Town Hall pays for conference charge confusion

Press, 16 June 1983, Page 9

Town Hall pays for conference charge confusion

The Christchurch Town Hall Board has to bear a shortfall of at least $lO,OOO to cover the cost of translation equipment hired for the Jaycees Asia Pacific Conference held at the Town Hall between May 28 and June 1.

The total cost of hiring the equipment from a Melbourne company was $16,510. The Jaycees claim they only have to pay $4OOO of this because they were not told of an increase in costs, but they have indicated that they may be prepared to make an extra payment of $2OOO. The Town Hall manager, Mr J. D. Carson, told yesterday’s management board meeting that the board would have to meet the shortfall. In spite of this, Cr M. Hobby said the Town Hall should still make an overall profit out of the conference. A misunderstanding occurred when Town Hall staff failed to tell the Jaycee conference’s organising committee that the cost of supplying translation services for the 400 Japanese delegates was considerably higher than the original es-

timate, as there were insufficient headsets available in New Zealand for hire or purchase. The original quotation of $lO a headset was made when the Town Hall staff believed that there were only 150 delegates requiring translation facilities. Mr Carson said he wrote to the conference committee as soon as he realised that no mention had been made of the increased costs. The conference director, Mr N. W. Smith, indicated that the Jaycees had made no allowance in their budget for expenditure above the original figure and refuted responsibility for meeting any charges over and above the figure of $4OOO. The board had considered buying some of this equipment for future conferences and Mr Carson had negotiated a package deal with the Melbourne company, R. H. Cunningham Proprietary, Ltd.

However, it has since been sent back and the board has abandoned the idea because of the probability of high duty charges and the lack of provision in its estimates for such a purchase.