THE MAYORALTY

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 48, 25 February 1921, Page 4

THE MAYORALTY

CAMPAIGN pPENEP

MR. T. W. HISLOP AT NEWTOWN

CITY FINA'OES CRITICISED.

A meeting of municipal electors in St. Thomas's Rail, Newtown, last night was addjiessedl by ths Hon. T. T. Hislop. Thea-e were about forty persons present. Mr. j. B. Hobart was yoted to the chair. '

In commencing- his address, Mr. Hislop said that he supposed they., mast consider' the attendance! satisfactory, as there bad been no interest taken in tho campaign, except by a committee, which, 'was sitting iii town, and no one knew very much what it was doing.. This committee was very anxious that somoons should retire from tho Mayoral election, so'that there might be a ' stndghtout contes.rbet'.veen two candidates!' But tlM'ee of t-ho candidates hid been members of the council; and had had tho opportunity of bringing in a system of , proportional representation which, would. 'lia.v* given citizens the opportunity of : choosing th ; e best man. When they had , rejected, or rieglectad, the opportunity j to -introduce that system, it was childish 16 ceine and ask 'that '/someone should retire. The electors were the right persons to choose the Mayor. "OVER-RUNNING THE CONSTABLE." In civic government the same, principles a.pplied. now as be/fore' the war. Tnei'B was a tendency now to over-run the constable. Ho recalled' that, when ho first' became Mayor, income had exceeded expenditure by the moderate sum of £14,0C0. £ great deal was made "o! this, and, as a consequence, a council was returned to expenditure, and a committee was set up,'of which, lie was .chairman, to restore financial equilibrium.' At that time Wellington, wiis riot' nearly so advanced as' at present. " Thore was no adequate' electriclighting system, few recreation grounds, and'the streets' were in a bad condition. Having restored equilibrium in finance, tb-ey were able to borrow on good term's, to make paiks, and to purchase theelcctrir light plant for £160,000, though tho company asked first £220,000. Out of that enterprise they now had in actual cssh £135,000, besides having 'provided new plant. ' ' ■ '"' ' A HEAVY DEFICIT. Sinco liis time income from rates and -rents had increased Ivy' £57,000.. It was essential in keeping a true balance that tlie general account, 'which', included rates' and rents and -other items', should not exceed the. expejiditufe on Hie general business of the council. In his'tijXis they limited themselves to .an overdraft: pf £75,0C0 on this account during tlie year; but tlie liability on the' general "account was now £224,000. The liability Had grown steadily from £3000 i)i 1911 to £40,000 in '1916, £87,000 "in 1918, £lll,;pqo in 1919, £171,000 in 1920, and now it was 33224,000.' The general account was" in overdraft to the amount of £42,00Q, :and the 'tramways' account' . £51X00,'besides wb'ieli. £25,000. was' owing' to the electric' light' account. ' Then 'there was '£124,000' made lip' of snips deposited by outsiders.: with the' council, practically"-on ; de)tiand, anil another £23,.000 was owing by'the general account to the lighting department. This made up £267,000, 'uiHl'decfuctimfj sundry credits ihey'had a net debit of £224,000. He did not object to in the usUal way, but. lie did object 'faf borrowing"'in this manner, which many people knew nothing of, and'wliiphit was cfifficult tqnobtain information about. V'A sup pi £121,0001 had been spent for exceptional purposes, including £iQ,OOO 'fbr the purchase of Day's Bay bush, £16,000 for Lyall' Bay,' '" land '£9000,' housing .£26,000.; .'firo station' £26,000, quarry £20,000, Kilbirnie Reserve £9000. Some of these j Items were very proper expenditure— for' esjnipjei the fire'station and the' TJ;vyV "Bay bush, but surely the people'sliqulcjt have been asked' for their consent before bejng committed tp the expenditure. The' Loans Act' Was passed to'enable" free djscnssibn before money .was spent in thjs way. " They still had £103,000, which was unaccounted for"in this way. The. m'onoy had Been overspent.' In. other worijs, they had gono to tlje bad £103,000 "in seven years." Vlt was necessary they should have some new system ' which would proyent this kind of tjiing. From time immemorial municipalities had done this, oyer-spc'ndl iiig'till they had-'to float "a loan tp help out the general fund. In this the citizep's had an'added burden' cast upon' thojn. He thought lie hail 'stopped that system when' he' was Mayor,' but it 'hat}' 'now broken' out again in an exaggerated' form. They had also spent on special authority £52,000" on the milk scheme. He ■.did not know whether.the milk had been i improved. Some consumers had "said it had improved' in price as well "as' in ■ .quality; ' |i e wished'to point oiit, hqweyer, that there was' no 'definite 1 agreement between the vendors and' the cou'n.ell. _He hoped.' if the system was' improving the "milk; the council's venture would prove successful, but" he* had his doubts at present. lighting' and. tramways. Spine councillors were finding consolation in the fact that the tramways'and %ljtiu.? accounts Mere in credit,' but it had ■beeij an established system that tliese undertakings'should standby themselves, flwy'liud nptsufficfciitcars forthesubur-; brui traffic' how, and the S66,oo,o'""cretlit of the tramways account should.'be used «.r ?'ep)nopm.ejits ami repair's, "as' it was ' intended'"lo "be. lii" this "l- ec l efewtyiw? account there was £75,OQO, and £5.Q,000 had been lent to the tramways and general fuud. Put ttiat! also should stand' on its 'own accoiiiit. No person' who aspired' to "the position pfMayor should' liaye' been "a party to bmldin? up" such a deficit as this of £103,000. Especially if he had been'a member of 'the Pinanco Committee he should., jtave watched the general acand insisted, on steps being"'taken each year'to. sec that tho accounts balanced.. The general account was the test of the' soundness of the finances, and whoever was chosen'to be Mayor should have it straightenedl lip. 'The items which were properly covered ' by loans should be taken \_put, and' steps taken to wipe out the" deficit' of .'the general account,' either-by funding-' it or by paying off a' Certain, amount gach year.' -..-■■■- ■■ •■ ■-■• ■-■ Then they must take hold of the tramways, which were in a mpst unsatisfactory condition. He believed'that the officers were doing the very best to' discharge their duties' properly, but thero 'we're savings lhat could "be made,'and by a ji'ew policy' roypikio.cpijjtriie' increased. PXPENSITE-HOUSINC}. Tliey had borrowed £2,6,00.0 to bijijd twenty hmis.e,?. That ap.pp:u'fid'.to bp a ' very inejlective ett'oi't. 'In liouse-build-ing after the great wars in' Europe they did Hot borrow large sums but they formed societies to build; houses. Before he left bilice he had initiated a building- society among the corpprntipii enipjoyees, and also a sclieme' for ttie abolition'of shun dwellings in "frederjek and Haining streets. !Ti the' buijdjng i.ociclic-% had bson formed in 1909 or'even later-they conid have obtained funds io buy land. ».nd money could have been borrowed from the ' sinking funds for building purposes. In this wa-y, very

