TOTAL, £19,000.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20919, 28 July 1933, Page 12

TOTAL, £19,000.

ELECTRICITY FUNDS j APPROPRIATED. j j CONDEMNATION OF CITY | COUNCIL'S ACTION. i I The Christchurch City Council's appropriation from the funds of the j Municipal Electricity Department is actually more than the profit shown in the department's operating account for the year, according to a statement made at the annual meet-1 ing of the Citizens' Association last night by the chairman (Mr S. G. Holland). j It was not generally realised, said Mr Holland, that in addition to the £15,000 of which so much had be m heard, the council was appropriating a sum of more than £4OOO from the department's funds for general purposes, possibly for a contribution to the Business Men's Relief fund. "The total amount of £19,000 is, more than the department's operating account produced last year, and it is a tragic example of the council's policy," said Mr Holland. "The decision of the council to make this raid is one that calls for examination by each of us and by our association." Relief on Loan Money. Mr Holland went on to condemn the policy of providing relief by loan money. In 1927, he said, a loan of £25,000 had been raised and in 1931 there had been an additional £39,500. Both were short-term loans. The service on the first amounted to about £3OOO a year and the service on the second to about £7OOO. "The position is," he explained, "that this year we are spending £IO,OOO on relief that was distributed in years gone by." The cost of living had declined 20 per cent, since the awards governing the council workers were made, he continued, and the council's refusal to reduce wages had resulted in a wage bill quite out of proportion in present times. A Wider Distribution. Discussing the subsidy that the council paid to relief workers, Mr Holland said that £2OOO of this went annually to the Unemployment Board's funds. The Business Men's Committee had proposed that instead of £2OOO being given to the board, and another £SOOO to those who were privileged to work under the council, the whole amount of £7OOO should be given to the committee for distribution to all the city's unemployed, in the form of relief. With this £7OOO the committee could buy £IO,OOO worth of goods. Mr Holland emphasised that the Citizens' Association did not stand for low wages. The fact that it was advocating a reduction in the wages paid to council workers must not be taken as meaning a general wage reduction policy. The position was that as trustees for the ratepayers the councillors could vote only for wages which the ratepayers could afford to pay. At the present time the council's employees were in a very much better position than outside employees.

DR. THACKER'S MOTION. MAYOR'S OPINION. According to a statement made by the Mayor (Mr D. G. Sullivan, M.P.) to a representative of "The Press" yesterday, there is little likelihood of the motion, of which Cr. H. T. J. Thacker has given notice, to rescind the decision of the Christchurch City Council on Tuesday night, relative to the transfer of £ 15,000 from the electricity account to the Council s general account, being agreed to. Mr Sullivan said that he had received an assurance from three or four members of the council, who voted against the transfer on Tuesday night, that they will not vote for the rescinding motion. Transfer of Destructor Site. Regarding the transfer of the refuse destructor site to the Electricity Department, Mr Sullivan said that he was having a complete examination made by the financial officers of the council and of the department, of the legal aspects of the matter. The point of view which he had in regard to the piece of land was that the figure mentioned to him as being its value at the present time, was about £II,OOO, and that eventually it would have to be taken by the department for extensions, and at that time it might be worth anything up to £20,000. In the meantime, preliminary work on the preparation of the rate notices will be proceeded with.