GRANT IN AID TO THE CITY.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 276, 30 April 1875, Page 3

GRANT IN AID TO THE CITY.

A deputation of the revenue committee of the City Council, consisting of his Worship the Mayor and Crs Bishop, Hart, and Raphael, waited upon his Honor the Superintendent and Executive on Thursday, to lay before them the urgent requirements of the city for a large grant in aid. The deputation was most courteously received. The Mayor said the committee' had sought the honor of an interview with the present Government to ask them, in preparing their financial statement, to place as large a sum as possible on the estimates, to enable the Council to continue and carry out the necessary works of the city. The position of the City Council at the present time was as follows ;—They had an overdraft amounting to £2200, which he was afraid was illegal, against which they had a small balance of about £3OO to collect for last year’s rates, and of the rates for the present year, which were estimated at about £6OOO, the collection of which could not be commenced until after June, and as the financial year ended in November—when no overdraft could exist —the Council did not anticipate being able to collect more than about half in the meantime. This would be insufficient to clear off the overdraft, and pay for gas and other expenses. Unless they received substantial aid at the hands of the Government, the Council must be under the necessity of discharging the whole of their staff, and thus allow the streets and footpaths to remain without repair, and the filth to - ~accumulate in the gutters. A schedule of necessary works had been prepared, showing at least that £IOO,OOO was required to put all the streets and footpaths in good repair, to ’finish the concrete channelling throughout the city and suburbs, and build bridges, &c. The Government must be aware of the present rotten state of the streets, nearly all of which required a coating of broken metal. If this were not given them, they would be simply impassable during the present winter. The large increase of population meant increased wear and tear, and it was only by endeavouring to meet these demands the Council had brought themselves into their present position, The citi zens had no desire to shirk their responsibility in providing means by rating themselves, but as the rates already amounted to Is 7d, and the balance of the drainage loan would make it Is 9d, there was thus only a margin of threepence left to pay interest and sinking fund on any further loans. It was their intention to apply at next session of the General Assembly to amend the Act by extending the time from fifteen to forty or fifty years to pay off any loan for general purposes. He trusted the Government would feel convinced tbat the money was urgently required both

for the sanitary welfare and convenience of the general public, and would consider works of necessity before placing any sums on the estimates for what might be termed luxuries. Cr Bishop then brought under the notice of the Government the clause in the Licensing Act, whereby it was competent for Provincial Councils to pass an Ordinance authorising the collection of wholesale spirit and brewers’ licenses, and making them a portion of municipal revenue. Seeing that the Provincial Council of Canterbury had never collected these licenses, it could not be said if they passed an Ordinance to give them to the municipalities that they would be alienating any portion of the permanent revenue of the province. He trusted, therefore, the Government would bring in an Ordinance for the purpose of giving them to the city. Cr Raphael wished to draw the attention of the Government to the state of the bridges, the majority of them being rotten, and two closed up, being altogether unsafe for traffic. His Honor said he had had the pleasure of meeting the revenue committee before when the late Government were in office, and personally knew the great necessity that existed for the Council to receive some aid. Of course the commiti ee could not expect the Government to make any promise—it was simply a question of ways and means. Other members of the Executive expressed themselves as fully agreeing with the urgency of the requirements of the city, but said the demands on the public purse were so large and so numerous, that the funds at their disposal would be insufficient to meet them all. One member suggested the erection of toll-bars as a means of increasing the revenue of the City Council other than by rates. Cr Raphael pointed out that, although the Council had the power to erect toll bars, they could not collect tolls without the approval of the Superintendent, and he trusted this would not be withheld if the Council were driven to this disagreeable alternative. It was suggested by another member of the Executive that increased power to levy rates beyond the margin of 2s in the £ should be obtained. The Mayor replied that he thought that 10 per cent upon the annual value of property was a sufficiently heavy tax, in addition to the extra rate for educational purposes which had also to be paid by them. He desired to thank the Government for their courtesy, and the deputation then withdrew.