WAIHI’S GOLD DUTY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4812, 18 February 1925, Page 4

WAIHI’S GOLD DUTY.

uncertainty of position.

DISCUSSION BY COUNCIL. Alter the ordinary business had been dealt with at the. monthly meeting of the Waihi Borough Council on Thursday iast Cr. Robinson drew attention to tlie somewhat- unsatisfactory position of the borough’s finances on the revenue side, owing to the uncertainty, .of the demands that might be matlc by the Government from time .to . time on income from gold duty in connection with the Waihou and Ohinemuri Rivers improvement scheme. The (speaker pointed out that but for the Treasury Department’s refund of gold duty withheld (some £2000), and receipts from the sale of the Walmsley Creek stone crusher and other, sources apart from ordinary revenue, amounting in all, to nearly £5OOO, .the expenditure for the current year would have very largely exceeded the receipts. He thought that steps should be taken to have tlie whole matter cleared up in order that the council’s annual, income might be estimated with some degree of certainty,, and that a national basis should be fixed in conne'.tion with the local body contributions towards river silting. It was impossible in the absence of some definite understanding for the council to enter upon a hard and fast programme of public works, and he thought that it would be wise to arrange a conference of all local bodies interested at an early date to thrash the whole matter out.

Cr. Walmsley agreed that the Question was one of considerable moment, and one calling for prompt settlement. The Government had certainly given the council to understand that it would receive a fixed amount annually before any deductions were made from gold duty for rivers improvement, but even so a substantial porof its revenue from this source was withheld, and might at any time be further encroached upon while other bodies and individuals interested in and benefiting by the improvements to the rivers were not being called upon to contribute towards the cost. This was not fair to the Waihi Council.

The Mayor was in sympathy witn the views expressed by the previous speakers, and intimated that he would endeavour to .arrange, for a conference of representatives of the various local bodies concerned at the earliest date possible in order to go into the whole matter thoroughly. It was certainly desirable that the Waihi Council should know exactly where it stood in connection with. Its revenue from the mining industry and its obligations for rivers improvement.