CITY AFFAIRS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 76, 31 March 1931, Page 15

CITY AFFAIRS

AEE THEY BUNGLED ?

ELECTION CANDIDATES

MR. HISLOP'S VIEWS

What might be described as a field night was hold by . the Wellington Ratepayers' Association.lust evening, when invited candidates for various city ofliccs addressed a packed meeting, which unuuimously greeted with gleo sonic rather nebulous plans for tho reduction, of rates. . Speakers included Messrs. T. C- A. Hislop (Mayoralty), Dr. E. Campbell Begg and A. T. Markman (Hospital Board, elsewhere reported), and S. Martin, W. Duncan, ,P. Hoskings, and Captain Holm (City Council). Mr. 11. 11. Miller, president of the Eatepayers' Association, presided. THE MAYOBAL ASPIRANT. Their organisation had done a great deal of good in focussing nttcntijtm on the. activities of. tho-City.•Council, said Mr, llislop, as a measure of criticism improved the .work, of anybody.- He would not speak on the details of city management, as he was still working, with the assistance of tho Town Clerk, iv getting the details into his mind, in order to have a full programmo to^ •place before the electors, but'-would; .deal only with general principles., LESS COMMITTEE WOBK. ■In regard to inoro open City Council meetings, lie fully endorsed the principle that its affairs should be discussed in the open, so tluit the views and objects of the council could bo-known to ratepayers, though there wore occasions whoro cpinmittco procedure .must, be used, when one was dealing with matters which involved negotiations with individuals, in which case it was bad business to do otherwise. With the exception of that, ho saw .no . reason why tho deliberations of tho council should not bo carried on in the open, so that everybody might know what was going on. He thought that they had some reasons for tho objections they had expressed for things that had happened in tho past. Thorehad been occasions where tho council had gone into committee where it was not in the best interests of the matters discussed, thus depriving itself of the criticism which the matters would have received had tho discussion been in open council. Ho did not wish to be taken as criticising his fellow councillors, but thero had been occasions when matters had been taken in committee, and it had been found that they might just. as well have be*en taken in open council. If elected, one of the principles which would guide him would be that the deliberations of tho council should be conducted as openly as they might in tho interests of the city, and there would not be more committee discussions, but fewer. ORDERS IN COUNCIL LOANS. He agreed with the principle that thero should be no loans without the consent of the ratepayers, but he could not say that he agreed-with that the whole way. No ratepayer was interested,in the payment of more rates than was necessary for tho development of the city; that was to say, not more than thoy got an adequate return for. The council, however, had no control over loans for health purposes, and under tho Health Act, if the Health Department said that a certain area had to be drained, tho council had to do it whether it likqd it or not. That occurred in Miramar, where the council had to entpr into an expenditure of £180,000, but even if it wore not compulsory he would still think it necessary, in view of the possibility of an epidemic. STREET WIDENING. Expenditure on street widening had soared up in a way which was alarming tho ratepayer,, -but, though street widening iv tho last 30 years had cost the city £600,000; it had really involved tho city in very 'little actual cxpendituro, if resales and increases in values were made allowance. for. He- nevertheless felt that of late years tho city had had a mania for street widening, and had gone ahead with it too rapidly. There must bo street widening and the improvement of access, but he thought that such activities could well be restricted, and kept within the limitations of commercial1 soundness. They . had power to raise money for street widening without reference to the ratepayers, and he thought that the figures would show that at the present time street widening was not costing the ratepayer anything. The revenue by way of rents was more than meeting interest and sinking funds on the amounts that had been borrowed. They would not see in their rate demands anything for street widening. Nevertheless, he sensed the doubt that must lie in the mind of the ratepayer when he saw very heavy loans which had not been referred to him, even though they did not involve him in any extra rates. ONLY NECESSARY LOANS. "I can give my assurance that I shall not be a party to the raising of any moneys, even with reference to the ratepayer, within the next two years, unless I am convinced that there is an absolute necessity for the money,- that there is an immediate necessity for the raising of the loan," said Councillor Hislop. He proceeded to explain tho necessity for the purchase of tho land needed for tho widenings, and the conscquontly necessary finance. It was impossible to raise the small sums successively necessary; they had to raise the money for all these dedications. The matter was an intricate ono, but he did not think that any increase of rate would follow street widening. He was, ol: course, in complete sympathy with tho reduction of rates. EXPENDITURE BEYOND RESOURCES. "Everybody has tho same feeling," he said, "but it must be remembered that in past years the whole country hns been living at a high rate, and throughout the whole country there has been reckless expenditure beyond the country's resoudces, and that is reflected throughout the country to-day. I do not think it is all a question of the fall in tho prices of primary products, because even if they had fallen to the normal prices of a few years ago the position would not be fully satisfactory because the country has been living boyond its resources, and that has been reflected in its municipal life. Though we havo gone on with many desirable works, nevertheless many of them were pure luxuries, and works which, as a community, we could not afford. The old saying that 'luxuries of to-day bocome the necessities of to-morrow' will bo altered to 'tho necessities of to-day aro going to be tho luxuries of to-mor-row,' for that is the position we are in, becauso the burden on the taxpayer and on' the' ratepayer is a burden which, with a falling income, is becoming too heavy for our resources, and when we find tho resources of tho ratepayer being severely taxed, it is the duty of the civic bodies to do all in their power to reduce that burden."

