UNEMPLOYMENT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 18, 14 September 1931, Page 4

UNEMPLOYMENT

WORK IN BOROUGH LOAN TO COVER SUPERVISION AND OTHER CHARGES TO BE RAISED PERMANENT IMPROVEMENT WORK After some discussion, and an amendment to a recommendation mad© by the Works Committee, the Rotorua Borough Council at its meeting on Friday night, decided that the sum of £.1000 should be raised by way. of loan to cover the cost of supervision, materials and cartage for authorised relief works on Rangiuru Street and the Lake front. It was pointed out that the provision of the charges mentioned fell upon the Council and unless money could be found to carry on further works in sight men on relief payment, might have to be put off. The original recommendation of the Works Committee was that no steps should be taken to raise loan money for work on Rangiuru Street and the Lake front, but after debating th© matter, the Council decided that as these w.ere improvement works on whieh a loan was likely to be approved, application should be made to the Loans Board in that direction. When the matter came up for discussion, Couneillor 0. H. Coleman said the he was opposed to a loan being raised to provide charges on account of authorised relief works; he considered that this should be done out of revenue. On the other hand, the work on Rangiuru Street and the Lake front for whieh the committee did not recommend a loan, was one whieh he thought might be carried out by this method. He moved that the whole of the committee's recommendation on this matter be deleted from the report. If the Council had to spend an extra 1000 it should be out of revenue. Amount Exceeded The Mayor, Mr. T. Jackson, said that at the beginning of the year, a certain sum had been set aside on the estimates to cover the cost of supervision, haulage and materials in connection with relief works. During the period that the No. 5 scheme had been suspended by the Government, however, the Council had undertaken to lceep the men employed at its own expense and had thus incurred an additional expenditure of £150, while the amount set aside on the estimates to cover the charges falling upon the Council had been considerably exceeded. It must be remembered that the operation of the No. 5 scheme conferred a certain amount of benefit upon the tradespeople of the town and resulted in a considerable sum being spenfc in Rotorua each week. He wished to emphasise, however, that while it might be in order to find supervision and other charges on small jobs out of revenue, as soon as it came to raising a loan, the work on whieh the money was spent must be of permanent value to the borough. They would not secure the approval of the Loans Board for the loan unless the work was of this nature. Permanent Improvements The work on the Whakarewarewa sewerage could be regarded as a permanent improvement and they would be perfectly justified in raising a loan to cover supervision charges, etc., on a scheme of that nature. Work on the Lake front could also be classed as a permanent improvement. They already had £300 balance of the abattoir loan whieh could be transferred to the Lake front reclamation work and whieh would assist in the provision of charges. The cutting down of Rangiuru Street and the use of the spoil thus obtained in connection with the Lake front work was also an economic proposition and one on whieh they could raise a loan. Couneillor Wackrow said that money must be provided to carry on the scheme. The town did not derive benefit from the extra money whieh came in, but the ratepayers also benefitted through the work done under the scheme. Couneillor Johnson said that the Works Committee realised that to carry out the work during the next 12 months, at least £1000 would be required. Up Against It Couneillor Albert Smitb said that he agreed with Couneillor Johnson that they were up against it to find the money, but he thought funds should be provided out of revenue and not out of loan. He did not consider that in times like the present, the Council should borrow. Couneillor G. Urquhart said that they must have money to keep the scheme going. He agreed with the Mayor as to the necessity for carrying out permanent improvements on loan money and suggested that the Works Committee's recommendation should be amended to provide for the raising of £1000 to provide against charges on authorised relief works on the Lake front and Rangiuru Street. The chairman of the Works Committee, Cr. W. Galbraith, said it was q questiori as whether they should raise the money to keep the scheme going or dispense with men until they found what it was going to cost. Couneillor Coleman suggested that the Works Committee should draw up a list of the relief works in progress and the Finance Committee could consider ways and means of findingmoney to keep them going. Couneillor Galbraith: What are we going to do with the men in the meantime? The Mayor said he agreed with Cr. Coleman that the supervision and other costs in connectioii with the smaller relief works should be found out of revenue. They might be able to cut out some other expenditure in order to find the neeessary money. The Finance Committee would have to go into the question of providing for these charges and for that reason he suggested that larger jobs should be undertaken as the supervision. costs on these were very much the same as those on the smaller works. On the motion of Couneillor Coleman the recommendation was amended in accordance with Couneillor Urquhart's suggestion and approved.