OTAGO'S REQUIREMENTS

Evening Star, Issue 17765, 13 September 1921, Page 3

OTAGO'S REQUIREMENTS

MEETING WITH LOCAL M.P.s IMPORTANT MATTERS DISCUSSED. The annual pro-sessional meeting with local members of Parliament to dismiss matters affecting the interests of Otago was held in the Savoy Lounge last evening, and attended by representatives of the Expansion League, the City Council, the Chamber of Commerce, the Otago Motor ; Club, and other bodies. Mr C. Todd (president of the Otago Expansion League), occupied the chair. The M.P.s present were Messrs C. E. Statham, T. K. fedey, E. Kellett, J. M. Dickson, and .T. Korn. Apologies were received from the Hon. ,W. Downie Stewart, the Hon. M. Cohen, Mr A. S. Malcolm, M.P., tho Mayor (Mr J. S. Douglas), and others. lIYDEO-ELECTTHCITY. Mr Todd said that during the last few years members had heard what Otago was doing for hydro-o.lectricity. Those interested tried first of all to get tho Hawea-Wanak.i. scheme, but now Otago had to abandon that idea and take what had been offered them—-that was Waipori and later onTeviot. lie wished the members to impress upon the Government the necessity of connecting np the. Monowai, Waipori, and Lake Coleridge schemes. If that were done, any surplus power from Monowai (Southland) could be used up. Then Waipori must be assisted. The City Council, owing to its financial posiaion, was not now able to go on with ■ further works. The Government could guarantee a loan or find tho money at a reasonable rate of interest. Or Shaddock had told Him that the final agreement entered into with the Government in regard to Waipori had been forwarded to Wellington, and it now remained with the " Minister of Public Yorks to adopt that agreement, and they asked their members to see that that was done. Then there would be power available for the country as well as for the city. In the meantime there was a proposal that the Fraser River should,bo harnessed np to serve Cromwell, Alexandra, and Clyde. Waipori would servo South Otago He impressed upon members (he advisability of making use of the Teviot power. Cheap power meant prosperity, and .hould be supported before any other work. ARTERIAL ROADS.

Cr Wilson said that the City Council was prepared to put the arterial roads in thorough order as soon as it- got the necessary finance ; but outside the City—Green Island, for instance—the council had to pay its quota for the upkeep of the road there, and the cost was going np. The council had now to pay £l5O a year for maintenance. The money for this work should he raised by taxation or by a wheel or tyro tax. The ordinary traffic did not do much damage, lie trusted that the members would see that legislation was put in hand at once, so that the arterial roads •were made up to date. Mr W. Wright, M.A., said some no doubt wondered why, a representative of the Otago Motor Club should have been asked to speak on this subject. It was true, however, that good roads were indissolubly bound up with motor traffic. President Harding had recently said that the motor ear was an indispensable instrument in our political, social, and industrial life. In New Zealand those in authority were only awakening to the importance of arterial roads. It was only a few' years since motorists were able to ret out for Invercargill with a reasonable hope of getting right through. On some of our main roads there were still a few unbridued streams. The roads of the South Island might yet carry more passengers than onr railway trains. It was estimated that during last year fifty thousand millions of people were carried on the trains of the United States and seventy-two thousand millions on the roads. Good roads would also help to relieve the congestion in the towns and increase the productivity of the land. In regard to the proposed legislation, the South Island Motor Union was unanimous that a tyre tax was the fairest rvay of taxing. The roads wore out the tyres and the tyres wore out the roads. SCHOOL OP FORESTRY.

Sir George Fenwick said that tor many years New Zealand had neglected the conservation of its splendid forests. Owing to the activities of the Expansion League and other bodies the Government had at last wisely appointed a Director of Forestry, who had submitted a very comprehensive report to the Government. Among his recommendations was one that a school of forestry should be instituted as a faculty of one of our university colleges. He named Canterbury College, for the reason that that college had an engineering school, and engineering and forestry were closely allied. A deputation had approached Sir Francis Bell, and the matter had received the ■ approval of the University Senate. Now they were awaiting the return of Mr Massey. The Otago Expansion League, in common with bodies throughout New Zealand, was supporting the proposal, which was not a provincial but a Dominion matter. No one knew better than the Director of Forestry where the faculty should he established, and it was hoped his recommendations would receive general support. RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION.

Mr 6. Erxington first drew attention to the necessity of pushing on the work of the duplication of the Port Chalmers line. The department had recognised the necessity of this work being carried on, as a single line was not sufficient to cope with the traffic. Again, Dunedin did not have the direct communication with the wharves that other New Zealand towns had. The Expansion League should keep its eye on the Miller’s Flat Railway, which it had been suggested was to bo the first dropped in the case of a “cut.” Mr Errington also drew attention to the necessity of better communication between Dunedin and the Tapanui branch. TOURIST TRACKS. Mr W. B. Steel spoke on the great advantage to bo derived from having an alternate route to Milford Sound, and expressed the hope that members would see that the tourist resorts of the South Island received more monetary assistance. Proposals had been made whereby private enterprise could be utilised to open up some of our great' scenic assets. He hoped that members would lend a kindly ear to any suggestion that would enable these places to be opened up under proper safeguards, so long as they were retained for the State. GOVERNMENT TRADING.

Mr Thos. Somerville, ex-president of the Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber had protested against the Government supply of school books and stationery on a principle. The prinoipl© was that the Government was put into power to deal •with national questions, while business men were beat able to manage their own businesses themselves. In regard to tho control of sugar by the Government, the speaker wan not sure whether the Govern ment had conferred a boon on the business man and consumer or not. The chairman of the Board of Trade had stated definitely that it would he November 1 before sugar could bo purchased at the lower price, but the speaker doubted if this wonld be the ease by January of next year. Serious unemployment had been caused in industries that required sugar. There was another alarming example of Government trading in connection with building houses at Miramar. These houses were supposed to cost £14)00 each, but when they were comph**ii it was found they had cost £1,200. Th* Government had recently been importing a good deal of material, and in some cases there had been a great deal of depreciation. The real necessity of today was for every department and for tho Government itself to produce proper business balance-sheets. TAXATION OF COMPANIES. •

Mr C. S. Owen, president of the Chamber of Commerce, dealt with the subject of ‘ Income Tax Charged to Large Companies.’ This, he said, had a far greater bearing on the general prosperity of_ the country than was commonly recognised.

He expected that he would he asked how the revenue was to be raised. His answer was: Not by reducing tho amount available for the expansion of business, which the present taxation was doing. Around, tho accumulated surplus of £23,730,000 circled increased freezing , charges, in-' creased building charges, and increased freights, which, together with the easy going bom of the inflation of credit, had now landed us in the position that we could not land onr woo! and meat in London at anything like pre-war prices. Tho land and income-tax could not be increases! from £1,321,722 in 1914 to £7,927,668 in 1920 without disastrous effects, and without eventually strangling the market. It was comforting to know that the surplus of £23,750,000 had mostly been expended! in loans which were reproductive, and that they could be made available as they were repaid for the extinction of the £5,000,000 just borrowed. Mr Owen dealt with the Dominion's indebtedness as disclosed by the prospectus of the last loan, and concluded by asking members to treat lax-paying companies as they would treat a tenant on a farm who was unable to pay his rent owing to bad circumstances and markets by not putting additional burdens on them at tho presen time. The replies of the members were heard in private.