MATAKAOA COUNTY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17950, 30 November 1932, Page 6

MATAKAOA COUNTY

ADMINISTRATION COSTS POSITION STILL ACUTE STATE AID INSUFFICIENT (Special to the Herald.) IJUAIt.VIIOA, this day. The finances of the Matakaoa County Council have not improved in recent weeks, and tne possibility of the council giving up the struggle to maintain services is not at all a remote one. Much is rrespi lideiue lias passed between the council and the Minister of Internal Affairs, since the visit ol the Hon. Adam Hamilton to the East Coast, and such assistance as Inis been offered to date by the Minister, on behalf of the (iovevnrnent, is not considered to _be sufficient to meet the difficult situation. Matters are approaching a crisis, and el the meeting of the council held ou batmdav advice was received from tho department as to what it was prepared to do to help the county over the present difficulty. The Government was prepared, said the letter, to meet tho amount of the half-yearly interest remittance to London in respect of the county loan, and it was hopeu that this accommodation would enable the council to carry on the general services. !n the course of discussion on the letter, members of the council stated that the In ip extended by the Government was appreciated, but that the urgent need of ttu*. council for administrative finance was not met by the offer. After discussion, a motion was carried instructing the clerk to inform the Minister of Internal Affairs in respectful terms that unless the department could undertake to find administrative costs, such as the salary of the county clerk and reasonable office expenses, the council would have no alternative but to close tiie office. During the past two or three months, at successive meeting's, the council lias discussed the chairman''s motion to the offset that 10 per cent, penalty be jideled to rates unpaid lav March 10. 1935, and that 5 per cent, rebate be granted on all rates for the cm rent year paid on or before December 15. 1932. The council is acutely chided on the matter, those in favor of tiie motion contending that tho payors of rates were bearing tli 3 cost 0 f interest on outlay that should b» met hv rater, outstanding; while those a trains i the mot on hold that the 10 por cent, penalty is only a further burden upon unfortunate owners of property who are unwilling defaulters in the matter of rates. So far the motion has not been put to the vote, though most members of the council have recorded their respective views on the matter in the

course of dis- ussion