ST. AUBYN CONTRACTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 207, 21 January 1913, Page 8

ST. AUBYN CONTRACTS.

SOME STRAIGHT TALK. COUNCILLOR AS AUDITOR. The late St. Aubvn Town Board occupied a prominent position in several discussions at the Borough Council meeting last night, not tlie least important of which had to do with the allocation of its loan of £4830, raised to cover the cost of various works. It led to one councillor censuring the practice of a borough councillor being engaged to perform work for the borough in his private capacity, and to a discussion in which Cr. Wilson challenged the accuracy of a certain balance-sheet. A commentary was submitted by the Mavor on the balance-sheet, prepared by C'r. Buxton, at the instance of the borough, of the expenditure of the loan referred to above. In it the Mayor stated that there was a shortage of £ll7 to complete the contracts let by the Board, provide the first year's interest, and reimburse the ordinary fund of monies paid on loan account. He said that the bal-ance-sheet showed that on December 12, 1012, £2858 had been expended on the loan account, leaving liabilities incurred amounting to £2OBB. This made a total of £4047, whereas the loan was for only £4830. A SERIOUS POSITION.

Continuing, the Mayor said: "At the time of raising the loan, I understand, a sum of £3OO was provided for work to connect Glen road with Bracken street. Unforseen difficulties arose inthis direction, with the result the road formation lias been altered to a zigzag asphalt path, five feet wide. . . A further sum of £1029 for work to be carried out on the Outfield road will have to lapse on account of liabilities the late Board have entered into in other directions, as shown in the statement." A BIG DEFICIENCY.

Mr. Browne then went on to say that if the work, as originally intended when the loan was entered into, had been carried out, the position would have been: Liabilities (as per statement) £2OBB, balance Glen road appropriation £238, Outfield rontl £1029; total £3355. Subtracting the balance of the loan, £lO7l, this disclosed a deficiency of £1384. Had: not the loan moneys been diverted in directions not originally intended by the ratepayers, a very unfortunate position might have been avoided. The Mayor added that the ratepayers of the late St. Aubyn district had to carry a burden for the duration of their loan, and pay rates on money raised for 0, specific purpose, as in the case of Cutfield road, and would have to contribute their share of the rates on any future loan that might be raised to carry out this work. Cr. J. E. Wilson, as a ratepayer in the St. Aubyn district, sail that the bal-ance-sheet came as A SHOCK TO HIM.

He had taken the trouble of interviewing the late chairman of the Town Board, who complained that that body had not been consulted about the bal-ance-sheet, and that money had been put down as having been paid out of the loan account which the Board had, during its term of office, decided should be paid out of revenue. Certain works—he gave several instances—had, he alleged, been wrongfully debited to the loan, which in consequence was unable to cope with all the proposed works. As a ratepayer, he took strong exception to the course taken in the preparation of the balance-sheet, which was utterly misleading. It should not have been done, and he was informed that the true position was not as stated. "AN OBJECTIONABLE PRINCIPLE." "There is another matter," continued Mr. Wilson, "to which I wish to raise objection. Cr. Buxton was appointed to do work for the Council, in the shape of the preparation of this balance-sheet. I say it is wrong that a member of the Council should be employed to do work for the Council. That is a principle which I think should be adhered to. There is a certain disqualification, but I understand that the recompense received for th& work will not disqualify the councillor in question. It places other councillors in an awkward position, as they probably feel some reluctance in criticising a balance-sheet prepared by one of their own number. It is quite right that the town cler* «hould have got assistance, but in my opinion it is in the highest degree wrong that a member of this Council should be employed for the purpose. I hope that such a thing will not occur again. Speaking at some length, Cr. Wilson sought to show that if the balance-sheet was properly made out and the expenditure properly divided between the loan expenditure and the revenue expenditure there would be a substantial balance available. The chairman and clerk of the now defunct body should have first been approached in the matter.

Councillors interjected that the Board had discourteously refused to acknowledge a letter from the Borough Council asking its representative to meet a committee ,of the Council to go into the whole position. On this account it had been necessary to prepare the balancesheet in question. Cr. Wilson then moved that the account be gone into again and reported on by a public accountant. The town clerk made an explanation in which he stressed the fact that it would have been utterly impossible for the Town Board to have performed the work in question out of revenue. AN INCIDENT CLOSES.

Cr. Buxton welcomed the suggestion embodied in Cr. Wilson's niotion, for the simple reason that it would justify the figures contained in the balance-sheet. Touching on another point, lie was proceeding to say that Cr. Wilson had taken opportunity to pass remarks about his position as an accountant, when the councillor in question interjected that he had sj ; id nothing personal, and the -incident closed with Cr. Buxton remarking, "I accept that explanation." Cr. Ifcxton then cited instances where" the Board had made payments out of loan money and then transferred them to the

revenue account. That was the sort of thing that was going on and had led to the present position. Their own books showed that the work had been done out of loan money. Cr. Clark said there was no doubt that the Board had spent more money than it could afford, and Or. Ambury said that the whole trouble would have been avoided had the Board had the business acumen and courtesy to reply to the Council's letter asking them to meet it in the matter..

After further discussion the finance committee, together with Crs. Buxton and Wilson, were authorised to investigate the whole matter.