THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1909. THE HUTT BOROUGH TANGLE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 572, 29 July 1909, Page 4

THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1909. THE HUTT BOROUGH TANGLE.

The history pf, the expenditure of ;.)the!.' Lower- Hutt Borough's £52,000 loan,is',a good, example of a weakness inherent in democratic, bodies... It is-beyond doubt that past' Councils, yielding to the appeals of their constituents, have allowed moneyi which had been ear-marked for a specific purpose, to be applied in other directions. The amount authorised to be spent has'been greatly exceeded in nearly evSry department, arid the newly-elected: Council has been; making a serious en-, deavonr to , discover the bedrock truth of the financial position, and to fairly apportion ",the blame. In the honest opinion bf some it was the duty of the Borough Engineer to insist that no money should be expended for any other purpose than that-for which it had boon allocated by the vote of the ratepayers. On the other.' hand, in the opinion of others, equally honest,' it is unfair,that 'the Engineer should be made, to bear the sins of former Councils. All depends on the answers to two questions. Firstly, is it the duty' of the Engineer to withstand his.masters and employers by protesting or even refusing to carry out their orders, when ho considers that they .are exceeding the expenditure ''}'■ authorised; or is his duty merely confined to giving professional reports when asked for • them ? And, secondly, if bis ditty is,-to-protest in this, jwray, did ho fulfil it! It man probable.

that the Engineer did recommend the expenditure of these sums, and did not protest very earnestly, or at anyrate, that these protests, wore not recorded and were over-ruled. Strictly, these excess expenditures should have been made from the District Fpnd, and no(; from loan money; but was it his business, or that of tho Treasurer, or that of the Council, to' decide from which fund the money was to come? Even if technically ho was wrong, ft seems rather ungenerous to saddle-him with the blame, especially when the late Mayors have distinctly testified that.their Councils insisted on these expenditures as being absolutely necessary, and took the whole responsibility of doing those works out of loan money. Briefly the position stands thus:—The loan which was sanctioned by fchij vote, of the ratepayers contained, three headings, as follows:— ■ . . ■ ■.'■■■.""■•-. ■£ Water supply ... .., - .... ... 17,800 Street improvement ... 4,800 Drainage, sewage, and sanitation ... 20,400 Total ■■ ... /.../-;... .... 52,000 The amount ; apportioned for water Supply included a sum of £1500 for engineering and contingencies. The sum apportioned to drainage, sewage, and sanitation included a sum of £4000 for engineering and contingencies. It is evident, therefore, that it was not contemplated' that contingencies occurring in ono,, department should be paid for by abstracting from the contingencies fund of anothor department, '■ This, however, was undoubtedly done;! for /a.sum of £20,377 was spent, on behalf, of waicrw.orks,, an excess of £2577. This excess was- evidently taken improperly, from tho drainage contingencies' fund.' It.should either have been met by a: fresh loan, or paid out of the District Fund; and the plan of meeting deficiencies in one department by depleting ; another is most irregular, and deplorable. Tlio sum of £29,400 voted ,f(jr. drainage, sewage, and sanitation was made upas follows ..... ■.v ; :, ; ;!':".;:• v ,,,./"'/ '.:.''.,'. v-... ;/:,£// Sewage-;:-. ~',.:*.;....;...'. ...; 17,838 Diversion of Bdmorit Creek... /,/,.. ;3,530 • Diversion of Everest's' Creek ...'' -3,100 Surface drainage. /..,'/.;.- ■'■..'. '' 930■ Engineering and. contingencies ' ; ... ■ 4,000 '^;•'.■■'• Total' ... ;;„;■ ;■..../■■;;■. ; 29;398 It is unfortunate that in the voting'paper.laid : before the- ratepayers the items iof this. loan ,wero not given; for, seeing that' they/were-/all lumped together ..undor;,one'., head,-., a. reasonable foundation '.was given for the'' contention that there,was no .limitation or /apportionment Of /the/, amounts that could be spent under each of the three headings, drainage, sewage, and sanitation, so. long as the total siim was;. , not exceeded.' ; It was doubtless on this supposition that former Councils considered .themselves warranted in expending over £5000 on i surface drainage alone. " ■ ] One difficulty which has presented itself is the great discrepancy between'the estimates by tho respective engineers for the completion of the work: Mr./ Meason'a Estimate. | ' £' Work still to bo done \\r 20,300 Cadi in land, ,£10,819; less for Evorest's Creek, £3,100 7,749 Deficipucy to be faced ' 12,551 1 Borough Engineer's Estimate. ■.i. ' . £ Work still to be done 13,711 Cash in hand, £10,848; less for Evorest's Creek; £3,100 7,748 Deficiency to bo faced ... 5,963 In the face of this discrepancy it was do-' cided to refer certain points to Mil. MnsiAYEK, who, on tho whole, , confirmed Mn. Meason'S estimate. On the,other hand, it is said that some experienced men aver that in the matter of the cost 6f trenching for drains the Borough Engineer's estimate is correct, and that the latter affirms positively that he is now doing the trenching at tho cost of his estimate. Moreover, it is pointed out that Mr. Meason has altered his original estimate, increasing it from £17,838 to £20,300; this despite the fact that a portion of tho'work has since his original estimate been carried out. Truly the Council might well bo puzzled as to which of tho expert opinions' it should pledge its faith. It is bard to avoid tho conclusion, however, that much valuable time is being lost in usekss recriminations and in trying to sheet home the exact amount of blame to the various offenders. That which the ratepayers will wish to sec done, and done without delay, is to ascertain exactly i what sum will be required to finish the work in an economical and efficient manner; to decide how and when such sum shall best be raised; and under uhat management and what conditions the work can best bo carried on in tho future. Possibly the best solution may be found by calling for tenders fpr the completion of the work.