LARGE TOTAL

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 221, 14 June 1930, Page 13

LARGE TOTAL

Loans for Relief Works

COUNCIL OPERATIONS

£lll,OOO in Eight Years

(By

H.P.)

Wellington has had a number of very important city improvement works carried out by relief work loans subsidised by the Government, but even if works can by this method be carried out at two-thirds the ordinary cost, there is always the interest to be found annually on that two-thirds. The Government finds ways and means to tax the people for the interest on its quota, so that while on the surface it may seem that a local body is getting work done on a - cheaper basis than usual, such Is not the case when every angle of the situation is considered. Somebody has to pay; in this case that somebody is the public. The Wellington City Council is one of the local authorities which have resorted to the subsidised loan for relief works. So long as it had more or less necessitous works to do, the system was a convenient one. However, as soon as those works are completed and it has to look round to make up a schedule ot a new loan, it does not seem to bo acting with economic discretion; not, for example, as discreetly as the Dunedin City Council, which submitted its relief works loan proposal to the ratepayers, in the full assurance that the proposal would be rejected (as it was). Total Since 1022. Since 1922, the Wellington City Council has raised twelve relief work loans, the first two (of £12,000 each) without Government subsidy, and the last ten with the subsidy—all without a by-your-leavo from the ratepayers. The total oi these loans runs into the total of 000, of which amount £63,411/19/7 c ? n ’ sisted of Government subsidies, leaving £111,538/0/5 for the ratepayers to find the interest on for a stated number of years. Now it is proposed to add to that grand total of £175,000 another £40,000, which will bring the eight-year total up to £215,000. The detailed figures are as follow:—

Raised by Debentures.

One of the amazing features of this loan-raising is that seldom, if ever, does the City Council have to venture beyond its own area to secure the money. Without exception, the loans mentioned have been raised by the sale of 5| or 5J per cent, debentures “over the counter.” As often as not, it is scarcely necessary to advertise the loans. The city treasurer knows his market. There are always a certain number of people, (and some institutions) who are content to invest their money in municipal debentures, and as the result, there is a steady demand for them all the year round. Only a few weeks ago a new loan of £24,200 for the Kelburn viaduct was issued, and already £19,000 of it has been disposed of “over the counter” with next to no cost to tho council.

Raised by Govt. Council. Subsidy. £ -.Year. £ s- . d. 12,000 1922 —• 12,000 1926 — 4,000 10,000 1927-8 1927-8 1,333 0 3,634 1 0 6 26,000 1927-9 10,789 7 10 10,000 1928-30 ■ 5,303 11 5 15,000 1928-30 6,882 12 0 10,000 1928-30 6,000 0 0 25,000 1929-30 10,668 7 7 20,000 1929-30 9,636 17 8 10,000 1929-30 5,285 2 7 21,000 1929-30 . 8,928 19 0 £175,000 £63,461 19 7