Proposal For Sharing Town Hall Costs

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28748, 20 November 1958, Page 20

Proposal For Sharing Town Hall Costs

Although all five minor local bodies in metropolitan Christchurch are prepared to support, in principle, a proposal that they share in the cost of a town hall, none is ready to commit itself further until more facts and figures are available.

This was the conclusion from a round table discussion yesterday between representatives of the Christchurch City Council, the Riccarton Borough Council, and the Waimairi, Paparua, Heathcote. and Halswell county councils.

Although the meeting was originally called to consider the sharing of city amenities in general, the discussion yesterday was largely confined, at the request of the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr G. Manning), to support for the town hall project. An offer of representation on the City Council town hall committee was made, and this will be taken back to their councils by the representatives. As no agenda had been circulated for the meeting, none of them would give their council’s views on the proposals, but all indicated that their sympathy was with the project. “Could be Shared” The city was at present paying for many amenities, the cost of which could well be shared by other local bodies, said Cr. W P Glue (City Council). Among those he named were the centennial pool, which had a deficit of £7500 a year, the art gallery, the libraries, street lighting and the beach patrol. The aerodrome was one amenity which need noi • be considered, he said, as it; would soon be self-supporting. “We will have to rate for any deficit on a town hall, but ii would be tough to rate people in Sydenham for a hall which will be used by people living in Waimairi, such as myself.” he said. The question was, to what extent would the neighbouring local bodies be prepared to help? Would it be possible to use the ratio of contributions to the Memorial highway as a basis for discussion on sharing the town hall costs, asked the Mayor of Christchurch. Christchurch must have a town hall, and the responsibility could extend well beyond the boundaries of the city, said the Mayor of Riccarton (Mr E. J. Bradshaw). This was his personal view, but he would not ask his ratepayers to contribute until much more information on the City Council’s proposals were available. Riccarton would not shirk its responsibilities, but would want to see plans, specifications and estimates of costs. However, there were several difficulties In the street appeal, “Operation Doorknock.” Riccarton people had already contributed to the town hall funds, said Mr Bradshaw. Further, the borough, which had its own commitments, had its own plans for a hall, which was badly needed in the district. However, Riccarton, he knew would be “as happy as Larry” to help pay for the domains. Hagley Park and the Botanic gardens were on the borough boundaries and both the councillors and ratepayers would be pleased to contribute towards their upkeep. “No More”

Replying to references to the city council’s intentions regarding the erection of a new administrative block as part of the town hall project, the chairman of the city council finance committee (Cr. H. P. Smith), said: “When we say the ‘town hall’ we mean the town hall—just that, and no more.”

Although the city council wished to see the present discussion confined to the town hall project, the proposal for the sharing of the cost of city amenities was a sound one. said the chairman of Waimairi County Council (Cr. H. J. Reynolds), who suggested the establishment of a metropolitan amenities authority. Cr. W. J. Mac Gibbon (City Council) proposed that representatives of neighbouring local authorities should sit on the city council’s town hall committee.

The public, and Waimairi’ ratepayers would want to see something concrete, and would have to be well advised of progress in the project, said Cr. C. L. Austin (Waimairi County Council). If the city could bring down a budget showing the cost of the metropolitan amenities, as a basis for serious discussion, he did not

think it would find the neighbouring local bodies wanting, said the chairman of the Halswell County Council (Cr. J. MacKenzie). Only “gestimates” could be submitted at present, said Cr. Smith, but the city council would be prepared to make its present information available to any councillor from any neighbouring authority, or any citizen. Mr Bradshaw said he assumed, as the discussion had been confined to the town hall project, that the city council had dropped its earlier proposals on the sharing of other city amenities. Neither Mr Manning nor any other city council representative replied to this, and the meeting closed without the adoption of a motion.