WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4931, 11 January 1877, Page 6

WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL.

ANNUAL MEETING. The annual meeting of the Wellington City Council was held on Thursday afternoon, 21st December. There were present—His Worship the Mayor, Councillors Mills, Moeller, Cleland, Moss, Allen, Greenfield, and Drans°The Mayok. said that, in taking the chair, for the first time, tor a second year ,of office, the members of Council must permit him to thank them for the courtesy and consideration which he had invariably received at their hands in the past. He had already taken the opportunity of thanking the ratepayers for the confidence which they had so generously reposed in him by an unopposed re-election, and he would strive to prove to them, as far as he possibly could, that their confidence was not misplaced. The anuhal election of Mayor had its advantages and its disadvantages. By it the ratepayers could always get rid of an unpopular Mayor; but a man might be unpopular and yet very useful. Those who knew what a changeable quality popularity is would not attach over-much importance to it. The grand rule was to do right —to be honest and true and take things as they came. One of the disadvantages of an annual change, more especially if large works were about to be initiated, was that it must take a new-comer ' some time before be ana pick up all the links of the chain, and the ittw of time in this way not nnfrequently meant loss both of money and opportunity. One advantage of re-election he certainly felt on that occasion—that was the better knowledge he had of his colleagues. In taking the chair this time last year he claimed their respect for the office which he had the honor to hold ; he had then no other ■ claim upon them ; but he ventured to express the hope that in process of time he might perchance gain from them some personal regard. He believed he was not quite mistaken in that hope, and he thanked them most cordially. They had experienced on the whole a very pleasant year, and he. trusted that the vood feeling which had hitherto prevailed would continue in full force. He was quite satisfied that a strict adherence .to order in the conduct of their business was .very necessary to its being comfortably and correctly carried on; and although it sometimes seemed hard upon a member to prevent him saying something that he had forgotten when he had the proper opportunity of saying it, he hoped the Council would support him in maintaining the rules laid down for their guidance. All of them, he was sure, forgot some of their best things when speaking, and only remembered them when too late to be of use. This would be a very busy year for the Council ; and when he reminded them of the amount of money they would most likely have to expend upon public works, they would all recognise the necessity of exercising a large measure of prudence, care, and economy. As they were aware, there was a sum of £50,000 for drainage; another sum of about £20,000 for wharf extension. They had already accepted a tender for close upon_ £20,000 for "waterworks extension, and it would in—all probability require another £IO,OQQ jfor main pipes and reticulation, so as to diffuse the water supply as widely as possible. He reckoned they would have close upon £15,000 to expend upon the maintenance of the streets and the opening up and formation of. new streets. "And, looking at these sums, it .was clear ; there would at least be a demand for hSor in the city of : Wellington during the year 1877- ' He hoped that the working men would have health and comfort iii the enjoyment of their wages, and he further hoped that this Council, by their'prudent management, would be able to make this coming year one that would be eminently progressive and beneficial to their constituents. The Town Clerk then read the following annual report of the auditors : Wellington, December 20, 1870. Sir. vsd Gentlemen,—’ "We have the honer to inform yon that we have audited the accounts of the cit/ of Wellington for the' year ending the 30th day of Sep tember, 1876, and have to report upon them as follows _ „ 1. Statement of Revenue and Expenditure, pages 2 and 3.—There is an error of 6il. in the bank balance, which should be £13,822 Is. 4d. ; there is also a corresponding error of sd. on the opposite side, the gross expenditure being £18,331 11s., instead of £18,381 10s 7d as stated. With these exceptions the account is cprreot. We would suggest that in future the whole of the vouchers of the Corporation should bear the initials of his Worship the Mayor, as evidence that the accounts have been duly passed by the Council. Thsre is an item, “Opening of Martin Fountain, £2O. While a receipt is produced signed by Mr. Martin, there is no minute that, the expenditure was ever authorised by the Council. 2. Statement of Assets and Liabilities, pages! and o. The large'portion of the items in this account appear to ns correct; We would, however, remark that no value appears attached to the items under the heading “ City Reserves.” although ledger accounts have been opened for the item, and values entered therein: thns an accurate statement of the contents of the ledger is not presented. This will prove embarrassing in future audits We would also point out that in consequence of this omission the statement shows a large balance o! liabilities over assets, which does not really exist. 3. Statement, Assets and Liabilities, Waterworks Account, pages 6"and 7- —The estimated value of the waterworks, as shown here, does not agree with the balance brought down last year and passed by the Council as correct, although disallowed by the. auditors. If in the preparation of the statement the conditions contained in clause 46 of the Wellington "Waterworks Act, 1871, were carried out, the actual state of the account would be shown far more clearly. 4. Statement of Profit and Loss Waterworks Account. pages 6 and 7.—There are several errors in this statement. The "rates received in 1876 " should be £3853 2s. lid., not £3858 2s. Bd.: the “additions and assessments" should be £215 6s. 9d., not £2lO 7s. there should also be a debit of £3 for costs of sum mons, the real balance being therefore, £1916 3s. lOd. This account is otherwise correct. We have not thought it. necessary lo go into the question of the differences existing between the auditors of last year and the Council respecting the balancing of various accounts; we have examined the accounts on the basis given by the Council, and have made our remarks accordingly. , " . We note that a system of double entry has been in traduced, but would suggest that there is still room lor considerable improvement in the method of keeping the accounts ; our experience daring our term of office leading us to believe that unless the Council obtain the services of a practical accountant as a per manent member of their staff, the books of the city will never be kept as they should be. We'would suggest that a careful examination of the various Acts under which the Corporation are empowered to carry on their business will show that certain provisions are therein made, that sinking funds should be created, and accounts kept showing the position of such sinking funds. We are of opinion that a statement of such sinking fund accounts should have been incorporated with the general statements. We have not thought it part of our duty to wade through the large mass of details connected with the wharf business. Wo have satisfied ourselves that the cash received and cash expended are correct, the expenditure being duly supported by vouchers, although the item, working expenses £6385 5s Id, is rather deceiving ; £ISOO of that amount should have been deducted, and divided into, wharf plant and interest expenditure accounts. There are a large number of minute details connected with the wharf accounts, the accuracy of which should be testified to by a special audit officer, as they are clearly out of the province of the city auditors. In conclusion, we would suggest that if there is any value in an audit, the suggestions made by the city auditors each year are worthy of consideration, and we note that many which we think were not unimportant suggestions, made in previous years, have been" completely Ignored.—We are, etc,, • T Kennedy Macdonald) Audltorjii Si Caaroll ) , A statement of accounts for the past year was also read, and will bo printed iu accordance with custom. In answer to Councillor Moeller, the Mayor said the expenditure for next year would -be double that of last year, but he thought it would not exceed the receipts. Councillor Cleland regretted that the Council’s little speculation re the removal of nightsoil had been the opposite of profitable. He noticed that there was a balance of £4OO shown On the wrong side. The Mayor made one or two remarks on the auditor’s report, and remarked that, as he had previously stated, the wharf account should be audited in the same way as the other accounts, He reminded the Council he had suggested that there should be a monthly audit of the accounts; then, as it would be remembered, the auditors required more in the way of payment than the Council felt justified in giving. Councillor Cleland moved that the report , be certified. Seconded by Councillor Mills, and carried.The Mayor then submitted a statement of tfie affairs of the Corporation, prepared byhimself, which he thought would be found useful, and asked the Council to sanction its being printed. It was resolved that the statement referred to should be printed. This concluded the business of the annual meeting.