Private Work By Boards

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31776, 5 September 1968, Page 6

Private Work By Boards

While amalgamation with the city council was the main policy of the Labour Party for the Christchurch drainage and transport boards, there would be voluntary joining of a metropolitan board of works, the party’s election policy says.

For both boards the party proposes to do outside work: in the case of the.transport board to seek to tender for other local body work for its workshop and equipment, and for the drainage board, to establish a contracting branch to do relatively small contracts at present let to private contractors.

The possibility of organising circular bus routes supplementary to the present parallel routes will be examined, the policy says. Bus shelters will be provided where required as quickly as possible. When new housing areas are developed a bus service will be introduced as soon as it is required. The most modern methods, including the use of small buses where desirable, will be investigated. The Government will be pressed for remission of customs duty on capital equipment

The party says that as transport needs and shift work are inseparable, continuity of service will be encouraged by basing retiring allowances on one week’s leave for every year of service. “Aranui Smell”

The problem of what had become known as the “Aranui smell” affected several districts. A Labour board would expedite remedial measures. Labour would take steps to speed up stormwater drainage and acquire a substantial increase in the number of mobile pumping units for use in emergencies- such as periods of excessive rainfall. As the board’s legislative powers were limited to recommending desirable land levels •and enforcement was the responsibility of the City Council, a Labour board would geek its own. legal powers of enforcement until there was amalgamation. When any area was being "sewered the laterals to property boundaries should be

connected where practicable, the policy says. , For both ad hoc authorises the party prcrposes ’a method of workers’ participation in administration.' , . Harbour Board

Reclamation of the upper reaches of the harbour toward Teddington to create an area suitable for development of building sections is favoured in the policy for the Lyttelton Harbour Board, i The party says everything possible should be done to attract more shipping, including advertising the facilities of the harbour and its importance for the progress of Christchurch and North Canterbury. Modernisation of the inner harbour should be undertaken to meet the needs of rail and road transport, particularly in the light of the increasing demands for container, palletised and unitised cargo. Labour members will advocate development and expansion of No. 6 wharf and examine the possibility of using mobile unit loaders to obviate heavy and costly capital equipment and the possibility of providing more car parking space, including an elevated parking area. Any disparity in charges for use of any of the board's facilities would be examined with a view to elimination. Catchment Board

For the North Canterbury Catchment Board, the party said it would advocate the greatest possible use and development of the resources ip the board’s area; Including:

A vigorous afforestation plan for selected areas of the Waimakarirl River catchment, Greater use of the shingle resources of the river, and Intensification of land use research.

Labour members would advocate that the cost of any survey of an area scheme would be a charge on the area, and not on the administration fund as at present. They would press for an early investigation of and measures to deal with problems of local flooding in the Christchurch area.