HOSPITAL LEVIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 643, 20 April 1929, Page 9

HOSPITAL LEVIES

CRITICISM OF SYSTEM MR. BAILDON AT PT. CHEVALIER Last year the city paid over £I,OOO a week in hospital board levies. At Point Chevalier last evening Mr. George Baildon, the Mayor, criticised the system by which the Hospital Board collects its levies from local bodies, and said that in the year the city had paid altogether £54,000. It was Mr. Baildon’s second address in his Mayoral campaign. Mr. Hallyburton Johnstone presided over a good attendance, and at the conclusion of the address the Mayor was accorded a vote of thanks and confidence. Mr. Baildon said there should be a more direct method by which the Hospital Board collected its levies. The money should come direct from the taxpayer as a direct rate struck by the board. At presqjit all ratepayers were taxed for the support of the Hospital Board, which told the City Council and other bodies what sum was required each year. The council received all the blame for raising the rates, while the Hospital Board sheltered in the background. Mr. Baildon said he did not wish to suggest that the Hospital Board was not doing good work, or that it did not want all the money it could get. The speaker went on to answer a criticism of the sale of the Anzac Avenue sections, which one candidate had said had been sold too cheaply. This man, he said, was the agent for the Civic Square properties, which, had this particular man had his way, would have sold like hot cakes because of their ridiculously low price. Mr. Baildon had had difficulty in raising the price of the sections to their present rate, and he took the credit for getting the full value of the Civic Square leases. He then went on to speak of the benefits which Point Chevalier had received since it amalgamated with the city. The valuation of the district had increased from £12,316 in 1.921 to £53,948 last year, and the number of residences had doubled. Over £260,000 had been spent in improving roads, etc., during the past eight years, although only £49,208 had been collected in rates.

In reply to a question, Mr. Baildon said he favoured the .ward system for municipal elections, but he thought it would be difficult to define the wards satisfactorily. One-third of the city’s rates was collected within a half-mile radius of the chief post office, but as money was not spent in that area, difficulties were bound to occur over representation. .