The Dominion THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1931. CURBING LOCAL BODY EXTRAVAGANCE

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 112, 5 February 1931, Page 8

The Dominion THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1931. CURBING LOCAL BODY EXTRAVAGANCE

It is satisfactory that the Civic League and the Association have been able to agree on a candidate for theWdhng t City Mayoralty and that Mr. T. C. A, Hislop has consented to accept their joint nomination for this most important civic offi • . . bodies will next require to co-operate in s * unn V fiTm of councillors so that Mr. Hislop, if elected, will have the firm support that is essential if he is to carry out the tasks that wi fall to his lot in the next two years. ; : n When demands are made for economy there is a tendencyu New Zealand to think only in terms of national and not of loca administration. Because individual local budget are comgra ? small—although gross receipts and payments in Well ngton Cityeach total over two millions-the fact is overlooked that in the aggregate the charges for local government are most burdensome and show tendency to increase rapidly. Attention was drawn to the heavy overhead'represented by rates by Tuesdays deputation to the Prime Minister, Mr, Forbes being asked to issue an. official pronouncement calling upon local bodies to eliminate all items of non-essential expenditure and to reduce the cost of administration.. , The subject has already been treated at length, in this column, ft will be sufficient ;to repeat here that in the seven years, 1921-28, local body spending increased by 80 per cent., rates by_ 70 per cent, and indebtedness by over 100 per cent. Toi take the single item, o debts, on March 31, 1929, local bodies owed 69 million pounds the debt per head had grown from £lO/4/1 in *0 /47/2/4 m 1 29, and the annual charge per head from 11/4 to £3/0/11. Plainly it is high time not only to check these mounting costs but to reduce them.. It may be that in 1928 the sum of 22 millions could be found for local government but 22 millions to-day is a very much larger sum owing to the fall in prices and the rise m the" value of money. We can no longer, afford such expensive administration, as witness the difficulties many ’ loca bodies are experiencing in collecting their demands. There is a call for economy in every branch of public and private expenditure and assuredly it cannot be allowed to stop short at local, bodies. Economy should be the watchword of every council and hoard and of the electors at the forthcoming local elections. , , , Fortunately economy is the main plank in the platform of the Civic League and Ratepayers’ Association and their candidate for the Mayoralty, who may shortly be called on to give the lead, seems to be seized of the position. In accepting nomination, Mr. Hislop took the view that the next two years would be a time for consolidation and economy.” He > proceeded to define what he meant by these two terms, saying: : “We must devote our energies, not so much to expansion and expenditure, as consolidation, living within our means, and practising economy consonant with efficiency. . No doubt Mr. Hislop realises that it will not be easy to implement his professions. The inertia of public bodies is notorious. Yet he will have before him a huge budget that should be capable of considerable curtailment.’ If, the New Plymouth Borough Council can reduce total annual expenditure by £13,000—-as it has done in spite of unavoidable increased charges in certain great deal more should be possible in the Wellington municipality unless it is functioning at the pitch Jof perfect efficiency. As that does not seem probable, considerable economies should be practicable without parsimony, which is often .'wasteful. Maintenance must ■ not be neglected, for instance, or depreciation of capital works allowed' but, as Mr. Hislop has aptly phrased it, there must be the practice of “economy consonant with efficiency.” > ■