YEAR’S WORK IN COUNTY

Southland Times, Issue 24756, 29 May 1942, Page 2

YEAR’S WORK IN COUNTY

Chairman’s Review FINANCIAL POSITION SOUND

A comprehensive review of the operations of the Southland County Council for the year ended March 31, 1942, was given by the retiring chairman, Mr G. A. Wraytt, at the annual meeting of the council on Wednesday. “The council’s financial position is reasonably sound, and in the coming year no doubt there will be many problems to deal with which affect the council and its ratepayers, not only on the financial side, but on the manpower side,” said the chairman. . The shortage of material and the higher costs and the reduction in the amount of available man-power will make our work more difficult in the future, but no doubt we will be able to overcome our difficulties. FINANCIAL POSITION

“In the last financial year the total receipts handled was £159,821 as against £131,898 in the previous year, showing an increase of £27,923. On the expenditure side we reached a total of £161,771 as against a total of £122,095 for the previous year, giving an increase of £39,676. The increase in both revenue and expenditure is principally accounted for by the council’s operations under the Rural Housing Act and by the purchase of plant. The amount of loan money raised under the Rural Housing Act was £18,832, and capital expenditure on plant covering expenditure both from the County Fund Account and the Plant Renewal Account reached a total of £11,713. This latter amount is considerably m excess of our normal expenditure, The total expenditure on new work covered by Government subsidy votes was £5368/12/11. This is lower than our usual figure. The amount expended on Main Highway construction subsidized by the Main Highways Board was £13,521. This is found about our normal figure and our total under this heading has been kept up by the expenditure during the year on the Menzies Ferry bridge. The expenditure on main highways maintenance, subsidized by the Main Highways Board, was £15,055. , „ , “The Council again this year followed its usual procedure, and in the early part of the year good progress was made with the layout of road work and bridge work, but difficulty was experienced during the year in having our proposals approved by the Government departments concerned and we were held up at times waiting for the issue of the necessary financial authority by Treasury. Although there is a distinct shortage of materials for construction work, we were fortunate that we were able to proceed with our bridge work as soon as the Government authorities came to hand, as we were holding stocks of reinforcing steel. This steel had been purchased in anticipation of our receiving authority for certain bridges which have now been completed or are under way. “At the close of the financial year the amount standing to the credit of the County Fund Account was £30,852, as against £31,701 on the same date last year, the decrease being £849. The contract liabilities at the 31st March totalled £3321 against £7BlO for the previous year, a reduction of £4498. The actual contract payments which had accrued due at the 31st March totalled £1212. Certain wages and trading accounts were due at the end of the year. The amount under this heading is approximately £lOOO. Amounts owing to the council by the Main Highways Board are £2427. This covers both maintenance and construction. . “Our nett credit in the District Fund Account at the end of March was api proximately £22,000. This amount is on a par with our usual nett.’ credit balance at the end of the financial year. It must be borne in mind that the majority of the rates are not received until February and March months, and we have to finance the county work through 10 months of the year from our accrued credit and by way of bank overdraft, and for a county with a turnover of £160,000, £22,000 is a low figure at which to commence the year’s work.

RATES LEVIED “The total rates levied by the council for last year was £67,648 as against a total at the previous year of £67,065. The council experienced one of the best rates collections in its history, the percentage collection to the 31st March 96.7%, and the total collection was £65061/5/5. Considerable progress has been made during the year with cleaning up arrears some of which had been standing from the depression years, and it is pleasing to be able to report that the rate arrears position is now satisfactory. The total general rate outstanding in the county being £1944. The council has been forced to take action against property owners who have failed to pay their rates, and action will have to be taken on the same lines during the coming year. Power Board Rates: The amount of these rates collected during the year was £lOB/2/8 representing old arrears, 1 and the prospects of further collection of these rates are very remote.

General County Rates: “The county rates struck last year, excluding Hos- • pital Board and special rate, was I £41,254 as against £43,961 in the preI vious year, representing a reduction of I £2707. The total collected was £39,600, I £126 was remitted, and the amount outstanding at the end of the year is £1417. This amount is approximately j £lOOO below the average of arrears at the end of previous rating years. Payment of rates in the special rating areas has been on a par with that of the general and the Hospital Board rates. During the year £2336 of general rate arrears was collected. This payment ! of arrears has materially benefited the I Riding Accounts. i Rates Subsidy: “Although during the year the council has not renewed its representations in connection with the rates subsidy, tile council has not altered its opinion on the matter, and on last year’s total rate collection the subsidy of £2500 represents a subsidy of 1/24 in the £ on rates received. Smaller counties would receive a subsidy of 5/- in the £ on an average over the whole of New Zealand, and the matter of rate subsidy is one which should be adjusted by the Government at an early date so that ratepayers in the major counties will receive the same subsidies on their rates as the ratepayers in the smaller counties. Hospital Board Rating: “For the year just closed the amount of Hospital Board rates struck was £24,669. Of this amount £23,819 was collected, jand £1229 of previous arrears was brought in during the current year. The sum of £20,442 was paid to the Hospital Board during the year, and the credit balance in the rate account now stands at £8246. As far as lam able to ascertain at present, the Hospital Board rate for the 1942/43 year will be materially increased, but we will be able to finance the increase without increasing the Hospital Board rate over the county. I LOANS AND LOAN DEBT

