BORROWING POWERS

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 310, 24 September 1908, Page 7

BORROWING POWERS

* ; LOANS TO LOCAL BODIES. V " ■ * IMPORTANT DEPUTATION. ATTITUDE OF THE GOVERNMENT. • A large doputation interviewed the Prime Minister yesterday on localbody matters. It consisted of Mr. J. G. Wilson (chairman of the'Manawatu County Council), Mr. R. K. Simpson (chairman of tho Rangitikei County d/Ouncii), Mr. Richards (Horowhenua County), Mr. Fowler (Kiwitea County), Mr. Gardener (LOvin Borough), Mr. Gower (Foxton Borough), Mr. Lethbridge, M.P. (Pohangina County), Mr. Remington (Wanganui County), . Mr. Pearco'.(Oroua County), and Mr. M'Kcnzie. (Rongotea Town Board). Mr. J. Stevens, M.P., introduced the .deputation. Mr. Stevens said that an anomaly at present existed in the matter of borrowing, in that the Wanganui district, .with ono county and six road boards, could borrow £24,000. Rangitikei County, .with doublo tho area, but with no road boards, only £6000 could be borrowed. They suggested this anomaly could bo overcome in the new Bill. .Mri J. G. Wilson mentioned another matter. . The Manawatu; County possessed a tramway, but there .was no provision in tho legislation to, enable them to borrow to replenish their rolling. _stock. So far they had been ablo to! do this :'out of revenue, but thfey now. desired to renew the lino and replace thoir engine perliapSj which was 40 years old, hut found it difficult to do this. Thoy wanted power tinder tho LoaniS to Local , Bodies Act to borrow.-, ' The.Primo Minister: You won't get that; .'there is no chance of widening the provisions under which loans to local bodies are issued. He had had to refuse similar applications for years, and for the, reason that tho amount, thelGoVernment .wore borrowing for this pur- ; pose was as great as'they could in safety permit. - They were this, year giving .powers , to;borrow outside the, Government. Mr. Wilson: Is there any power under the new Bill . The Primo Minister: There was nothing ■ in the Bill. to give power to. borrow for a minor railway to compete with a 1 Government line: : , ■' ' ' ■ , It; was. pointed; out that the line did not compete • with ' the . Government railways. Could money for road-making machinery be ' . borrowed: under' .tho Bill? The Premier said tho Bill could not bo widened for this purposo. But there was a Btraight-out amount of '£10,000 on the Estimates for this purpose." The borrowing powers in this direction could not be widened becSuse, . as-the : deputation must see, thero was a limit<-to be reached, and if the money Went in this direction tho roads'would suffer. Machinery should come out of revenue. Could power be given under the Bill to borrow for the tramway outside? The Premier could not at the moment commit himself. He wbuld look, into the matter. He would be very glad to help, but this was : a, very old matter. ,If the ■ request'. were granted.similar.applications would comei from nll ;over the Dominion". What they desired might be; introduced in a separate Tramways Bill. ' He would not do anything now that would clog the passage of the Loans to Local Bodies- Bill.

,Mf. R* K. Simpßon, irt referring to the position of the Rangitikei County, said that the', urgent works in his county , totalled £50,000, but they had -not the . powers to borrow anything like that. They would like power to borrow up to £12,000, and would be prepared.-to give additional interest. If they formed small road boards, which they did. not . to ..do, they could borrow £3000 for cach, in addition to the county loans. "• ■"

,The .Priine Minister : The Government, had twelve millions of so-called urgent work.. • ' Mr.' Gardener said that the Levin borough' had drainage and water works., .They,,could borrow certain amounts under, the Loans to Local Bodies Act for. eaoh work,' The limit for the drainage . was..the greater, and they wanted, to reduce the proportion/ of the former dnd-.raise the latter. .

,The Prime Minister,'in replying, spoke of the impossibility of widening tho provisions of-the Loans, to Local Bodies Act. The demands were ;So great that the country could not afford to allow .the. increase, of this debt. The position jwas obvious. He could not do otherwise than refuse to put the weight upon the; Dominion by asking Government to increase .''.tho borrowing to lend .to the. local bodies. For that reason he could not extend the ..provisions to include machinery. The treasurer of the country had great responsibility" on his shoulders in. this respect. He also showed that in. this year's Estimates £38j000,,was down for roads in the Rangitikei oloctorate, • So; that it would be seen tho Government had done its best* and, that ho was doing his best. ; , The deputation expressed pleasure at this announcement. ;

The.Prime Minister proceeded'that tho demand for roads, bridges, and railways had been greater than ever, during the last three or four years. Ho declared,'however, hfc was not going; to do anything that would burst tho country. _ He had been resisting pressure, in this direction, and would continuo to do so at' the risk of being abused. At the same time' they wero doing all possible. He would go into Mr. Wilson's request, but did not feel very friendly towards it. Tho deputation intimated they had intended advancing the claims of the Great-ford-Levin Railway, but since an engineer, as soon '. as available, was to go over the route and report (as stated in the Public Works Statement), they would say nothing further.