WANGANUI MAYORALTY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 96, 26 April 1933, Page 5

WANGANUI MAYORALTY

MR. HOGAN’S CANDIDATURE OVERDRAFT AND SINKING FUNDS address to electors. In his address to the electors at the Opera House on Monday night, Mr. J. T. Hogan, who is a candidate for the Mayoralty, deplored Wanganui’s present position. He blamed past administrations and held that the present City Council had not done all it might have done to put things right. The two main methods of lightening the burden on the ratepayers, he maintained, were a reduction of interest on overdraft and postponement of the payment of sinking funds. He adipitted that the postponement of sinking funds was not within the power of the council unless special legislation was put through. ”A great compliment was paid me when Mr. Hogan asked me to take the chair at his meeting to-night.” said Mr. George Spriggens, who presided. ”Mr. Hogan is no stranger to you. Ho has done faithful work for the city in the past.” “It is a great pleasure to me to see my old friend. Mr. Spriggens in the chair again,” Mr. Hogan opened. “He has served the public of Wanganui well in the past, and when he was asked to take the chair to-night he accepted with alacrity. It is a novel situation for me to be in a Mavoral contest,” Mr. Hogan went on. “I have been a candidate at Parliamentary elections

and frequently was successful and sometimes not. I was six years in the House of Representatives representing Wanganui. But it is a novel thing for me to be contesting the Mayoralty. Having the time on my hands I am able to offer my services to Wanganui in that capacity. I feel that Wanganui needs a man who will take a kindly interest in its welfare, progress, prosperity and advancement. In saying that I cast no reflections on the present Mayor. His Worship and I were both brother officers in the old volunteers. I often met him in uniform and marched with him up and down the Drill Hall and skirmished over the sandhills. I have always been on the friendliest terms with His Worship and hope that that friendliness will con-

Continuing, Mr. Hogan said that it often happened that when a man was placed in the position he was in it became necessary to hit hard. It did not matter how hard a person hit, so long as he hit “above the belt.” It was quite proper to stand up and meet blow for blow so long as those blows were aimed “above the belt.” He intended to light like that. He had always done so. “Pretty, Prosperous, Progressive.” Wherever one went, Mr. Hogan proceeded, almost the first question asked was: “What’s wrong with Wanganui?” He would tell his audience some .of the things that were contributing to the state of affairs that promped that question. Wanganui in the past had blazed, the trail, was rich in historical associations and had been tii iLe forcfrout of the cities of New Zealand. It had been termed “Pretty, Prosperous and Progressive.” It would be his aim to restore Wanganui to that state. One of the first things wrong with Wanganui was the burden of rates. The burden was so heavy that business people could not compete with, those of other centres. The burden of local body Government throughout New Zealand was too heavy. Local authorities were bleeding 71 millions from the people, .six millions of which was for rates alone, and the City Council of Wanganui was keeping up its end in the bleeding process. Rates a Legacy. ‘ ’ 1 admit, and admit it frankly, that the present burden of rates has nothing to do with the present City Council,” he added. “It is a legacy handed down, but 1 sav this, that the present council has not done as much as it might have done to lighten the burden on the people of Wanganui.” The speaker quoted figures to show the rise in rates. In one instance he quoted an Avenue property on which the rates constituted a first mortgage to the City Council of £l5O a foot, leaving the owner an annuity of £5O. He had anticipated such staggering figures coming about, for the simple reason that Wanganui had expanded too much. The old borough, a mile square, the Town Boards of Gonville and Castlecliff, and the Borough of Wanganui East had represented a satisfactory state of affairs. The rate at Wai.ganui East was Is 6d in the £, with a chance of going to 2s 6d when the Dublin Street Bridge was up and certain street lighting was installed. M hen Wanganui East joined the Borough of Wanganui the rates went to 3s lOd. Gonville was getting along happily on its own So was Castlecliff, but some; body thought of a city, and brought about the amalgamation, forgetting that the trams had to be extended and the gas and water mains taken out. To-day the City Council was taking £llO,OOO a year average in rates, .ana the people of the city had to find over a quarter of a million in rates, license fees and so on. Rating Systems. Mr. Hogan deplored the tendency to change the rating system every three years. Stability was wanted. If a poll was taken to alter the system he. did not think the Mayor should take sides. He should call a meeting and impartially advise the people as to the re? spective systems. He contended that when.the last change wa* made the. City Council should nave advertised that every property owner could have applied for a revaluation. As it was, only some applied and the consequence was that properties side by side were rated on 1928 and present-day values, respectively. At Castlecliff, one section, which had obtained the advantage of a revaluation, paid 16s in rates. The next door section, rated on 1928 values, because its owner had not applied for revaluation, paid £3 4s. “Outrageous” was the only word to describe such a system. State of the Trams. Hogan commended those who were responsible for converting the tramway system into one of one-man cars. Of course men had to be put off when that was done, he said, but the change had been an economic benefit to the city. Nothing was being done by the present council, he said, to grapple with the tramway finances. The tramways were costing the people 18 to 20 thousand a year, the revenue was falling; the capital charges were the highest in New Zealand, so were the interest charges and sinking funds, and the average cost of fare per passenger. The system carried the lowest number of passengers per car mile in the New

