EVACUATION

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 118, 21 May 1942, Page 8

EVACUATION

BILLETING FEES

METHOD OF COLLECTION

Objection to local bodies having to pay for the cost of evacuating residents from their area in the event of an emergency arising was voiced at a meeting of the Waitemata County Council this morning.

The county clerk, Mr. E. G. Fuller, reported that the Emergency Reserve Corps Regulations provided that local authorities controlling the area in which evacuees might be transferred had to bear the initial cost of the billeting of such persons and then recover the billeting fees from the local authorities controlling the areas from which the evacuees came.

Mr. Fuller stated that he had written to the Minister of National Service and to the Controller of Evacuation in Auckland, pointing out that these provisions would constitute an undue burden on local body finances and that the cost of billeting should be borne by the State and not by local authorities. He had also suggested that the Government should prepare a scale of fees so that all concerned might know how they stood with regard to this vital matter.

Mr. A. Bishop did not think it right that a local body should have to pay for the cost of billeting people evacuated from its area. He moved that the council agree to the machinery of the regulation, but express the opinion that, as far as expenses or contributions towards evacuation were concerned, these should come out of the War Expenses Account or the Consolidated Fund.

The motion was adopted.