LOCAL BODY DEFAULTS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20382, 31 October 1931, Page 14

LOCAL BODY DEFAULTS.

CLUTHA RIVER BOARD. half-yearly interest is STILL UNPAID. The Olutha Biver Board, which has assets of an estimated value of £44,127, has defaulted in the payment of halfyearly interest on a loan of £5157 at six per cent., due on September 30th last. This is believed to be the first case of default by a local body in New Zealand. The reason for the default, it has been reported, is the failure of the Lands Office to collect the rents from tenants on the lands with which the Board is endowed. According to the Local Authorities' Handbook (1931), the endowments of the Clutha River District are valued at £36,350, being therefore much the largest part of the total assets. At the end of the financial year 1929-30, outstanding rates, rents, and fees amounted to £545. Other cash assets were then £456. Total Indebtedness. On the loan of £5157, which falls due between the years 1933 and 1937, the sinking fund accrued amounts to £879. At March 31st, 1930, this left the total net indebtedness at £4278, to which were added a bank overdraft of £193, and other liabilities of £263. The total annual loan charges on the district amount to £5lO. For the financial year ended March, 31st, 1930, the total receipts (which are derived entirely from licenses, tolls, rents, etc.) were £3155, and the total payments £3374, chiefly in maintenance. This default has followed the virtual insolvency of the Thames Borough, the position of which was set out in The Press on September 15th, and which has since "been in the hands of a committee of debenture-holders. What steps the River Board will take to meet its liabilities are not known.