Zealand, and the cost of running per car mile was the highest in the Dominion. A car cost Is lid per mile to run and the earning was Is 3d per mile. Yet nothing was being done by the council to stop that bleeding of the public. In 1928 the ratepayers put hands in their pockets and paid £21,000 out of rates to bolster up the trams. In 1929 they paid £18,900. The difference between total revenue and total expenditure average £20,000 a year. Surely something could be done to lift that burden.

Flotation of Loans. Mr. Hogan criticised the present council for the manner in which it had renewed a loan of £121,400 on the London market last year. He contended that that money should have been raised in New Zealand The Harbour Board had raised money in New Zea-' land at less than 6 per cent. The City Council had had received at six per cent., but in addition the loan was raised at £96, so, in effect, the rate was £6 9s 10d per cent. In addition there was a three per cent, sinking fund. That was too high. The Council should have fought the Loans Board harder and got it down. The cost of exchange worked out at one and a-half per cent. —£l 10s. Interest, sinking fund and exchange meant that the ratepayers had to find, nearly 11 per cent, for the loan —ll per cent, at a time when there was a world-wide inclination to reduce interest. This was no time to charge sinking funds. He did not think the people at the other end wanted a sinking fund. The people at this end should be allowed to live. He was in fav< ■ of postponing the payment of sinking funds. The Harbour Board raised money in New Zealand at 5| and 54 per cent, and it was now able to participate in the 10 per cent, reduction of interest possible through the Government’s conversion scheme. Interest paid by the board would come down to 41 per cent., but the City Council would continue to pay 6 per cent., plus the other charges, bringing the total up to 11 per cent. The speaker admitted that it was right to set off the £B5OO profit made on exchange with Australia agaiust the cos of renewing the loan in London, but in doing that the City Council used money which the speaker held rightly belonged to the usrs of gas who had bought coal for the gasworks in Australia. He admitted that if the loan of £121,400 had been raised in New Zealand it would, have cost the City Council £12,000 in exchange to send the money to London and that it would have cost approximately another £llOO to raise the money in the IDominion—a total of £13,000. But against that it had to bo remembered that the ratepayers were now committed to £4OOO a year until the loan was repaid. Air. Hogan admitted that His Worship the Mayor had done well to get the sinking fund down from 44 per cent., proposed by the Local Bodies Loans Board, to three, but it should have come down more. There should have been a harder fight, and ho instanced what the Harbour Board had done with regard to the claim by the Admiralty for the delivery of the Kaione. The total charge of nearly £20,000 had been reduced to £13,000 and the interest from 54 per cent, to 4f.

