FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE CAMBRIDGE TOWN BOARD.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1785, 13 December 1883, Page 2

FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE CAMBRIDGE TOWN BOARD.

Foil some time past the financial position of this body has been the subject of not a little comment, of a character decidedly more adverse than favourable. This, to &ome extent, has been caused by the fact of the board having to apply to the Public l)ebt» Sinking Fund Commissioners at Wellington for a loan of £700, which has been used by a section of the Cambridge public as an argument against the board's administration, and as showing the amount of debt into which, during their term of office, they have succeeded in running the ratepayers. We are happy to say, however, that the state of affairs is not so flagrant as ha* been represented ; indeed, on the other hand, considering the vastness of the works which the board has carried out during its term of office, and the unusually large amount of money thus spent, its financial position is an exceedingly creditable one, and indicates a wise and careful administration throughout. At the UMial monthly meeting of the board on Tuesday evening last, the chairman (Mr Wells) briefly referred to this matter. The board " had now an overdraft at the Bank of £743. During their term of office, leaving aside altogether the casual repairing of the streets, they had SDent no less a sum than £l,!) 00 on extraordinary works in the town. This sum was made up as follows : — Karapiro bridge, £1,350 ; Clements and Rose, £350 ; main drain, £100 ; lake drain, £50 ; proposed water scheme, £50 ; total, £1,900. Against this they had received a subsidy of £000 from the Government, and an overdraft at the bank of £800-^1,400, thus showing they had paid out of the ordinary, revenue of the town uo less a sum than £500, and as yet only £200 of the revenue of the current year had been gathered in. Their usual overdraft at this time of the year was generally £350, but now their real indebtedness was £450 ; or, in other words, £100 worse than previous years. They could see that while they were £100 worse off than in previous years, they "had on the other hand carried out ex-" traor/iinary works to the extent of £1900. Notwithstanding the very heavy item of £1350 for the Karapiro bridge, had the ratepayers by a special rate paid Clements and, Rose's claim of £350 the board would then have .been £250 better off than previous^ boards had been. The ratepayers must' ftlso take - into consideration, thef extensive work ppsf s sstreett t formation-, all^o.ver the town, whjgh tnq btiard bad effected towards the close of last summer. . , „

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