RESERVES OF THE CITY

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 125, 23 November 1932, Page 6

RESERVES OF THE CITY

(To the Editor.)

tSii'~£ he discussicra at t ) le ] asfc meetinn . of the City Council brought to my mind a recent illustration in "Punch1; of a board meeting of elderly, gentlemen. A loss on the year's working is reported, and the business is going back. The boards, decision, after much hard-think-ing, is to sack the office boy. - ..The Mayor and Councillors Appleton and Huggins say the finances' of the council are m a bad way.- The rates are not yet m, arid the remedy is to get rid of a few of the lower-paid gardeners and labourers in the reserves. It is another case of sack the office boy/ and this jn a city whose expenditure seems well over half a million a year.; From inquiries made, I find the Reserves Department Aas already had a~4O per cent, cut in its allocation this year—double the cut of any other department. . . .-■".'.'; '.'■ Since my retirement my daily walk lias been in the Botanical Gardens and' Wilton's Bush, also .the nearby '-recreation areas.. The council has a good hard-work-ing lot of men.'. The;result is a credit to this or any other city.- If fhe pruningknife is to be applied; why not start at the top of the tree? . There is a huge administrative staff. If this council cannot carry on without cutting out our pleasure-grounds and playing fields, it should give place to men who can. The talk of charging school children to go into their own grounds does seem to be lack of vision. There is plenty of room for economy in administration. "If there is one department that shows good value for money spent, I say it is the Reserves Department of this city.—l am, etc.y ■.'•-' •' ■ '.; ■ •■'..■ ■ " . , "; PARENT.