MOTOR CAMP

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 94, 17 October 1940, Page 17

MOTOR CAMP

USE OF THE FEES

MAINTENANCE COSTS

A recommendation from the reserves committee that fees" from the motor camp at Miramar be paid into a special account for use in maintaining the camp, and that any surplus after that be used for improvement work at the camp, was referred back to the committee by last night's meeting of the City Council.

The Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) said that the proposal might sound all very well and he was sure there would be no objection to the proposed expenditure provided it. was commensurate with the requirements of the camp, and provided also that other needs of the city did not require any diversion of the profits from the camp, but they had not the power to say that profits should remain in one department. Even assuming there was the power, it would be unwise to adopt such a course, because if they did it would not be possible to meet unexpected situations. He suggested that the fees might be paid into a separate section of the general account for use in maintaining the camp if such expenditure was approved on the annual review of the estimates.

Councillor W. J. Gaudin said he thought it would be rather dangerous to create a separate account. He questioned the merit of the committee's recommendation. If only the fees collected at the camp were allocated, the camp conceivably might be worse off. In his opinion the committee would be better advised to leave it to the common sense of the council to make allocations from time to time.

The Mayor: The suggestion I have made, from a practical point of view, does leave things exactly where they are.

Councillor R. A. Wright said he thought the recommendation was selfish and that it embodied a most dangerous principle.

Other councillors .agreed that the adoption of the recommendation would lead to a bad precedent being established, and finally Councillor W. Duncan, chairman of the reserves committee, agreed to take the clause back.