“OPINION UNSHAKEN”

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1010, 28 June 1930, Page 10

“OPINION UNSHAKEN”

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND PUBLIC EXPENSE ANSWER TO DEFENCE The Auckland Chamber of Corngeneral opinion of the growing local body indebtedness in New Zealand, the secretary to the chamber, Dr. E. P. Neale, states in reply to the defence of the local bodies, offered by Mr. S. Gray, of Mount Eden. Dr. Neale says that the chamber adheres to its view, supported by evidence of the great increase recently in local body taxation, that there has been a considerable amount of uneconomic capital expenditure by local authorities in recent years. It does not necessarily fdllow that such a stricture applied in the case of any particular local authority, he adds. “It is true, and we are aware, that, many new opportunities for expenditure by local authorities have been opened up during recent years—in the development of hydro-electric power and the internal combustion engine, for instance —but our committee is convinced that, in quite a number of instances, at least, loan expenditure has been of a wasteful character,” Dr. Neale continues in his reply, “and has resulted from undue pressure from a small number of interested persons, while/ the majority of ratepayers remained apathetic. The chamber’s main point is that local body indebtedness has increased with great rapidity in recent years, the rate of increase has been greater than the rate of increase in the indebtedness of the general Government and the per capita rate of : increase has been greater than that in I the national income a head of popula- ( tion.” BUSINESS JUDGMENT Answering the suggestion that the j members of the chamber were not altogether qualified to criticise, Dr. Xeale says: “As businessmen, they are accustomed to weighing up the burdens of expense against the value of improvements. Local body administration is, or should be, a question of business judgment. About a quarter of the members of our council have served or are serving on local bodies and one of the members of the committee which dealt with the indebtedness of local bodies is an ex-Mayor of one of the larger Auckland suburban boroughs. “Mr. Gray states that it is better business to put down a road in solid material, because the reduced maintenance charges with interest and sinking fund, would be less than the previous maintenance charges and would permit the public to have a better road. Surely the contention that this is invariably the case is unsound, because it would lead logically to the conclusion that, if only local authorities would concrete all their roads, rates would be reduced. “The committee is satisfied that, in public as in private life, the desire for additional amenities o.nd luxuries should not be gratified beyond the spender’s capacity to pay without undue inconvenience; it feels that, in many instances, local bodies have proceeded with improvements, probably quite desirable ones, on a scale that, relative to means, they would hesitate to adopt in private and business affairs.”