CARE AND ECONOMY

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 93, 21 April 1931, Page 11

CARE AND ECONOMY

PAST CITY LOANS

MOST SPENT. WISELY

KEEPING RATES DOWN

Mr. M. T. Luckie's campaign .is candidate for tho Mayoralty was continued at Kilbirnie crescent last night, when he again stressed the ncod for caution in future expenditure, while fully recognising really pressing needs. The rates would be kept down, but some expenditure must cease. Mr. John Hutchoson presided, ana congratulated Mr. Liiekic for the civic spirit he. had shown ia coming out alone, without the support of the Civic League and the Ratepayers' Association. He paid a tribute to tho Mayors of the city during the past six years, during which more material progress had been made than in any former period of the city's history. It was not the first time that there had been, a period of council baiting. Ho referred to the prevention of the purchase of 150 acres at Miramar, by the ratepayers association of that day, at £50 an acre. To-day that land was estimated, at £2,000,000 in value. Now the ratepayers had interfered in the matter of eastern and western access. "If they allowed only a Mayor and councillors who would agree to all the ratepayers said, they would havo a body that would not say boo to a goose. Mr. Luclde spoke of his experience for eighteen years/ and his residence ia tho city for over;fi.fty years.' He took a considerable personal pride in the fact that he had had something to do with its - development and the improvement that had taken place,- but it had to be borne in mind that development could not take place without the expenditure of public money. He dealt with the enormous expense and undesirable subdivisions. caused by tho laygut of the city in the first place, due to the .fact.that the company was purely a. commercial: venture, with 1100 town aero' sections and 1100 .Hutt County sections, with . narrow roads. ■ TROUGH OF CYCLE. When the. depression came the .city was on the eve of great developments^ It was only necessary to look at the increase.'. in the building permits for the last three years to see that over £2,000,000 a year was being spent. Causes outside New Zealand alone were responsible for- a, decrease; of 50 :per. cent, iii building operations for the year justi cloesd; When times were' good, the- City Council was ; called upon to spend more and more money. He referred to the extensive street widening, street paving, "and street surfacing works of the last ten or twelve years, works which the ratepayers had. considered necessary. Nobody would put up with the macadam streets, the Choice of either dust or mud'in all parts of the: city.. Streets had been widened and -footpaths laid in many outlying districts. . There were great differences in transport methods, and.the true proof of such works was the ultimate value that would accrue to the citizens. It I was certain that theso improvements i were, things'that the people would not do without to-day under any circumstances. Laid out without a single acre of reserve.or recreation area, Wellington to-day was in as good a position as any city in' Australasia.in this respect, but it must be borne, in mind that every acre had had to be cut out of the hillsides, or taken from, the sea; It appears that, the city authorities were being blamed for the expenditures made, but before it could be blamed it had to be shown that the expenditures wero unjustified: Nobody could say .that the. expenditure of the 'last eleven years \vas not justified. . . .'. . : -. Another .important iteni of, expenditure was that, upon unemployment' loans.The money, had to' ; be. raised without the consent of. the" ratepayers, as : long as tho policy, was laid .down that work had to be found for'all thoso out of it. Groat; assistance was given by tho Government, but tho city had had to rai&o.loans to a large extent. The.work done-, however, had cost .the city nothing; like its real value. Drainage loans, also; ;coitld not be put to the city as a whole'becpso.they -were.for various districts, .Street widening had not been so necessary in any other city in New Zealand, because other cities lacked the narrow streets. '..-'.." STREET WIDENING PAYS. Tho only possible and equitable method of street widening : was that taken in 1599, no new building to be erected within 33 feet of the middle of the street. From then until 3lst March, 1930, £.700,000 had been spent in street widening, but the land, owned, the. increased rating- in the widened' streets, and other benefits brought the total cost of the widenings down to £10,000 a year. Becauso a great deal more had been done in ''Wellington than in other cities, the.City Council had been subject to a great deal more adverse criticism, but they would agree that' generally speaking the expenditure of the money had: been wise, duo to the- long vision and' courage of two men who had" been-at the head of affairs. OUTSIDE TOWN BELT. , ■'. It.might be possible- .to got the fates down, but he was not going to say that that would be so. The city had _to faco £13,000 more in interest and sinking fund than last year, and so must get that off, before they could get any reduction at all. This could be done by reducing the Works and Reserves votes, but that would, mean a certain amount of restriction in paving, wood blocking, and footways in outlying districts. It must be borne in mind that four-fifths of the population lived outside tho Town Belt. Boroughs crippled for money, making roads as narrow as they could, had been taken over, and as these areas were absorbed m the city the residents naturally expected improvements, better access, etc. No sounder method of street widening had over been introduced than tho Betterment Bill, which the Ratepayers' Association was stated to oppose. Under it those ratepayers whoso property benefited by the widening of a street paid their due share of the cost. At the present time the whole city had to pay. The legislation had been promised for years, but the Government did not give it, largely due to tho action of the Ratepayers' Association, which consisted of a very small body of men whose properties were mainly in the centre of the city. They also opposed eastern and western access, because it did not benefit their propertyMr. A. Fletcher: "Would you not have got away better with itrf you had been more frank about it? _ Mr Luckie detailed the setting up oi the' Commission, and the special authority to do the work out of relief money. The ratepayers never questioned the matter at all until the work had been undertaken. "TWO STRENUOUS YEARS." "We are faced with a very serious position which may become worse," said Mr. Luckie, "as the winter comes on. We cannot tell what calls may be made on us by the Government to provide for unemployment. The policy of the Government in throwing upon the local bodies tho necessity to find employment, and at the same-time by repeated retrenchments putting a groat-number of people out of work, handing them over to the local bodies, makes it very- difficult for the latter to ilen I xvifh tho position. We cannot

expect to find employment for. all of them, because we can only give them outdoor work, and the majority of them are not used to it. The result will be further burdens thrown on the city. Wo cannot tell how far this will bo a commercial burden to us. We have to remember that there is a strong cry for economy, and to some works wo will have to say 'No, No,' where the City Council formerly said 'Yes, Yes.' Tho Mayor is going to be most unpopular. It must be borne in mind that a very large part of the rates is for interest and sinking fund on loans already spent which have made the city whatit is. If we take a pull now I think some' slight decrease can be made in the rates going to be struck. I can assure you that the greatest possible care and economy will be exercised in the affairs of thecity if you think that I am tho man. to bo its Mayor, for the next strenuous two years." Any increased expenditure must be. reflected in the rates, said Mr. Luckie. It was quite evident that the rates could be kept down in spite of the increase in overhead charges, by reflection and the most economic administration. ■