The Press. Wednesday, November 19, 1930. Resisting the Vandal.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20089, 19 November 1930, Page 10

The Press. Wednesday, November 19, 1930. Resisting the Vandal.

.lis Excellency the Governor-General, n a speech at Timaru reported in Tiie j kess yesterday, made some uteresting .■'.Jul valuable remarks on the duty «'f guarding against the spread of ugly* buildings and ugly signs in oiv :i and country. He referred to the admirable v/ork done at ..Home by the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, which is helped of course by the S-capa Society and other bodies; and those who see with increasing annoyance and distaste ihe increasing need for similar work in New Zealand must have begun to wonder whether the time lu.. not come to organise it. While we may congratulate ourselves that our country roads are nowhere lined with hoardings, that advertisement does not ambush us at every corner or occupy every prominence or threaten us along every vista, this only meaHs that things have not yet become as bad as they might be. The nuisance on most roads, though intermittent, is growing wors'-, and if unchecked may quite easily become the hideous abuse which both in England ai.d in America is now provoking its own remedy. It is as well as easier, to undo harm before it grows to its extreme. Unfortunately, the State in Now Zealand is a ( bad and obstinate' offender, without even the wretched excuse that its wholesale offences produce a profit too large to sacrifice. The figures were given in a message from Dunedin yesterday. Again, few local bodies have shown any uneasiness about the gradual disfigurement of their territory ; and, so far as we know, no commercial firms operating in New Zealand have thought it necessary or desirable to declare ugainst ugly roadside advertisement. The explanation is that public opinion has not yet declared itself with sufficient emphasis. In England, where it has, large organisations, such as llie firm of J. C. Eno, the Dunlop Rubber Company, Shcll-Mex, Limited, the Anglo-Americar Oil Company, the British Petrolem Company, and the Raleigh Cycle Company have given orders against placing their posters or " ;ns in unsuitable surroundings and agreed to use only pleasant and quiet colours. In the United States, the Standard Oil Company of California led a campaign against spoiling scenery with sign-boards by offering large prizes for photographs illustrating the worst effects. Public opinion has also aroused the Legislatures of many States, notably New Jersey, New York, and Kentucky; while the most recent American newspapers report that the Pennsylvania Department of Highways has just destroyed 32,225 roadside signs. It is to be hoped thai New Zealand will never need to undertake so large a campaign; but there is only one waj of avoiding the necessity, and that is to fight the easier battle now.

The Tramways. Since the Tramway Board elections are close at hand, it is specially desirable that electors should understand the chief issue before them. Broadly, they will have to choose between candidates 1 who think of the tramways aa a form c£ social service, giving benefits to some for which all, if necessary, should pay, and other candidates who hold that they ere a business undertaking, which should pay its way and meet its obligations from its own resources, without leaning on the ratepayers. The financial position of the undertaking needs to be grasped, if this issue is to be honestly faced. At the close of the last financial year, on March 31st, 1930, the capital expended upon construction end equipment totalled £1,295,662, of which £1,089,800 was raised as loan i money and the remainder came from revenue and reserves accumulated over f, long period. Of the total loan liability, nearly £BOO,OOO will mature in 1934, and the rest ten years later, "he sinking fund to meet tjie maturing loans amounted on March 31st to less than £200,000; but there also existed in the depreciation' account investments totalling £241,000, which (if not re- , tiuced for other purposes in the meantime) would also be available to meet the maturities. On March 31st, therelore, the Tramway Board had at command a sum of about £441,000 with which to repay loans of £778,750 in ■'934 and of £311,000 in 1944.' The : inking fund will naturally increase in <he interval, as will the depreciation : und, if it is maintained as an auxiliary linking fund; but even so there is no prospect whatever that the amounts available will be sufficient to redeem the loans on maturity. New loans will have to be raised, probably at higher cost, to repay the present bond-holders. It follows that the affairs of the Board will have to be conducted with the utmost ; kill and prudence, if the finances of the undertaking are to bear the strain npon them. This is a cogent reason why electors, especially those who are ratepayers, should give their votes to the candidates most likely to reject 3 isky and impossible theories of policy und management and to give all their t are and ability to the task of making Iho tramways pay their way. And that means, of course, making them pay out of earnings, without resort to such easy devices as reducing the provision of funds to satisfy maturing loans. Canterbury Manufacturers. The 51st Annual Repoi't of the Canterbury Manufacturers' Association, which we print to-day, might have been expected to be clouded by anxiety and gloom. Instead, it is so cheerful, and cheerful for such sound reasons; that reading it will do everybody good. Although the membership has declined a little, and the income for the year fallen a few pounds short of the expenditure, the real work for the year, the planning and financing of Canterbury Hall, has gone on unchecked. The Association itself has taken 5550 shares, on which a call has besii made

jf ten shillings. A second mortgage debenture issue has been launched, and yone off so well that another month vill probably see the full amount of iIS,OUO subscribed, and the issue closed. In that case the builders will le on the ground before Christmaslie site has already been bought—and he next Winter Show will probably ie held in the Association's own per•nancnt home. It is a most encouraging story for such a discouraging year, and >lO one will rend it more gladly than '.hose who have wondered sometimes xhether the manufacturers of Canterbury have the initiative (hat spells success, There has been so much initiative in this case, so much confidence and foresight, that their success, in relation to the times and tl.o dreary experiences of other organisations, has been almost indecent. If they can do this when th.ev want a home they can :lo it when they want a market, and if they decide some day tf make a footstool of the primary producer he will have to copy their methods to escape. In the meantime, however, he will rejoice. with all other sections of the community, in their successful defiance of bad times.