■ “The nett public debt of the county to 1 the 31st March was £59,659. At the commencement of the year it was £44,431. During the year the council was authorised to raise two separate loans of £20,000 each under the Rural Housing Act. Of the first loan we have raised £18,709, and of the second loan, £123. The credit in the Sinking Fund Account now stands at £10,471, the in- : crease in the Sinking Fund Account for the year being £3102, and we have repaid during the year £3604. On November 30, 1942, we will have a small loan of £4OOO maturing; the accrued I sinking fund in this loan is only £537,

and I would suggest to the council giving consideration to extinguishing this loan on maturity. PLANT

“The value of plant owned by the council at March 31, 1942, has been written down to £25,264. The capital expenditure during the year was £11713 The amount standing to the credit of the Plant Renewal Fund is now £11,017. This fund is lodged with a separate account in the Bank of New Zealand, and the sum of £lO,OOO is on fixed deposit. The adjustment on account of purchases and depreciation is made at the 31st March each year. Plant sales during the year totalled £74i. This amount was credited to the Renewal Fund, and the amount charged for depreciation was £3026. The cost of items of individual plant have materially increased during the year, and the cost of our running expenses, maintenance and repairs has shown a substantial increase over former years. Our purchases of plant this last year have been higher than in any previous year in the Council’s history, and all our purchases have been financed from revenue or from accrued funds. We are in the fortunate position that most of our plant is up-to-date and in good running order, and we have sufficient renewal funds in hand to meet at the present time the cost of replacement ot our older items of plant. With the extensive amount of plant which we have, we find that the cost of plant operation is one of the main items of our expenditure, and this section requires close supervision to prevent wastage and undue loss.

ROADING “The amount made available to the council for expenditure on new access roads to farmers was considerably reduced last year, and wherever possible we toc> up the grants and completed the work. There are one or two jobs still to be completed in this year which were authorised last year. We had difficulty in letting contracts for new work and we have made satisfactory arrangements with the Public Works Department under which the council’s staff and plant will complete several of the jobs authorised under Government subsidy votes. In connection with our maintenance contracts, there has been an increasing cost per yard mile for cartage. The cost of hauling our gravel to the plants for crushing has also increased. The total output through our crushing plants last year was approximately 60,000 yards, and it is anticipated that this year the total will be approximately the same. In addition to the gravel produced and delivered from our crushing plants, a considerable quantity of pit gravel was supplied to our roads. At the present time a contract for 14,089 yards is being carried out in Awarua Riding. This gravel is being loaded by the council’s excavator and a satisfactory contract was let for the cartage and the spreading of this gravel. “In the country we have 172 J miles of • State highway and 416 miles of ordinary main highways. A small amount of I sealing work was carried out in the county during the year, and the prospects of further sealing work are fairly remote until such time as the war is brought to a satisfactory conclusion and supplies of bitumastic materials from overseas are again made available at a reasonable cost.

BRIDGES “Several concrete bridges were constructed during the year, the principal one being the bridge over the Mataura River at Menzies Ferry. The actual construction of the bridge and approaches was completed early in . the new year and the bridge was officially opened on March 28, 1942. The total cost of the bridge and approaches, exclusive of the guard fences, was £16,518. In the near future the council will have to face a problem in connection with the maintenance of bridges over some of our major rivers where these bridges are on county roads. The total cost of maintenance or replacement will have to be met from the ordinary revenue of the council. This council endteavipured to Establish a reserve fund from which county bridges could be constructed, but unfortunately we were not able to do so under the provisions of the Counties’ Act, and it is suggested that the Act should be amended to allow counties to set up reserve funds to replace wasting assets. The creation of these reserve funds would materially relieve the rating position and would partially obviate the necessity of raising loans.

