DRAINAGE BOARD LOAN

Evening Star, Issue 15892, 26 August 1915, Page 7

DRAINAGE BOARD LOAN

CITY COUNCIL OPPOSE. CITY SHOULD TAKE OVER BOARD’S x FUNCTIONS. An important supplementary, report- was brought down from the City Council’s Finance Committee last night by Cr Small. This report recommended steps to oppose tho Bill proposed to be introduced by the Drainage Board seeking authority to raise a further sum of £IOO,OOO, and enunciated the principle that the functions of the board could now be carried out more economically by the City Gounod. The reporf"in full was as under :—'Your committee beg to report having considered the matter raised by the letter from the Dunedin Municipal Association, -in which it is suggested that immediate steps should be .taken by the City Council to absorb the Drainage Board. Your committee, as instructed, also considered the proposed local Bill, the promotion of which by-the Drainage Board is now . being notified. Your committee are of opinion that, the operations of the /Drainage Board have reached a stage when, in the best interests of the ratepayers of the district now under the jurisdiction of the board, the functions that remain to be performed could bo harried out quite as efficiently, and more economically, by the .City Council than by a separate local authority. The change suggested could not, however, be given effect-to without legislation, and as time will ndt allow of the Statutory steps being taken to permit pf the Bill being introduced during the present session; of Parliament, your committee beg to recommend that the question be further considered in time to allow of ■ steps being taken to introduce the necessary measure during the next ensuing session. Relative to tlie Bill proposed to be introduced by the Drainage Board seeking authority to raise a further sum of £IOO,OOO and an extension of rating power from Is to Is 3d in the sewered and from 6d to 7>,d in the unsewered area, your committee are strongly of opinion that the measure should be opposed in Parliament. The Bill purports to make tho extension of the rate ing power, and also, with some exceptions, the extended borrowing powers, subject to the vote of the ratepayers; but having regard to the heavy loan liability of, theboard and the already high drainage rate, your committee are of opinion that the Bill should not be allowed to proceed without a strong protest. Your committee therefore recommend that the necessary steps be taken formally to oppose the Bill, an-d that the Finance Committee be authorised to arrange to bo heard before the Local Bills Committee of the House of Representatives, if necessary. Cr Small said that in the committee’s opinion the operations of the board had reached a stage when only the stormwater scheme had to be completed. According to an estimate before the board, all that remained to be done of the sewerage system scheme was about £20,000, and that would bo completed "within the next few months. After that there remained only storm-water provision, and in connection with that the City Council w'ouid have to spend as much as the Drainage Board. In times gone by the whole of the storm-water provision was made by the council, and it was proposed again that the City Council should- have full control of the disposal of the storm water. The committee therefore recommended the opposition of the board’s Bill so that later, when the functions of the board were taken over by the council, the latter should be burdened by as little debt as possible. The report was not brought forward in any spirit of antagonism to the board, but was the opinion of the committee after mature consideration. Cr Douglas expressed himself rather surprised at what Cr Small had said, though he agreed that the time would come when the board should pass over to the City Council. But he thought that there might have been some consultation with the Drainage Board before such a report was brought down without warning, so that the council might have been apprised of the reasons for the board’s As to the clause referring to the extension of rating power, he l thought that in bringing this down Cr .Small (who was chairman of the Finance Committee of the Drainage Board) was really bringing down a vote of censure on himself. In his function on the board, Cr Small had brought that suggestion before the board. The speaker, if he had known this matter was coming up, would have had some facts to bring forward, showing that it would have been absolutely necessary for the City Council to do the same tiling (provide for extension of rating power) if the board had come within the scope of the council. Cr Wilson said that the report covered all the points at issue. If tho Drainage Board were to be amalgamated with the City Council they should certainly not borrow £IOO,OOO. The report was adopted.