THE BOROUGH FINANCES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 11 June 1907, Page 2

THE BOROUGH FINANCES.

'I lie Alavor last night refenvd to the fact that Councillor Mills had on several occasions recently deplored tlie financial position of the borugli. As chairman of I Ins finance Committee, lie could assure the Council that the position was not so bail, except for tlie hitch in the raisin-! »< (hi'- !'»>»"'• Tll,! treasurer had made out ii statement at his request, and by that he saw Hint at :51st March last the debit balances at Hie bank on all accounts included in Hie dislriet fund account, was .C 3287 Us lid. They hail up to dial, time advanced out of Hint fund C 0373 12s 3d to the electric light loan, and .C(IH Is lid lo waterworks loan. This had all to be refunded when the loans were raised. Had those been limited the district fund account would have been .Cti'M 5s 3d to credit on 31st .March. The previous March had ended with a credit of .C 274 'ls 2d, so they would see the condition, had much improved. In Die face of these figures it was futile to say that the finances were in a bad way. ' With reference to that portion of t)ie finances on which street improvements was dependent, the Mayor showed that the actual receipts last year were .CliJ.ifiO, whist the estimated receipts were only .CI 1,828. Thus there was a surplus'of C 412. Out of that, however. C 75 had to be refunded to the abattoirs for royalty, leaving an actual surplus of £337 !)s lid. So "whining" was uncalled for. if Cr. Mills had said the loans were in a bud state he could nwlcrlsaiid that, for undoubtedly they were. However, they were going the right way now about getting the money. It was urged that the town was laboring under loans. Were there no assets for the loan expenditure? Were the waterworks, sewage, and electric light no asset i Had tlie borrowed moneys heen wasted or mis-spent, so that the ralepayers got no benefit? Or. Mills said he had adopted his course on principle. From the balance-sheet given to him he had found there was an overdraft of .£18(10.

The .Mayor was contradicting,- when the Town Clerk explained that the two were at. cross purposes, the' Mayor referring (o the district fund account, and Or. Mills to the general account. The district fund account included a number of separate accounts, and some of these were in credit. Or. .Mills stated his intention of using all his influence to improve the Council's financial position.

Cr. Belll'inger said the ratepayers had every reason lobe pleased with the financial stability of the borough. Or. Mills said that he wanted to show the disparity between the financial posiitons of the borough and the Education Hoard, whose assets were unencumbered. He would repeat that the £SO voted by the Council would not make one iota of dill'erence to the technical classes.

The Mayor: That's only your statement, and it's diametrically opposed to the statements of those who ought to know. Surely Mr Wade ought to know what he's talking about.