“West Coast Earthquake Was National Calamity.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19118, 10 July 1930, Page 5

“West Coast Earthquake Was National Calamity.”

SOUTH ISLAND SHOULD NOT BEAR WHOLE COST, SAY MEMBERS OF PROGRESS LEAGUE.

MEMBERS of the executive of the Canterbury Progress League expressed the opinion at a meeting held last night that the South Island should not be called upon to bear the whole cost of repairing the damage done by the big earthquake on the West Coast. It was decided that the local bodies contributing to the league’s funds should be asked to attend a conference to determine the best course of action.

During a discussion the earthquake was referred to as having been a national calamity and therefore a charge on the national purse, and not on the South Island highways fund. Various courses of action were mentioned by Mr J. E. Strachan, chairman of the league’s Highways Committee. They included a request to the Government for a special grant, and a more liberal share of the £200,000 from the Public Works fund. Extraordinary circumstances, however, had arisen owing to the damage done by the earthquake on the West Coast. As instructed, the league’s committee had communicated with the Highways Board. The chairman of the board (Mr F. W Furkert) had replied that the board had spent £107,000 in restoring roads damaged oy the earthquake, and that amount would be a charge against Scmth Island revenue. Mr C. J. ialbot, a South Island member of the board, had replied that the estimates of the damage to roads was up to a quarter of a million pounds. The Government had spent £20,000 on settlement roads and budges in the earthquake area, but recently the Government, wnicL previously appeared sympathetic, had decided to take no further action in the direction of assisting restoration. Mr Strachan continued that road construction in the Dominion was costing about £1,000,000 per annum. The revenue including the £200,000 from the Public Works Department, total led £700,000 a year. At the present rate of spending the ,construction programme for the Dominion would end in 1936, after which it would not be possible to transfer money from the revenue to the construction account. Until the first loan was extinguished in 1944, there would be only £200,000 available from the Public Works. The North Jsland .construction programme would probably have to stop a year or so earlier than the South. The board had restricted the South Island paving programme for this year, and the speaker surmised that that was because of the extraordinary charges for earthquake damage. Four Lines of Action. “There are four lines of action which we may take,’’ continued Mr Strachan. “Firstly, we can be philosophical about

it, as we have been. Secondly, we can ask the Government to make a special grant for the extraordinary charges, though the Government does not at present appear sympathetic to such a suggestion. Thirdly—and I am loath to suggest it, as we have been so em phatic in wanting South Island funds spent only in this Island—we can ask that the Highways Board distribute the cost between the two Islands. By this we would practically be asking North Island motorists to come to our assistance. “Fourthly, there is the allocation from the Public Works fund. The South Island gets £70.000 a year from ■ the £200,000. and the North Island gets £130,000. We should ask that the allocation of the £200,000 be revised and a greater amount allotted to the South Island until the earthquake damage has been paid for.” “A Lawyer’s Argument.” Describing the earthquake as a ; national calamity, Mr F. W. Johnston said that he feared no contradiction | when he said that the motorists of the , South Island played a very large part . in the ousting of the Coates Government because of its not taking account , of the sufferings of such men. If the present Government took up the attitude that it would do nothing because the South Island had definitely main- ’ tained that its highways funds were to be spent only in the South Island, and as a converse that no North Island money should come South, then the layman could say that it was a lawyer’s argument and did not touch on the morality of the question at all. (Laughter.) The chairman (Mr J. Carr): Motor taxation was put into operation to assist local bodies to make proper roads for motorists. With the £70,000 per annum from the Public Works it will take four and a half years to pay for the damage, and road construction will be retarded by that length of time. The cost of the earthquake damage should have come out of the Consolidated Fund. It was eventually decided that the local bodies contributing to the league’s funds should be asked to attend a conference, which Mr Strachan would address. The conference would give the league a lead as to the course of action deemed most desirable. ! EE3 S 3 !U E 3 SB S 3 ES EE! ® ® H 3 EE3 EE) HI S 3 EE S 3 SB ® D