MEETING OF NORTH-EAST VALLEY RATEPAYERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9841, 12 September 1893, Page 3

MEETING OF NORTH-EAST VALLEY RATEPAYERS.

A public meeting of the ratepayers ;of North. East Valley was held in the Council Chambers oi that borough last evening. The Mayor (Mr S. S. Myers) presided, and there was a large attendance. The meeting was addressed by two candidates for municipal honours at. the coming election—Messrs Calder and Begg—arid also by Crs Russell and Short,' the latter speaking oh the financial position of the .borough. An apology was received for.: the non-attendance of Or Bririsley; - ' '• T". Mr Buoa stated that the. issue that; lay before the ratepayers at the coming elections was whether they approved, or whether they did not apptove of the retrenchment policy carried, out by a majority of the council. He would like them to look at the question in three aspects, and he would do so by asking three questions. The first question would -be : Was retrenchment necessary ? The second: Why was retrenchment necessary ?: And the third: Was it necessary for the council to carry out their scheme of retrenchment in the manner they, had ?' In regard to the first question, all would agree with him when he said that for some time past matters had not been carried out so satisfactorily as they could wish. Taking'street maintenance, the main road —not to speak of the other streets—required metalling pretty well from the Botanic Gardens to the other end of' the borough. .'.."The; council admitted this,, but-said there was no money available to: do the work. Then again, the overdraft was;in.excess of the statutory limit, and it was even rumored—though he did not know what truth there was in it-rthat there was a, threat of a writ held over the heads of the council. In regard to the second question, he asked if the council had been carrying out unnecessary work ? He thought the answer would be in the negative. Then, were they overrated ? He thought that the answer would again be in the negative. Why, therefore, he would ask, was retrenchment necessary? He took it that the answer,to that was because the rates had not.been collected.—(Applause and dissent.) Something like ,£BO a-yeai had been : lost the: borough ' through this cause during . the : last seven years. According 'to a statement -he" held in his hand; no less.than £831.0f rates were in arrears. If these rates had ; been collected the borough's finances would be in a better condition than they were at present; and, speaking as a ratepayer, he considered, that the-council as a body were not altogether blameless in- the matter.—(Applause.) In\ regard to-the; third question,'they were all aware that Mr Schlotel's. services had been dispensed with, and it. was for the ratepayers to judge" whether the council had acted wisely.— (Applause and dissent.) Personally he thought that if one; man did not collect' the .rates they, must get another man to do it. The speaker then went on to refer to the question of the amalgamation of the small "boroughs, and thought their financial positions would be much improved if they; were all joined to the city. • There was much reform Seeded in respect of the sanitary arrangements of the borough," but, their .finances would not allow them to take any steps in that direction, at present.Mn-regard to the borough loans, he. .considered • that a saving" might be effected if an attempt was made to get the interest paid on these loans lowered. . :• • - '. ; ■ After a;number of. questions .had been, put .to1 the candidate and answered,'.."*.,.. ; ". ■ Mr Calder addressed the meeting. , He stated that when, the retrenchment scheme was" first brought up in June last the borough overdraft stood at £1872 Os lid, whereas the limitaccording to law was ;£1298 4a 6d. In. July of,the present year there was a letter from Mr Haggitt asking the reason why the overdraft was in excess of the limit allowed by law. Under these circumstances the council had a right to adopt some scheme of retrenchment,. and a majority of the council decided to amalgamate two offices and let one man-do' the work that,two were, doing—Mr Arnold, as they. were aware, being selected for the position. In Duriediri, where there were a large number of ratepayers, the loss in the shape of;Uncollected rates. was almost, nothing,' and it was strange that in the Valley they lost- nearly £100 yearly in rates. The council,' having these figures before .them, had a right .'to appoint a man who would, collect the rates; Personally he respected Mr Schlotol, but in publit matttirs.it was necessary to waive private feeling, and he was quite sure that every councillor who supported the change did so with regret. ■' The reason why he stood before them, that evening was to support that scheme of retrenchment. It wasfor the ratepayers on Thursday, next to say if they approved of that scheme or not.. In reference to the 'amalgamation of the boroughs, he believed if this were done the result, would be .beneficial. As to the drainage scheme, he would be in fayourof going in ; for one if he were shown where the money was to come from. "The supply of water to the borough waß another question of interest.;' The matter, cahie up eight years ago, but there was no money, then, and there was none yet. .In regard to the loans, he did not think they could do anything t9 lower the* interest until the bonds should expire. His opinion was that the Gqvemmbnt should have assisted '■• boroughs in raising loans, as they had done of late years. A question had been asked as to the advisability of cutting off High Ward and the top of the hills from the borough, but he thought that although the proposal was a good one, bondholders would never.agree, to. such' a large portion of their security, being cut off in that maoner.' ' ' ('. At the termination of his address Mr Calder was asked and answered a number of questions. Mr Russell was then called upon by several in tbehall. He stated that he had been asked why he had Tetired from West Ward. Well, the reason was he did not feel disposed to go to the trouble of again contesting the seat.. If the ratepayers wished that he should stand, and he was, not opposed, he would have taken his Beat again in the council, but not otherwise. Referring to the finances of the borough, he said that when on the -JTiuancQ Committee ■ some time ago.lie put'a question to the town clerk—What did the bad debts amount. to ? He was told that £30. would cover them. He'then asked Mr Myers to produce the correspondence that had passed between him and the Auditor-general; but Mr Myers could not do so, but simply, stated that it referred" to the accounts being all right, and so forth.. Then the speaker inquired what the audit had been made for —whether it'was in connection with the council's books or in respect of councillors'.-liabilities in regard'-to'the' overdraft? ': He was told it was in regard ■J to- •":councillors' liabilities,. but not being satisfied-; he wrote to the Auditor-, general, and received the following reply :— ..".When the accounts to the 31st March last were received, it was. observed that arrears of both special arid general.rates for large sums had been dropped out of the assets. Aa it appeared that similar large' sums had been dropped out in previous years; on the ground it was understood that the amounts were irrecoverable," the Audit Inspector was instructed to look-into the matter, His report shows that at 31st March 1893 the following rates had not been collected:—

