STORM DAMAGE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 235, 17 September 1936, Page 8

STORM DAMAGE

Contingency Finance Suggested

(By Telegraph—Special to “Tribune.")

WELLINGTON, September 16,

The provision of funds to assist in the restoration of storm damage in various parts of New Zealand is referred to in the annual report of the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, in the course of his annual statement to the House of Representatives. “Although not financed from capital moneys,’’ said Mr Semple, “the restoration of flood damage is a matter in which my department has taken an active and practical interest. During the month of February last a cyclonic storm visited the Dominion, and, while fortunately many districts escaped severe damage or suffered very slightly, a number of others ,such as Whangarei, Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay and Wellington districts, experienced considerable damage to settlement roads and bridges. The total cost of restoration in the districts mentioned was estimated to be in the vicinity of £100,600. Many local authorities found it necessary to approach the Government for financial aid towards the cost of repairs, and, after careful investigation of the circumstances, including the capacity of the authorities to meet a reasonable share of the cost, subsidies varying from £1 for £1 to as much as £3 for £1 were made available.’’

The Minister said further that having regard to the experiences of the past, the climatic changes to which the country is prone, and the probability of Hood damage (.sometimes of an extreme-

ly substantial nature) occurring at frequent intervals, it appeared that, serious consideration should be given to the inclusion of a reasonable contingency item in the annual budgets of every local road-controlling authority for use should occasion require. The setting apart of, say, a proportionate amount of a local authority’s estimated annual revenue would ensure that linance would be readily available for the purpose mentioned, and, if it happened that the contingency items were not fully expended, the finances of the local authority Mould be improved by the existence of a satisfactory reserve.