A BADLY STATED CASE

Evening Post, Volume C, Issue 38, 13 August 1920, Page 6

A BADLY STATED CASE

The Mayor stated last evening that the projected pcijl on nine loan proposals, aggregating £1,708,916, will, if successful in toto, result in an increase of levied rates equal to lAd in the £, not 3d in the £, as previously Btated. If the whole of the additional interest on the £1,708,916 were to fall upon the rates, 'the rate-increase would of course be much higher; but some of the borrowed money is for trading concerns, such as tramways, that are paying their way, and is therefore sel:F-redemptive wit-bout the aid of'rate-revenue. Also, some of the, borrowed money, while increasing the inter-est-burden on the rates, will decrease by^ a larger amount certain annual expenditures out of rates; for instance, a .permanent street, high, in first cost, when laid down out of loan money increases the debt and the annual loan* charges, but it reduces by a greater amount the annual maintenance cost of the macadam road that it replaces, and thus the rates stand to benefit and not to lose by the change. This is a point which the City Council propagandists should make more emphatically, and in greater detail than it is made here, if they really desire to put force behind their advocacy. Unfortunately, the superficial and sketchy nature of that advocacy; the lack of comprehensive reports by the tramway, engineering, and finance authorities on the important new tramway-construction proposals; and a corresponding lack of expert reports, and of essential information on nearly every item on the schedule, make one wonder what the Mayor and the City Council are thinking about. They have a good case, miserably presented. A couple of years ago the City Engineer presented an exhaustive report on water-supply, and recommended the diversion of Orongorongo water intd the Wainui-o-mata storage and service system. Quite recently he substituted the idea of a separate Orongorongo high-level supply piped independently to Karon reservoir. Possibly this is a great improvement. But why not an explanatory report? ' While on that point, there is the cooperative contract- conditionally let ft> Mr.- Semple's co-operative miners, for driving the Orongorongo tunnel. The Post has regarded sympathetically the principle .of this co-operative ."strikefree " proposition, remarking at the same time that it assumes that the driving price per foot (undisclosed) has satisfied the City Engineer's notions of what is economical. But the Council must know that there has been certain criticism of the lack of publicity as to price; yet the reports at-last night's, proceedings contain no record of the figure per foot nor of any reason why it should not be published. Pei'haps there is a good Teason ; if so, let it be stated. The Arostreet tramway extension to Northland is . a most. complicated M^oposal that should be accompanied witn report and estimates (in detail) both as to the tramway construction (Vote No. 4) and as to the road construction, which appears to have found its way into Vote No. 2 (street works). The proposed tramway,, which first of all was supposed to cross overhead the Earori line, but which Mr. Luke 1 now says will reach the Karori level and will run through the tunnel, needs a report to itself, but where is it? Is the Aro-street-Northland tramway proposal merely to be left to take Its chance as Vote No. 4, while the road goes through on the back of the street works in No. 2, thus providing a basis for the tramway (if rejected) at "some future date? Many other questions might be asked concerning lack of information, and the purpose and effect of the grouping system represented by the .nine votes. Most of the proposals in the schedule are good; some very good; some essential. But the City Council's advocacy must be more definite, more in writing, and more generally thorough if the ratepayers are to be conI vinced that the Council is ip earnest, and is,not regarding its propaganda in a merely perfunctory light. ,