TRANSFER OF £13,000.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20920, 29 July 1933, Page 12

TRANSFER OF £13,000.

SPECIAL MEETING OF THE COUNCIL. iK. THACKER'S INTENTIONS. Attempts made to find a way out of the position that has arisen owing to the lodging ot a notice of motion to upset the decision of the City Council last Tuesday night regarding the transfer of £15,000 from the electricity account to the general account in order to balance the estimates, have not been successful so far. Proposed compromises instead of lessening, appear to be increasing the difficulties. The possibility of finding a solution by one party agreeing to cut out reference in the resolution to the transfer of the refuse destructor site to the Electricity Department has been considered, hut the difficulties that would arise if that proposal were adopted arc said to be so great as to rule it out. In the event of the Mayor (Mr D. G. Sullivan, M.P.) not calling a special meeting of the Christchurch City Council, to dispose of Cr. H. T. J. Thacker's notice of motion early enough to permit of the rate notices being issued in time, it is the intention of three members of the council to lodge a requisition for a special meeting. Cr. Thacker, in giving this information to a representative of "The Press" yesterday said that several matters of an important constructive character would be included in the business to be dealt with, in addition to the disposal of his notice of motion. "Whether or not the transfer stands" Cr. Thacker said, "1 intend to propose at the special meeting that the council should appoint three financial experts to go into the question of rates, not only the City Council rates proper but also those of other local bodies which the council collects for them, with the object of ascertaining how many thousands of pounds can be saved." Refuse Destructor. The present refuse destructor, Cr. Thacker holds, must be removed some time from its present site. His idea is that a new site should be obtained, say at the end of Harewood road, where there is ample land available. He would extend the present Papanui tramway to the new site, using the old rails removed from the Northcote road extension. The refuse of the city would be collected and conveyed in suitably constructed waggons to the new destructor in the early hours of the day when cheap electric power would be available. In. the same vicinity the crematorium,' if its erection is decided upon, could be erected, or provision made for a bigger cemetery. "If the refuse destructor is dismantled and removed," Cr.Thacker added, "we would then have a site on which to erect a Diesel plant, to generate electricity, by using crude oil." The possibility of the municipality generating its own electricity is contemplated in the event of the city not being able to obtain satisfactory conditions in respect of supply from Lake Coleridge when the present agreement with the Public Works Department expires in 1937. Reversion to Fortnightly Meetings. Another proposal that would be i made, Cr. Thacker said, would be that the council should revert to fortnightly meetings. This would! remove the necessity for the council) meetings lasting till 2 a.m., and; would cut out the long sessions at I committee meetings. The public! should have the fullest opportunity to learn about the details of their own business and he thought that the public gallery of the council ehamber wa: the place for them to get those details. Generally, Cr. Thacker thought that what he described as "the clandestine harmony" of the last two years needed the introduction of a little discord, i