BOROUGH COUNCIL POLICY

Taranaki Daily News, 2 May 1933, Page 9

BOROUGH COUNCIL POLICY

POSITION AT NEW PLYMOUTH ADDRESSES BY THE . COUNCILLORS. FAIR ATTENDANCE OF ELECTORS. The past policy of the New Plymouth Borough Council was defended by . the Mayor (Mr. H. V. S. Griffiths) and Crs. P. E. Stainton and J. Brown when they addressed a fair attendance of electors in the Empire Theatre ■ last night. Mr. R. W. D. Robertson, a retiring councillor not seeking re-election, presided and Crs. F. Amoore and T. P. Anderson were also on the official platform. The Mayor is seeking re-election and Crs. Stainton and Brown are Hospital Board candidates as well. More interest was being shown in the borough than he had seen in his 30 years of residence, said the chairman. By some people it had been attributed to. the entry of the party element and, if that were so, it was a good thing. Such meetings were similar to shareholders’ meetings when directors 'were expected to give anaccount of their activities. There had been so little criticism of local politics in past years that the directors had thought it unnecessary to call the shareholders together. This year they had felt it desirable to meet the 'electors personally. In normal times the interest of the electors was not aroused and a large number did not exercise the vote, said Mr. Griffiths. On the present occasion apathy had given way to the keenest interest. That was to be expected. It was a time of national stress, and the electors realised the grave' responsibility resting upon their shoulders on election day . ' ■ A Mayor and borough council had to be elected to act as a board of directors to carry on the huge business of the borough council for two years. It was a huge busmess for, in addition to its ordinary functions, the council controlled large trading undertakings in the shape of electric lighting, tramways and bus services.

“No man is capable of acting as chairman of. the board of directors of such a business until he has served his apprenticeship at the board table for at least two or more years,” continued Mr. Griffiths. , “My experience has been, and I know it ha§ been the experience of 'nearly every other councillor, that it takes at least one year in office before any councillor can feel that he has any grip at all of the council's business. This is only natural, for the council’s, business is more large and more. diverse than the business of any other institution in the province.” > , To indicate the magnitude of that business, the Mayor stated that the electric light undertaking had ;'a capital- of £353,736, and an. annual revenue of £70,409. The tramways and bus undertaking had a capital of £104,066, and an annual revenue of- £15,300. The whole - borough business had a turnover last year of £275,117. “The Labour ticket which is opposing the sitting councillors suggests that. to control this huge business you should elect a ticket of inen who, with one exception, have never sat at the council table,” he continued.. “My opponent, Mr. E. Gilmour, although he has lived in the town all his life, has never sat at the council table,- nor, as far as I am aware, has he ever sought election as a councillor. Without in any way reflecting upon the ability of the candidates mentioned, I suggest to you that to accede to their wishes and to place the council's business in the hands of a body of men totally inexperienced in municipal business would be inviting disaster.”

The sitting councillors seeking re-elec-tion were all men with experience in municipal business, many of them with long years of service. The review of the operations of the council for the past year, which was published recently, showed that they had given good service in the past, and they had proved their ability to give good service in the future. The present was not the time to exchange tried men for those untried and unproved. The test of administration was judged by the results obtained and not a single borough account was in debit at the close’.of the. financial year. The greatest problem facing all public men at present was to provide adequately to relieve the great distress caused through protracted unemployment, said the Mayor. He reminded electors that, while the Government had sought to provide funds, these had been totally inadequate, and did not cover all cases. The townspeople were not unmindful of that and were contributing most generously to the Mayor’s relief fund. The test of any business or organisation came when it had to face adverse economic conditions, added the Mayor. In common with every other local body and every other business, the council had had to face an economic blizzard unparalleled in the history of the world. The fact that it had faced such a position, and that its finances were as sound as they had ever been, that they were stronger perhaps than the finances of any other borough of its size in New Zealand, was proof that the administration of the retiring council, and of the councils of several years past, had been satisfactory, and sound. ■ The operations of the tramways and electric light departments were reviewed by Cr. Stainton while Cr. Brown outlined the works committee’s activities. Regarding Labour’s belief in the restoration of wage cuts to the low-salaried people, the Mayor said the Borough Council also believed in it and he quoted a resolution passed at the time when the cuts were made whereby the council bound itself to restore the wage level as soon as conditions warranted it. The Labour candidates also desired the substitution of day labour instead of contracts but the Mayor assured the meeting that such a move could only result in rate increases.

Referring to Mr. J. Jemison’s conten- ■ tion that the balance-sheet was so complex that people could not understand it, the Mayor said it equalled the balancesheet of any other municipality in the Dominion according to the Audit Department. It was arranged in the same manner as any other balance-sheet and the position it had shown was sufficient to inspire confidence on the London market when the recent loan came up for subscription. The election had been clean and fairjust as it should have been, said Mr. Stainton. But he had to explain some of Mr. Flood’s statements in fairness to the old council. Borough cars were used only on borough business and, with the exception of the engineers cars, were under lock and key during the weekend. Mr. Jemison’s statement that he believed Mr. Wyatt had placed a report before the tramways committee and it had never reached the council, was wrong as far as Mr. Stainton knew. Nothing of the sort had happened while he was on the committee. Labour’s belief that more business should be carried out in open council was right in one way but the amount of business that would come before the council as a result would be too great to complete and for that reason the idea was impossible. It had- also been suggested that the £5OOO transferred from the electric light department account to the tramways account should have gone towards reductions in lighting costs, remarked Mr. Stainton. It had to be remembered that with the council rested the responsibility of seeing that the loan_debt was li_qui; .

dated and, until that was done, lighting costs that were shown by comparisons to be reasonable could not be reduced. Ratepayers had mortgaged their properties to raise the loan and any relief should first go to them; reduction of lighting costs would assist non-ratepayers in equal proportion, which would hardly be fair until the ratepayers’ debt had been wiped out. The displacement of labour by the council’s purchase of tractor and scoops for work on the Mangamaho'e dam had also been mentioned by the Labour candidates, continued Mr. Stainton. He was sure that, had any Labour representative. seen the chance of saving £4500 by such purchases, even if they displaced some men, they would have done as the council did. The . position was that the contract completion date was May 31, 1931, which meant that the borough would have had to purchase power from the Taranaki Power Board during the dry spell from January to April. Such current would have cost £5OOO and the council came to an agreement with the contractor whereby he shifted the completion date forward to January 31 if the council provided him with the use of a tractor and two scoops. For a loss of £7OO in depreciation on those vehicles,' the council thus saved Mr..B. Thorne asked Cr. Stainton what amount the borough had paid the Mangamahoe dam contractor for every day inside the contract time that the work was completed. It was explained that the council, had agreed to pay £5 for every day inside the time as the daily saving to the borough would have been £lO. No payment was made as the contract was not completed until the second week of February.