"I havo tried to see in what way that burden could bo lessened, but 1 find that in the first place wo must find how to avoid increasing it. In the coming year wo havo. to iiiid, as the result of past expenditure, another £10,000 to meot'interest and sinking fund in. addition to that which has been found in tho past year. An tho result of (lie iinnl work done in (lie 'Minimal1 drainage area, and as Ihc result oJ; cor-

tain work done by unemployment loans, R there will come on the rates £12,000, £ which will bo relieved to the extent of \l

£"000 by Hie savings in interest due to certain loans having been paid off out of sinking fund. That money cannot be found1 out of any additional rate, but out of reduced expenditure. There is some more money to be found for Iho completing of the Hataitai tunnel." STREETS AND RESERVES. Whore' were they to find £20,000 within the 7icxt two years? There wero two main avenues. First by -reducing tho expenditure annually made on street work. This had cost in 1926 £70,000, in 1930 £83,000, and in the year just concluding on 31st March, £93,000. That represented improved streets iv many directions, but it was an expenditure that in future they could not afford. To moot the sums he had mentioned therefore, they might safely reduce expenditure on street works, and thus avoid any increase of rates. Another main spending department \7iu the Eeserves Department, whose expenditure had remained fairly constant during tho last four years, bringiug in baths and ■ beaches, about £38,000 a year. On tho other hand, tho reserves had had considerable assistance from tho unemployed work. While he did not wish to "curtail play areas, some reduction in expenditure iv reserves was possible, and ho thought that expense could be cut down without impairing efficiency. , MAINTENANCE FIRST. Street works should be looked at first of all frdni tho point Of maintenance— the streets must not be allowed to go back/The treatment of tho old wooden block streets had been appalling, they had been consistently negloctcd. He saw no immediate possibility of tho reduction oil rates, but they could look at their'estimates for street works and sec what could bo avoided. Eatepayers could not p.'iy to-day what1 they paid formerly. Tho council might not get tho same revenue, thero was almost certain to be a falling' off of rentals, and they must budget for a percentage considerably less than they might get. Having provided for maintenance, they could see what other necessary works could bo done. In answer to questions, Mr; Hislop said that in regard to savings in departmental overhead he could not say whether these were possible or not, but if they were, consistently with doing tho. departmental work properly, he hoped they would be brought about. Eegarding the transfer of funds from one department to another, he said that the electric light fund had been in one sense a most useful fund, and in another a most unfortunate fund. So much money had been made out of tho electric department when Mangahao and Arapuni broke down that certain amounts were used to help other departments along. A good deal of money was put into street works out of the electric light fund. Aa a general principle, he thought the right thing was to use profits cither for widening the activities of a department or for reducing tho -costs to the consumer. He had serious qualms about proposals which even now.affected the electric light fund.

Mr. S. Martin expressed his intention to stand for the City Council, ticket or not, on the platform of reduction of rates,.if possible, no loans to be raised without the sanction of the ratepayers, except health loans. He was not in favour of afternoon committee meetings, or of so much work being done in committee. The council was too ready td accept committees' recommendations without" a knowledge of the subject. Ho favoured a careful investigation into every department of the City Council where money could be saved. Mr. Paul Hoskings, candidate for the council, favoured departmental investigations and the reduction of unnecossary works,, loading to reduced rates, if only iii tho.'interost of people paying rentals. Eatepayers' approval of loans was essential. There was a lack of co-operation between city departments, loading to unnecessary rooting up of roads. Hany streets and footpaths had not been touched for.years.- ■. ' Captain Holm gave figures as to tha increase of city expenditure. In 1926 it took £517,000 to run the city, in 1930, £708,000," an increase of £190,000. In 192G it cost £1419 & day, in 1930 £1941 a day. Ho stood for open council meetings, evening conimitteo meetings, and no loans without ratepayers' conseut.