those of the City Council, such would not be the case. Mr Winsor mentioned the names of a number of members of the Board who were not associated with any other local body. These gentlemen, he said, gave up a lot of their time to the Board's work, and if the Board were abolished, the result would I>e that their services would be lost altogether to the public. The Domains Board, he added, was the only local body in and around '■ Christchurch that benefited from public bequests, such as the Cuningham bequest, which had resulted in the erection of the winter garden in the Botanit Gardens. He was afraid that the abolition of the Board would result in such bequests being not forthcoming in the future. "I deplore the fact," said Mr Winsor, in conclusion, "that the City Council should have passed the resolution it did on such reasons as were given, reasons which to my mind are paltry."