POLL PROSPECTS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 74, 1 April 1929, Page 10

POLL PROSPECTS

BALANCING BENEFITS

RATES CONSOLIDATION

COUNCIL'S DILEMMA

(By "A.")

The present doubts as to the chances of the loan proposals to be placed before the ratepayers on the

day of the city elections, Ist May, gives rise again to the thought of whether, in the long run, the

.special legislation whereby the con

solidation of all rates was brought about is going to turn out as fortunately for tho progress of the city as might be. It may prove impossible to convince ratepayers that essential works in one district are for the good .of thecitj' as a whole. The eastern and western access difficulties aro cases very much in point.' ; Not only did the rates consolidation legislation provide for the" levelling up of all city and district rates then in foree —this was brought about in the financial ybar 1021-23 —but it laid down that no further district rates were to be struck; that is, the whole city must approve loan works,- whether north or south, east or west, or central, or throughout the city, and (he whole city must join in the payment. ; Tho consolidation did not affect the. general city improvements, library, hospital, water, and street lighting rates, but took in, in the city area, a number of special rates, of which the heaviest was the antecedent liability loan rate of 50-200 din the £ on unimproved value, and all district rates which' had applied under the old system under which Melrose, Onslow, Karori, and Miramar were separate boroughs. In 1023-24 those rates in tho city area amounted to 121-200 cl in the &, in Melrose to 202-200 d, in Onslow to 202-200 d, in Karori to ll)S-200d, and in the Miramar area to 2 184-200 d. The levelling up was brought about by the consolidated special rate of ljd in tho £, which has since increased to lid. The Ngaio hall rate is a special case, but otherwise there arc now no districtrates. EOAED OF HEALTH TO THE RESCUE. The first, serious difficulty with which the council was faced in regard to raising loan moneys . for purely district works was that of finance for the Seatoun Heights drainage. Later came the Miramar drainage loaii. The council was candid about it: that the chances of obtaining general sanction for such district works, essential though they might be, was just about nil. Tho Board of Health, however, saw the council out of that difficulty, for the health of tho people of those districts was at issue. There is no Board of Health to help out where other development works are in question. In 1920, when people had talked go much in millions—millions of pounds, millions of troops, millions of everything, just after the war and the loan schedule went through flying, "something for our suburb, something for yours, and a bit for the city, too," but people no loftger think in millions, being rather inclined to doubt whether' there are such things. The ratepayer to-day takes a lot of persuading. WOOING EAST AND WEST. There is no secret that it was" part of a policy of persuasion that the eastern and western access proposals were drawn up in their first form to give a■> fair balance, tho Kelburn viaduct item also, though not directly, assisting in the evening up. Since then, however, the balance is altogether lost, first by the decision of the council not to put any proposal in respect of the Mount Victoria tunnel to the ratepayers, au'd secondly by the disinclination of the Loans Board to sanction the eastern access approaches loan until the tunnel is a certainty, though the £49,000 item for western access tramways work was agreed to. TUNNEL CHANCES GOOD, BUT- — The chances of driving the tunnel with the money, available from the 1920 loan, plus the Tramway Department's contribution, are apparently a good deal brighter than was so at any time since the loan was authorised, largely due to modern machine methods. The Loans Board has not publicly expressed that opinion, but its attitude is so read by a number of the councillors. However, there can be no decision as to whether the tunnel is to be proceeded with or not—the tenders will give that decision, and they cannot be received for a good many weeks yet —until after Ist May. The rjeople of the eastern areas at the present time have their" doubts, rightly or wrongly, about those tenders and their tunnel, and have graver doubts still whether the westerners should have their support (for the £49,000 for tram track work) when 'the east may after all get no more than apologies.

The balance is certainly lacking as between east and west as things are [ at present, and now the north, through the Wellington North Ratepayers' Association, has opened up a direct attack against the Bowen street proposal. Ratepayers of the Island Bay, Newtown and Wellington South, Brooklyn, Kelburn, the central and further northern districts have no direct interest in the present proposals, , except that in due course they must bear a share of the annual cost if the poll is carried. TEST POLL ON LIBRARIES QUESTION. The Loans Board has not yet' announced its final decision as to sanctioning a loan for » new viaduct at Kelburn, but lias approved of an item of £0500 for an eastern suburbs branch library. In this latter regard tho chairman of the Libraries Committee has remarked that the voting may bo taken by his committee as an indication whether the people in tho suburban areas generally desire branch libraries; that is, lie has suggested, if the eastern library is turned down the committee would not worry over branch libraries in other districts for some years to conic. There is a balance in that propositioii which may or may not. carry the proposal through.

The City Council has come in for severe criticism over its handling of the two main questions, but unquestionably the atmosphere at present is such as to render the persuasion of the ratepayers as a whole a difficult business. It will be no surprise if the result of the poll is such as to raise the question of whether the clauses of the rates consolidation legislation forbidding future district rates should not be reviewed.