Reduction of Overdraft. Mr. Hogan said that close watching of the city’s overdraft was necessary, as Wanganui paid an average of £2280 in interest in this connection. Other centres were far below that. New Plymouth had. paid nothing for the past four years. In 1913 Wanganui had paid less than £5O, yet to-day the city was paying £1854. A voice: Who do you blame for that? Air. Hogan: This is who I blame. Those who tear up the Avenue on the eve of an election. That work should nut be done out of overdraft. If it is possible no work should be done until the money is in hand. If fresh work is started after the end of each financial year then fresh liabilities ar c incurred and we will always have interest on overdraft. At this stage a man rose in the hall. “Air, Hogan,” he said. “I think you will find that that work in the Avenue was done by relief workers and not out of city money at all.” Mr. Hogan: I admit that, but the City Council’s expert men were there and were paid by overdraft. The speaker in the hall. Great experts. I suppose you would sack them and save overdraft. It is the only way. Annual Loan Charges. Mr. Hogan held that the annual loan charges of the city would require watching and conversion would have to be undertaken. He also advocated that sinking funds should bo commuted. The City Council could not do that, he admitted, without legislation. He held that if legislation could be introduced to postpone the payment of sinking funds, and interest on overdraft could be cut down, the burden of the city would bo lightened by £23,000 to £24,000, and it would uot be necessary to put off a man. The town clerk himself admitted that the sinking funds were high. 2V voice: And quite right, too. Air. Hogan: Quito right when money is buoyant, but quite wrong when the people have nothing. « Unemployment, Air. Hogan dealt with unemployment and said that the Dominion owed a great debt to the unemployed. He advocated in the city what the Harbour Board was doing—paying skilled men their full wages. In other words, the board paid the difference between the unemployment pay and the rate of pay of, say, a carpenter. If that was not done the Dominion would never get away from unemployment pay. At this stage Air. Hogan criticised the Government and not the City Council. Coming back to the council’s problems, he said that development works should be done by the unemployed in the city. Acres of land at Springvale could be turned into a kitchen garden, Balgownie swamp could be reclaimed and the lan would be worth £6OO an acre. He paid tribute to the Development League’s work in connection with planting sand dunes. The unemployed should be used to create assets for the city. The speaker complimented the AFayor on a straightforward statement of City Council’s work. Air. Hogan maintained, however, that His Worship was not entitled to the credit of reducing the city indebtedness. The sinking funds which had accumulated over the terms of office of other Alayors had operated. That was all. Monetary Reform. Mr. Hogan devoted over half an hour of speech to monetary reform, which he said was the most important problem of the day. He advocated I bimetalism and the minting of silver'

coinage in New Zealand, and also that the Government should issue notes against the assets it created. He deplored the fact that this world worshipped gold. The banks of the British Empire he described as being strongly founded and of the highest integrity, anf ho paid tribute to what the banks had done for New Zealand. What was needed now more than anything was restoration of the purchasing power of the people. The Civic League. Air. Hogan dealt with the “ticket” of the Civic League. He noted that the chairman of the Harbour Board was missing from the “ticket” advocated for that board. Why? If the Civic League had remembered that he hai? given Wanganui its first democratic Harbour Board, perhaps they would have felt more inclined to include him on their ticket. He had had the legislation amended so that tho people elected the board and not the Government. He was also surprised that Alr. George Spriggens, who had served the city for 30 years, was not on the “ticket’’ and he noted the absence of Cr. Siddells from it. Mr. George Darbyshirc, who had been a deputy Mayor at one period, was standing for tho Power Board, yet he was not on the ticket. In answer to questions, Mr. Hogan said he would give the unemployed representation on tho Mayor’s Relict Committee and would call a meeting of citizens to discuss monetary reform. On the motion of Mr. Alcßeth he was accorded a vote of thanks and confidence. A vote of thanks was also carried to the chairman.