SUMMIT ROAD TRUST

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21461, 1 May 1935, Page 12

SUMMIT ROAD TRUST

DEBTS ESTIMATED AT £3OOO ANNUAL MEETING HELD ALTERED CONSTITUTION PROPOSED Debts amounting to about £3OOO are owed by the Port Hiils-Akaroa Summit Road Trust according to.a statement made at the annual meeting of the trust last evening. At the conclusion of the meeting a committee was set up to consider alterations of the constitution to make the trust elective, and thus obtain.more support from the public.

The accounts, which were for nine months, showed that purchases at the Takahe absorbed £253, and at the Kiwi £176 0s 2d. Wages and salaries were altogether £236 Bs. Receipts from the Kiwi were £226 10s lid from the Takahe £431 12s sd. ahd from the Bellbird £1 19s. The net loss to the capital account was £l2O lGs 3d Assets were shown at £9203 2s 7d, and liabilities at £9060 14s Id. - Mr W. W. Scarff said that it was essential for the Public Works Department to take over certain portions of the road, because it would be impossible for the Heathcote County to rate its residents to pay. It was a shame to let the money being spent on unemployed labour on the road go to waste. The trust should hold its hand till the result of recent representations to Wellington were known. ~ ~ Mr E. S. Bowie said that it was little short of shocking that donations amounted only to £l7 7s 7d. This showed that the trust did not have the interest of the citizens of Christchurch. Some more active interest could be stimulated in the trust, which now numbered the ridiculous total of 20 subscribers. Bit? Liabilities The chairman, Mr N. B. Smith, said that Mr Ell was the whole of the trust, and the liabilities were so big and of such long standing that creditors immediately threatened to sue when they thought there were funds in hand. It was felt that the time was not opportunte to make an appeal to the public. The situation was now a good deal better, and an appeal might soon be made. Mr Bowie said that the trust should not attempt to evade its liabilities, but should take its creditors into its confidence and secure their help in an appeal. Mr J. A. Thomson said that the Takahe was not an asset yet, but if it was completed it could be made into a most valuable asset. With the building completed, the trust could go to the public and ask for support, but it was useless asking the public to pay off debts while the balance-sheet showed liabilities of £9OOO. The chairman: The debts are not nearly £9OOO. They are about £3OOO. Mr Scarff: I think Ihe whole show should go into liquidation. The matter, he saici, should bo left to the chairman, who already had had a good deal of success in inducing creditors to write of their accounts. "If you think you can go to the public and ask for £3OOO to wipe off debts, you will not get as many shillings," he said.

Mr Thomson: I think wo will. I am positive that we could get the money to comnl'cte the building. "The Press" has described the appeal of the men as unique. The men are trying to raise the money for their creative art. There would be such an outcry if funds were used for any other purpose than the building that you could not dare to do it. The chairman said that he was convinced that the best course was to keep on getting creditors to writedown their accounts. He ■ had not had a refusal yet. Mr L. B. Freeman said that most of the £I6OO showed as owing to unsecured creditors was incurred before Mr Ell's death. Since then veryfew indeed had come to the trust for money, which showed that they were not pressing. The chairman, in answer to a questioner, said that most of the debt was incurred in buying materials for the building of the Takahe. "This' trust when I first came into it was like a very big business with an income of only about £7O a year," the chairman said. "The balancesheet has been written to put the worst construction on the accounts, and as a business man 1 would say that there can only be an improvement." Sir R. Heaton Rhodes, who was invited to give his views, said that he had come to learn what was to be done to finish the Takahe. He did not think that it was a good plan to make more roads till the present ones were metalled. Good tracks should be built, but until they could be metallc), more roads should not be built. That had always been a grievance with him He suggested that an organiser might be appointed to attract subscriptions. Hundreds of people were interested in the scheme, and could be induced to subscribe and to use the roads and houses. Outlook Better The chairman said 4hat the Highways Board was approached; but nothing was done by it. The outlook was better now, and there seemed to be hope that it might be done. To spend £16,000 on forming the road and then let it become a "gutter was the height of absurdity. Mr Scarff said that he did not think for a moment that the Government would let the road go to waste. The Government had been very good to local bodies in the last year.

Sir Heaton Rhodes said that the unemployed had done very well on the road between the Bellbird and Cooper's Knobs. That work might be resumed. Mr Thomson: If the road was under the Highways Board the whole problem would be solved. To a questioner, the chairman said that it was impossible to estimate the cost of finishing the Takahe because it was practically all hand work. The work was going on all the time. The aim of the trust to-day was to finish the outside and make it attractive. "The way I see it is this," he said. "We have certain liabilities. As soon as those are liquidated, we will have no difficulty in raising funds."

Mr Thomson said that he was still convinced that now was the time to make an appeal. Mr C. H. Bascand said that ordinary modern methods of building would be no good at the Takahe. The building was to stand for a long time, and it was also doubtful whether the men on the job would accept any but the best materials, so wrapped up were they in their work. The report and accounts were adopted. Constitution of iVuat Mr G. A. Ell then brought forward a motion to alter the constitution of the trust to make it an elective b.Jy, and to appoint the Mayor of Christchurch as president ex officio, and vice-presidents from the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, the Canterbury Progress League, and the Automobile Association of Canterbury. In moving. Mr Ell said that he had no intention of reflecting on the present trust, but he considered that it was not representative enough. The public money was being spent, and

the public should have the right to say who should spend it.. Mr .Bowie seconded the resolution, and agreed that the proposed change would do a great deal to make the trust known to the public, and to secure its support. Mr Bascand said that there was no end to the ambition of Mr H. G. EIJ. If he had been allowed to finish what he started the trust would be in a different position to-day. Mr Bascand said that the bodies mentioned in the resolution had already been asked to send a representative to the trust, but they had not done so. Would their presidents be of any use to the trust? Mr Ell said that replies had been received from the bodies mentioned, but as the trust was limited to seven members, all of them could not be elected. Mr L. B. Freeman contended that members of the board of the trust would have to be very closely in touch with every phase of the trust's work. He did not think this could be expected of the Mayor. Mr Thompson said that the trust wanted the help of the City Council, possibly by paying the men at the Takahe the council wage of 14s 6d a day. Mr Smith said that the Heathcote and City Councils and other bodies in whose territory the trust worked should not be subjected to an election Mr Scarff advocated that the election of the board of trustees be confined to those in the room. The Automobile Association and the Progress League should be left out. Mr J. S. Kelly said that it would be a forward step to make the trust elective, because it would stimulate public interest. A committee consisting of the chairman, Messrs Bowie, Kelly, Ell, and Freeman, was set up to bring down recommendations to an adiourned meeting to be held in a fortnight