Litter council not satisfied

Press, 24 May 1977, Page 15

Litter council not satisfied

PA Wellington Anger at an alleged failure by the Government to give a lead on litter control was expressed at the annual meeting of the Litter Control Council in Wellington. "I don’t think things are going too well, and I’m not satisfied with what the Minister said this morning,” the chairman of the council’s Rotorua committee (Mr H. Holmes) said. The Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr Highet) had earlier told the council that its income from the Government and the Golden Kiwi lottery fund would stay at $45,000 this financial year. He also said he did not want to see “instant fines” for litterers. Mr Holmes said his local litter committee had resigned en bloc because of the “apaby” of the Government a-d criticisms of the comn/.tee from local councillors, who said it did not do much. “This committee is not

a bunch of radicals,” he said after the meeting. “It includes the principal of a local high school and the assistant director of the Maori arts and craft’s centre. Any council should be extremely pleased to have such people working for it. “But we get the general feeling that no-one is really doing anything about it. “The public and the councils all say they can’t do anything until the Government shows a clear lead.” The council’s chairman (Mr J. K. Dobson) said the council would be greatly expanding its activities even without Government help. He predicted that its expenditure could be multiplied nine times its present $64,000 by appealing to industry for sponsorship. This expanded income would be used to employ full-time officers in the main centres who could co-operate with local bodies’ litter officers.