many.houses, could have been built. It did not seem that they could go- far if Ihoy had to borrow""£26,ooo tor every twenty "houses as they had done. He hoped they would . yet build houses by the building society meiKotf. :. ''"■" ' Mr. "Hislop' concliide:d by" stating tha,t there were many other questions" to which he would refer at'future'meetings. He was standing for the^office of Mayor, arid if returned would apply'"-' the sound methods which he a-p'plied formerly^ Ho believed Tie had more experience now to aid him,' and he could give'mprp time to tho' ofijee. ' ' '

'Replying to questions, he said that he did'iiot believe iii delegating authority from the'council tp boards'/ as the responsibility'was spread too much. ' If a board were proposed for tramways thero might be ope' witlijn the'council. He did not know if the .technical'knowledge of" business men would be'sufficient'to run the tramway.?, and'the board should be a technical more* "than a" business board. He "would favour tKe "ejhjjloyces being represented " on' such' a board. . ' ' - ■

' The Chairman, in proposing a vote of thanks to Mr. Hislop, said that there had been too great a tendency to allow little' cliques such as town-planners alone to take an interest- in tho city," instead of all ta-king •'a.ii interest a> citizens. What Mr. Hislop "had said' a-bout the deplorable stale of the finances was the worst he had heard of any'municipality south of the'Liiie. There were a great many other 'dejiartmente of; municipal activity which required airing. The vote of thanks was carried- A number of those present remained t-b form a committed to support Mr. Hislop.