Municipal Affairs

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 304, 15 March 1928, Page 14

Municipal Affairs

CONFERENCE AT NELSON REMITS DISCUSSED LOANS AND HIGHWAYS Press Association. NELSON, To-day. Several remits dealing with matters coming within the scope o£ the Local Bodies Loans Act were discussed at the Municipal Conference. The first one, which was brought forward by Christchurch, was a proposal that municipalities should be allowed to put unexpended loan moneys temporarily into their district ,-und accounts, in order to keep down bank overdrafts on which a high rate of interest was being charged. This remit met with strong opposition, and was finally thrown out in favour o' an amendment by tne Timaru delegate that banka should be induced to lake into account all credits in other accounts before charging interest on the current account overdraft. ONEHUNGA REMIT An Onehunga remit was that legislation should be introduced to enable borough councils to raise by a special order loans for putting in drainage and sanitary fittings to ratepayers premises. The mover explained that at present it was necessary to take a poll of ratepayers for this purpose,, thereby incurring unnecessary expense, and, if the poll was lost, causing oonsiderabie hardship to these affected. The remit was carried. The Wellington delegates moved that an Order-in-Council under the Loans Board ha unassailable in any Court. The Mayor of Wellington, Mr. ti. A. Troup, said that th€> Wellington City Council was given endless trouble by threats of injunction, etc., from little investigation committees. The remit was carried. That provision be made to permit boroughs and cities to have direct representation on the Main Highways Board and Councils was a remit brought forward by Te Aroha. The mover wished to remind the conference that it was because ol: the activities of this association that the recent concessions to boroughs had been brought about. He said that boroughs were greatly concerned wilh many of the decisions of the Main Highways Board. For instance, a borough at present had no power to express its opinion on which road should be chosen as the main access to the borough. The remit was carried. HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE A lengthy discussion took place on the following remit, which came from the Green Island Borough Council: "That the present law relating to construction, reconstruction and mainten ance of highway’s in the Dominion be amended so as to enable the Main Highways Board to take over and be wholly responsi ble for the main arterial roads in the Dominion with a view to coping with present and future traffic requirements.” The mover said that the question was one of national importance, and the passing of the Main Highways Act was an indication that this importance had been recognised by the Government. But up to the present the Main Highways Board had done it» work merely by granting subsidies, and the mover’s council considered that that was insufficient for modern motoring requirements. Opposition to the proposal was expressed by delegates from larger cities, who said they were not prepared to hand over control of any of their main streets to an outside body. Eventually it was decided that a committee representing both large cities and smaller boroughs be set up to try to come to some agreement as to their requirements and bring proposals up at a later stage of the conference.