FORTY-HOUR WEEK

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 301, 15 September 1933, Page 12

FORTY-HOUR WEEK

Two City Road Works FULL AWARD WAGES Money from £25,000 Loan CITY COUNCIL DECISION In order to make it possible for relief workers on the Wadestown and Upland Roads to be employed for 40 hours a week at award wages, the Wellington City Council last night requested the Works Committee to revise the list of works included in the £25,000 loan, which has just been approved by the Local Government Loans Board, so that sufficient would be deleted to proride the money required for the two roads named above.

The Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) ojh posed a recommendation by the works committee that the money be found from the district fund, but it was then stated that the consent of the Local Government Loans Board had that day been received for a loan of £25,000 for street sealing and allied works, and the council came to a decision to make use of some of this amount. It was pointed out by the Mayor that there was only £2700 available in the contingency fund, which was little enough to meet any emergency which might arise and for which provision would have to be made. That was all the money available without any provision having , been made for the Art Gallery, which he considered was just as important as giving the money to the Wadestown Road. He was against the proposal to find the money out of the district fund; If the council liked to find the money from another source, well and good, it might be done by spending £l2BO less on sealing work and thus giving th men a full week. . Or P M. Bq tier argued that ..the Wadestown job should never have been a relief work at all. . “We are not in a -position at the moment to say what work shall be cut out to provide for this, said Cr. L. McKenzie. He suggested that the matter was one that the finance committee should go into. The Mayor thought It would be better to send the matter back to the works committee to see what works could be cut out to enable the proposal to be carried. Cr. F. M. Luckie moved as an amendment that the extra sum required for the purpose of giving the men a 40hour week at award wages be found by holding over certain works mentioned in the engineers’ report as being minor matters, and that the works committee be instructed to find the works to be deleted. . Cr. R. Semple seconded, urging that the council should provide ways and means of doing the .work and give the men an opportunity of earning their rent and “tucker.” The Mayor said that the only possible fund open to the committee when the recommendation was made was the district fund. It was only later that afternoon that the sanction of the Loans Board had been received for the loan of £25,000 for street works. It was for the works committee to say if it was prepared to'cut out some of those works. That course was possible only because the loan money was available. Cr. Forsyth agreed that some other work would have to be allowed to go. After some further discussion the amendment was carried. - ADJUSTMENT MADE •_ Additional Sinking Fund ' £25,584 LOAN DIVERSION An additional sinking fund was set aside by the City Council last evening in connection with the diversion of £25,584, unexpended balance Of the 1927 paving and sealing loan of £201,000, which has been made available for city works. Details of the loan arrangement are set out in a letter received from the Loans Board. Referring to the loan diversion, proposals submitted by the council, ths chairman of the Local, Government Loans Board stated that the matter, especially the amount of £25,584, which was not finally dealt with on a previous occasion, was reconsidered by the. Loans Board at a meeting held on September 6, when the board passed a resolution tP effect that if the City Council agreed to increase the sinking fund on the sum of £25,584 from £5.640 per cent, as at present by an amount sufficient, assuming investments earn 4 per cent., to redeem that sum in full by maturity date, namely, April 1,1941, an authority to divert would be issued. The accumulated sinking fund in respect of the whole loan as at March 31, 1933, was £49,598/18/11. Assuming that the fund earned 4 per cent inter* est,‘ it would, with annual contributions thereto, amount to £172,443 at maturity date of the loan, leaving a shortage of £28,557, and the question was raised by the board as to whether it would not be preferable to use the unexpended balance of £25,584 to strengthen the sinking fund, thereby earning sufficient for total redemption at maturity. The whole of the present accumulated sinking fund together with the instalments now being paid would be insufficient to redeem the amount of the loan already expended. The board was of the opinion, therefore, that if the unexpended loan money was to be utilised for the other work proposed, which, by the way, had an estimated “life” of slightly less than the unexpired term of the loan, an additional sinking fund should be set aside. The proportionate part of the sinking fund applicable th the £25,584 was £6313, which, accumulated at 4 per cent., together with a payment of £394 9/- per annum, in addition to the present instalment at £5.646 per cent., would redeem this amount by 1941. The same object would be achieved if the sinking fund payable in respect of the whole loan of £201,000 were increased from the present rate of 5.646 per cent, to, say, 5.842 per cent. The council agreed, on the motion of the Mayor, that it should increase the sinking fund on the sum ot £25,584 by £394/9/- per annum in accordance with the requirements of the Loans Board, and that the seal of the corporation be put upon the resolution.