1886- 7...General—jEs4 >8 "0 Special~£29 '2 6 1887-8:.. „ 45 16 0 ••--■„.• .23 18: 0 1888-:9..: ■'■"■„"' ■■.".■.41.18 0 ... . „ ■•: ;:2*15 6 1889-10... '' ■'-,;'•■' 65 13 0 " „ 29 5 3 1890- 1..V ' „ 6110 0 ' . „ 31,16 6 1891-2...>- ■,•;•■■ "93 00 „ 46 13 6 1892-3...;".," .£229 10 10 £115 12 11' ;The inquiryhad.no reference to the illegality of the borough overdraft." /■•>...■ The speaker .then read out a list of persons who owed rates which .were unrecoverable,, being : due more than two years. These rates, Cr Kussell continued, .came- to-5 per: cent, of the borough's total rates. If any business man in the city'found that his bad debts amounted to 1 per cent, he would Boon-take Bteps to inquire into the cause., .' ■-'■ ■■'■•■' ' Cr Short stated in regard to the rates said to be owing by him that he knew, nothing of the matter if it were true. , .... Mr Myers said that in considering the financial position of the borough they must take into consideration that the value of'property had'. con; siderably decreased of late years. ." • ' -■■ ■ On the motion of MrrßrssELL, seconded by Mr James Arthur, it waa resolved^by a^Bmall majority (all in the room npt voting) that Messrs •Begg and Calder were fit and proper persons to represent the wards they stood for in the council. An amendment, moved by Mr Sill and'seconded by Mr Dowse, that Messrs Calder and Begg be thanked for. their addresses; was lost. ■