Grants delay causing some hardship—Cotton

Press, 22 August 1989, Page 8

Grants delay causing some hardship—Cotton

The Hillary Commission’s indecision on which local authorities should give out grants had put some community organisations in financial trouble, Cr Clive Cotton said last evening.

The commission had not decided whether the grants should be handled by existing authorities or their succcessors after local government reform, Cr Cotton said.

Community organisations dependent on funding had been left up in the air. Now the commission would write to the transitional committees of the new authorities asking what they thoought, Cr Cotton said. Cr David Cox said the Christchurch City Council should make allocations to four organisations — the Southern Ballet Theatre, Court Theatre, Christchurch Symphony

Orchestra and the Ferrymead Trust — which it had previously supported. The grants should be made from the council’s budget, rather than waiting for the commission’s funds, he said. The council’s budget includes a sum of $78,000 for the four groups and others to be distributed by the grants sub-committee. The sub-committee, which Cr Cotton chairs, is waiting for the commission’s decision before distributing the funds. Councillors wanted an approach to the National Transition Committee, and for representations to the transitional committee for the new Christchurch City, to speed up the grants. Reply from China Cr John Burn dismissed the official explanation from the governor of China’s Gansu Province of the student uprising in

Tiananmen Square as a “pack of lies.” The governor, Jia Zhijie, was replying to a letter from the council expressing concern over events in the square. It was a counter-revolu-tionary rebellion launched by a tiny handful of students which the Government had had to quell to safeguard the people and allow the economy to continue its development, the governor’s letter said. “We know that to be completely untrue,” Cr Burn said. The letter urges the continued friendly link between Christchurch and Gansu. Housing named The council elderly persons’ housing development in Dundee Place will be named Maurice Carter Courts after the Deputy Mayor. He has had a long involvement with council housing projects.