TAX ON WATER PLAN

Taranaki Daily News, 5 March 1935, Page 9

TAX ON WATER PLAN

SUPPLIES FROM EGMONT

SUGGESTION TO THE PARK BOARD.

WAY OF IMPROVING FINANCES.

VTHER MEANS UNDER DISCUSSION.

A plan to fax Taranaki local bodies on .water supplied from the natural reservoir of Mount Egmont was unfolded by the chairman, Mr. W. C. Weston, at the quarterly meeting of the Egmont National Park Board at Dawson Falls yesterday and gave rise to a general discussion on methods of improving the board’s finances. The plan was approved. It was also decided to approach the Government for a grant of £5OO and to approach the Minister of Public Works with a request either for declaration of the three mountain house roads as.main highways, or for a subsidy on: maintenance work on the roads.

The discussion arose when the chairman, Mr. W. C. Weston, outlined the plan. In the following round-table talk, the dearth of financial means for carrying on the board’s work was considered to be the real reason for something to be done. Messrs. Weston and T. R. Anderson were appointed to interview the Minister of Lands and the Hon.'S. G. Smith for Governmental aid, while Mr. W. G. Walkley was appointed to interview the Minister of Public Works. It was also decided to circulate the plan to the Taranaki members of Parliament.

The plan is that, as Egmont Is the natural reservoir of Taranaki, the local bodies receiving the water supply from its slopes should pay a certain percentage of their rates towards the Park Board. Hawera, Stratford, Eltham, New Plymouth, Inglewood and Waitara boroughs, Opunake and Manaia town board districts and Taranaki, Egmont, Wai-; mate. West, Eltham, Stratford and Inglewood counties are involved in the water supplies, the Clifton and Hawera' centres being excepted. A levy of l-30thd in the £1 on the total valuation would bring in £1307, said Mr. Weston. It would be made up for the boroughs as follows: New Plymouth, £240; Waitara, £l4; Inglewood, £9 10s; Stratford, £6O; Eltham, £26 10s; Hawera,- £81; Opunake, £lO, and Manaia £4, a total of £445. For the counties, the levies would be Taranaki, £210; Egmont, £152, Waimate West, £187; Inglewood, £ffit; Stratford, £119; Eltham, £133; a total of £862. The total capital valuation of the boroughs was £3,200,306, and the counties £6,205,000, a total of £9,405,306.

BOARD WITHOUT REVENUE.

The Hon. James McLeod had approved of the scheme and the Hon. S. G. Smith was going to give it consideration, said the chairman. At present the board, with no revenue at all, lived from hand to mouth, having nothing to give its committees. -Some- local bodies contributed but others avoided their obligatiops. The recent floods had emphasised the necessity of a ranger, for it had been impossible to know which part of the mountain had suffered the most from the rainfall. '

“What is the alternative but to fall back on the Government for assistance,” said Mr. F. H. Waters, Commissioner of Crown' Lands. “In the last few years the Government has been able to do very little in giving help and a couple of years ago, one Minister, after hearing a deputation, advised the board •to look after itself.”

The board had at one time received assistance through the Bruce Trust, said Mr. P. Thomson, but the revenue from the trust had dried up and the endowments- to the board were done away with.-The late Mr. T. C. List, when chairman, had with several other members, waited on several local bodies and pointed out that, as the committees were directly representative of those bodies, financial wherewithal should be provided. Most boards honoured their undertakings, but with the falling off of Government and Bruce Trust grants, there was not enough money provided to carry on. The revenue could not be obtained within the borders of the park itself, and the money received in 5 tolls was being used in the best possible manner.

“The south committee definitely needs yearly assistance,” declared, Mr. W. G. Walkley. “If the board is going to get money directly from the local bodies, however, how are the local committees going to carry on? Last year, the Stratford committee received £155 from local bodies, and at times we have received as much as £210.” The chairman: I' think it would be better if the Park Board collected the funds, for.it could then distribute them to the committees. • • Mr. Thomson: The east committee collects only £6O from the Stratford borough and county councils. Mr.' Weston; We would require to have an Act passed to go on with this scheme.

Mr. T. R. Anderson: I do not .think the Government would consent.

Mr. Waters: How do you expect voluntary workers to carry on with all the worries of managing the board affairs. Mr. Anderson: Well, I’ve been serving the mountain 20 years and I know all about that. Mr. F. Amoore: None of the members live on' the mountain, or near it, and yet they have nothing but worry, worry, worry.

MAINTAINING MOUNTAIN ROADS.

If the Main Highways Board declared the roads from the boundary to the hostels main highways the saving would be important, said Mr. Walkley. The board after all was providing the roads for the use of the whole of New Zealand. As the roads were not under the jurisdiction of any local body, however, the Main Highways Board could hardly do the work. .

Mr. Anderson: I have been told the tolls could not then be collected. “That is only a technicality that can . be overcome,” said Mr. Walkley. “No principle is involved, for a toll on these roads does not involve a double taxation as a toll on an ordinary highway would.” Even the course suggested by Mr. Walkley would not get the board out of its troubles, Mr. Weston said. There was still no money for rangers, fencing, etc. Endowments would enable the board to carry on, said Mr. Anderson. The chairman: The revenue should really extend a mile further out; then we would have some chance of making money. Forty years ago the position was not so bad, for the water supply was not so important. It was necessary for the board to have some fixed revenue, and he suggested that the Taranaki members of Parliament and the Minister of Lands, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, should be approached. ' Tongariro National Park, said Mr. Waters,.was financed and everything else done for it by the State. t “If that is so, then funds should be f < found-for Egmont .National Park,” said Mt*. Thomson. Mr. Walkley: Some people are not in sympathy with the work being done, mainly because they don’t know what it would be like if it were not done. Except for the two years when the fund from the,Bruce Trust was received, said Mr. 'Anderson, the board had always been short, and he . had had 20 yeans’ experience. If the board had £3OO outside the committees, it. would be in a better, position. “I don’t agree with that,” said Mr.

Weston. “At least two rangers are required and a car.” Mr. Walkley: If we approach the Government for a grant of £5OO, it may do that in preference to granting legislation. In addition, we should ask for roads to be taken over for maintenance purposes only. “We have an overdraft with 28 years to run,” said Mr. Amoore for the north committee. “What position are we in?” After further discussion, it was decided to secure a list of the number of vehicles using the three park roads up to the end of January, 1935, and to approach the Minister of Public Works requesting theMain Highways Board help with a subsidy for keeping the roads in good order. Messrs. Weston and Anderson were deputed to interview the Hon. S. G. Smith and the Hon. E. A. Ransom for a grant of £5OO for the extermination of goats, rangers’ services, etc. .. . 1