TRAMS & SEASIDE ATTRACTIONS'

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 86, 8 October 1914, Page 8

TRAMS & SEASIDE ATTRACTIONS'

An interesting position has been created at Wanganui in connection with certain liabilities which the Gonville-Castle-cliff Tramway Board has incurred in order to increase the earnings of the line. The Wanganui Herald states that in accordance with the policy inaugurated by the board since its inception — to provide attractions at the seasidte— swing boats and an ocean wave were purchased, the local bands gave concerts, and a grant was given to the Surf Bathing Club on condition that the bathing sheds were removed nearer the tram terminus. These items of expenditure totalled £59 odd, but the Auditor-Gen-eral refuses to allow the payment. The Auditor-General says he has no doubt that the erection of the boat-swings, etc., had added to the attractiveness of the Castlecliff beach and induced people to use the tramway, thereby swelling the board's revenue, but he contends that they were not a necessary interest part of a tramway system, and the expenditure on such" should not have been incurred without specific authority. Besides, if the Audit Office allowed charges of this nature to pass unchallenged, the Auditor- General says the board could l<\gicaffiy engage in any enterprise it considered necessary to popularise the trams— a statement of affairs to which ho could not agree. He therefore requisitioned the Doaid. to obtain a refund of the £59 6s 7d within three weeks, failing which it will be his duty to surcharge the members jointly and severally under the Public Revenues Act. The board has decided to bring the matter under the notice of the member for Wa-nganui with a view to getting a clause inserted in the "Washing-up Bill giving the necessary authority ior the expenditure which the Auditor-Gen-eral admits hae resulted in increasing *he tram receipts.

Through tho deficient acoustics of the Legislative Council Chamber and the extreme difficulty of hearing some membere, a. question by tho Hon. Mr. Beehan was incorrectly stated in yesterday's Post. Mr. Beehan gave notice to ask the Government to consider the advisability of paying the contributions of members of the various lodges' branches of friendly societies in New Zealand who were members of the Expeditionary Force, from tho time of their enrolment, to their return home, so ac to ensure to 1 euch members the benefits accruing in ca«o of death, or sick benefits in caso they return home invalided.