CORRESPONDENCE INANGAHUA COUNTY.

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 August 1930, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE

INANGAHUA COUNTY.

[to the editor.] Sir,—In your paper of August 5 appeared a “Ratepayer’s” letter. Well, “Ratepayer” could have cut down the staff’s expenses to £l5 or £lB per week. In the good old prosperous days of Inangahua, we only had about three of a staff—Mr Noonan, County Clerk; Mr Garven, engineer and foreman, etc.; Mr Heslop, tax collector; and none of those gentlemen’s salaries were anything like the present staff are getting when there- is less work to be done in the County, and no expensive telephones were in use then. Why do the ratepayers have to pay

for more than one ’phone, especially now with the Main Highways Council and Public Works Department doing practically everything? Why does the County Chairman, who lives out of town, only call applications for a foreman? Why wasn’t it engineer-fore-man, etc who could take in tax collector, as in the good old days? At the present, time, when the town is down the one appointment, should do for all, and the high-salaried staff cut right down to suit the state of the town. That is ■where expenses run up “staff expenses.” The assistant clerk, who has had to shoulder the heaviest part of the office work for the past few years has proved capable, and it is

the Chairman and Councillors’ duty to cut out most, of those expenses now and consider the ratepayers that put them in to look after the ratepayers’ interests; but one would think they were put in as councillors to inflict heavier responsibilities on the ratepayers. Fancy having an Engineer, County . Clerk, assistant clerk (very often an extra clerk employed), poundkeeper, traffic inspector, and a road foreman (one would think we were a wealthy County) when two people could do the lot. Another matter that is not run for its own benefit, one could say, is our Hospital control. This wants some abler pen to take up. Here, again the ratepayers have to pay and why? The time now is right (with such heavy rates imposed) that there should be one big hospital. Wo should be join-

ed in with the Greymouth Hospital, or have a resident secretary at our local hospital. Some disabled miner or soldier would be quite capable of doing this work. This again would reduce another burden of> the ratepayer.

At election time wvhen councillors are looking for votes that is the time they are going to curtail. The Chair-

man should start curtailing in the office. The high salaried staff is not a necessity, and why is not their position subject to economy as anyone else? Perhaps if the Chairman were a town member he would be able to see the state of the town and its roads and decide to spend the money in the proper direction; and as the Government practically pays for the engineering by way of highways and Public Works’ Engineer’s inspection, our councillors could get an engineer when necessity requires.—Yours, etc., RATEPAYER No. 2. Reefton, August. 9.