MOTOR TRANSPORT “Over the past few years the transport system in the country has definitely swung to the motor, and today we find that most of the produce from the farms and lime, manure and goods for the farms are transported by road. It was thought that with the petrol restrictions coming into force that the cost per mile for maintenance of roads would materially decline, but our experience has been the reverse. Material and wages costs show a considerable increase, and the operation of plant is more costly today that what it was 12 months ago. There‘has been a decided reduction in the volume of car traffic on the roads, but this has been offset by the damage done to our reading system by heavy traffic vehicles. The tendency has been to increase the loading per vehicle and there is no doubt that the heavy traffic vehicles are travelling at a higher speed now than what they were before the petrol restrictions came into force. Heavy traffic by transport vehicles is not confined to the highways and arterial roads; we find today that the tendency for these vehicles is to run over all of the roading system in the county in the cartage of lime and manure and live-stock for farmers, and the cartage of grain, wool, and so on. “In the near future the authorities will have to give some consideration to the granting of relief to the farmer ratepayer in respect of roading costs, either by the declaration of more highways, or by an increased subsidy on the cost of work carried out on highways. The creation of State highways is not a solution of the problem, as tlie Local Body vehicles when servicing the roads in their particular districts, are required to travel many miles over state highways to get to their work whereas if the Local Bodies administered all the roads in this area the uneconomic running over the lengths of highways would be obyiated. There is still a considerable amount of heavy cartage work being carried out in the county and the goods so carted could be transported by rail. The council has repeatedly made representations to the Transport Department on the matter, but so far without result. My remarks in this connection apply principally to timber cartage. LAND DRAINAGE “During the year the Drainage Committee have met regularly and have dealt with all applications which have come before them, both under the 1935 Act and the Amendment Act. The Council has, on account of the shortage of engineering staff, been forced to curtail the amount of work which should be done under the Drainage Act. One major job on which work was stopped was the proposal to straighten and deepen the Waianiwa Creek. Several of the farmers at the top end of this creek have taken matters into their own hands, and the creek is being dealt with through their respective properties.

Rural Housing: “During the year the council has dealt with 52 applications under the Rural Housing Act. The applications totalled £44,954, and the loans granted totalled £21,986, covering 25 approved applications. In most cases the farmers contributed towards the cost of their houses and the council was called on to find the balance. One loan has now been fully paid off. The value of the houses built under the Act is approximately £28,000. On account of the shortage of material and manpower, the Council was forced to cease its operations under tire Act. It

is anticipated that in the future steps will again be taken to revive the activities under this building scheme which is a distinct advantage to the farmer. Re-valuation of County: “In the early part of the year, the re-valuation of the county was finalized, and the Assessment Court dealt with objections to the valuations. .The final values were fixed at—rateable capital, £13,479,268, and rateable unimproved, £6,067,913. Our valuation today is approximately £1,250,000 less on”capital value that it was in 1921. Representation: “The past year has been an exceptionally busy one. The council has been called on to appoint representatives on a considerable number of committees which deal with certain sections of war activities and local activities. The council has been represented on the Chamber of Commerce, the Southland League, Museum Board, Southland Technical College Board, Provincial Centennial Council, Provincial Patriotic Council, Committee for the Reclamation of Waste Materials, Oil and Fuel Advisory Committee. E.P.S. WORK “The Council in common with other local bodies, has handled this important work, and today in the county we have 65 organizations in full operation. The country organizations are based on school committee districts, and with the exception of two small areas in which no organizations at present exist, the whole of the county is covered. The council has endeavoured to co-ordinate its E.P.S. activities with the other local bodies in Southland, viz, the City Council, Boroughs o*f South Invercargill, Bluff, Gore, Winton and Mataura, and the Town Boards of Edendale and Wyndham. The country committees have shown exceptional keenness to set up efficient E.P.S. organizations in their districts, and the thanks of the council are due to the E.P.S. officials in each trict who have devoted time and energy in setting up these organizations so that the civilian population could be cared for during a period of emergency. The County Clerk is the Chief Controller for the county and the members of the council’s clerical staff have had a considerable volume of work to handle in bringing the E.P.S. organization in the county up to its present state of efficiency. WAR EFFORT “Since the outbreak of war in September 1939, there has been a continual drain on the manpower of the country, and I understand today that there are approximately 140,000 men in the Armed Forces. The farmers are being exhorted by the Government to go in for more intensive farming and cultivation and the position in the country as regards manpower to carry out essential works is very, very acute. While realizing that it is desirable that every fit and able man should have military training, the time is perhaps opportune for the Government to give some thought to the manpower position and endeavour if possible to arrange that men who are now drafted into the Armed Forces and who have had experience in farm production work, should be given intensive military training for a period of three months or so and then drafted back to their normal occupations, each man to be sent back with his Army equipment so that he could at a moment’s notice be available for active service if necessary. If the position carries on as it is at present with more and more men being drafted into the Army ranks every month, it will mean that there will be very little available manpower to carry on the necessary work of primary production, and after a period of army training it seems reasonable that these men should be drafted back to their normal occupations. This practice has been carried out in other countries in the past and has worked quite satisfactorily.” Military Service: “Seventeen mem-, bers of the council’s staff have been called for military service. Five of these men are overseas, and one A. L. Smiley—has made the supreme sacrifice, Mr Smiley was in the Air Force and news of his death was received early in January this year. The council placed on record its regret at Mi Smiley’s death. He was one of our most . promising young men. The councillors and staff joined in extending tneir i deepest sympathy to his parents.—r.E.A.