BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 May 1916, Page 8

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The ordinary meeting of the Borough Council was held last night, when there were present: The Mayor (Mr. C. H. Burgess) in the chair, Crs. L. M. Monteath, J. T. Mannix, S. Smith, P. J. Hill, W. F. Short, W. A. Cbllis, A. H. Johnstone, F. E. Wilson, J. W. Hayden, J. S. S. Medley, E. Griffiths, and A. E. Watkins.

THE MAYOR'S STATEMENT. NO NEED FOR PESSIMISM. In moving the adoption of the Town Clerk's annual report, the Mayor said:— Mr. Wilson, owing to continued ill-health, was compelled to resign the position of Mayor, much to the regret of councilors. Very important works were in the course of construction and contemplated, with which he was fully acquainted, and we should have liked him to see them carried through. I am glad, however, to say that he has almost recovered hi» usual health, and relieved me by retaining the oflfce of chairman of tlie Patriotic Committee, which entails a considerable sacrifice of time. I have to thank councillors for the cordial assistance rendered me, which 1 trust will continue till our time of office expires in February next.

LOANS. In addition to the £22,(100 loan and £OOOO loan mentioned, the raising of the tramway loans, £55,000 and £5,500, was completed, and our liability under the heading of loans is now £3l-4,2118. Of this amount the electric light loan of £59,868 is revenue producing, ha .paid its way since the , commencement and made considerable capital payments out of revenue, some £OOOO. At present the department is rather heavily loaded, owing to the expenditure necessary to provide for the supplying of current to the tramway?, but should overcome t'his in the course of a year or two. It is not, however, anticipated that the. tram service will pay full expenses for two or three years, and the interest will probably become a direct charge upon the ratepayers, a 3d rate being levied this year. When our loan money is expended wc shall be under direct liability for interest to the amount of, roughly,' £IO,OOO per year. This does not iffclude the tramway and electric light loans. The £6OOO loan has only lately been raised. I have always criticised the'expenditure on the offices in the electrical substation. A committee was set up to go into the matter of municipal offices, and after careful consideration the committee will to-night recommend that the clerical staff of the town clerk, borough engineer, and electrical department occupy the offices of the sub-station in Liardet Street. The accommodation provided there is far in excess' of the requirements of the electrical department, and the committee under the circumstances did not feel justified in spending the new loan on municipal offices.

We shall, in accordance with our promise to Messrs Skinner, have to provide a museum, but. the matter will require careful consideration. The. committee will deal with this very shortly. GENERAL ACCOUNT.

When the rates were increased last .year it was intended, if possible, that at least £SOO should be earmarked to reduce the debit balance by that amount. The total reduction lias been £l2Bl, but of this, it is onty fair to say, ,vas a reimbursement from the electrical department for moneys advanced in .10141015, but the account is' £1284 better off, and that is so far satisfactory. Very heavy expenditure was incurred in the early part of the year, but this was in a measure necessitated by bad weather and the consequent breaking up of the roads by the heavy traffic in connection with the tramways construction work. Had this work been done during the summer, as was originally intended, expenditure to the borough in the earlv part of tin- year would have been considerably less. Very adverse comment has been made re the small amount of work done m the latter part of the year, but seeing, that at the end of six months (September 30) there was £1775 only available—and this had to provide'for all items under the heading of streets, including proportion of engineer's office and the stable account—there was not a very large margin. Included in the item of expenditure £4920 is proportion of borough engineer's office £347, horses ISO, and plant and repairs £GB2 leaving a 'balance of £3873 for actual work, and this amount includes stable account £721.

Rates.—This year the Council feels the necessity of again increasing the rates as under: General rate Is Gd an adition of 2d. The extra 2d is to proyule mainly for the protection work to be done at the Waiwakaiho bridge in connection with the County' Council and Government. The Estimates Committee think that it is quite impossible tor the maintenance of the streets, etc to be carried on in an efficient manner if extraordinary expenditure Were to come out of revenue, and the rate of 2d was therefore imposed. This may not meet with ratepayers' 'unqualified approval but one of two things must happen' either the streets be starved, or go further into debt. Personally, I have a strong objection to "the latter. Even now it will take us all our time to have a. margin this year as there will not be sufficient money to complete the works under the £42,000 loan Without touching on revenue. A report whip], lias just been prepared bv the engineer shows that in 21 streets there is a'deficiency of £ll3O, with further possible shortages on one or two streets for which estimates are not yet in. Hospital Levy .-This'necessitates a further increase of M, the amount for which the Council is liable this year being £1240 in place of £ooo'for 1015-1(1. In this matter we have no option, and while no exception probably can be taken to the administration of the Hospital Board at the present, I consider it altogether a wrong principle that local bodies should be' liable to this levy without having direct representation on the Board, lid rate is required for interest on the £22,000 loan, the balance being provided for out of the loan. Fortunately, for the first there is still a balance available for interest out of loan..otherwise the rale would be another 3.U1 at least. In addition to this the hospital building rate ceases in 1018, so that unless some other extraordinary expenditure is incurred, and the Council should avoid this if possible, the rates will be relieved to the amount of some £3OOO per year. Tramways.—The tramway service, after long and tedious delays, is at last in operation except on the Morley Street extension, which is not yet passed, but will be very shortly. 'it was not expected that the venture would pay its way hi the first year or two, and it is idle to attempt to forecast the receipts for the year, the only thing We can be any way sure of is our expenditure. However at the end of our financial year we shall have had a full winter and summer running and should be able to

fairly correctly judge the prospects for 191,-18. Although the loan is for £60,000 there has been considerable expenditure incurred on the streets outside of the loan, owing to our having to form the same to comply with the Public Works Regulations, 'and also on account of the heavy traffic on our streets during construction. The Electrical Department has also been put to considerable outlay, but for this we hope to receive an adequate return. Purchasing of Stores.—l am quite in sympathy with the Town Clerk's recommendation under this heading, but it is a question whether our finances would warrant our entering into this undertaking at present. Our present system of buying, I am sure, can easily be improved upon. _ Sanitation. —The Council has gone into this question in a systematic manner, and though some of the regulations may appear to bear hardly on some, it is for the good of the whoie community. The initial expenditure of bringing the new proposals into force for disposal of rubbish and nightsoil is £SOO, but the Committee felt the expenditure was fully warranted. Quarry Purchase.—This matter is in the hands of the engineer to report upon. It is, however, a matter that requires full consideration by the Council. Town Planning.—We have now t!*' plan promised by Mr. Davidge, but the Council has not had time to consider it owing to press of work for the end of our year. As regards the management of the beach frontages, I.suggest that it I will be necessary in the near future toappoint a Board representing the Council, Seaside Committee and others drawn from outside these bodies, to control the whole of the beach frontage in conjunction with the other bodies interested, to prevent unnecessary and unsuitable work being done, and also in order that all work shall be done with a definite scheme in view, which might not be the case with each Society working independently. The Council controls the Seaside Committee in a manner but deals with them individually only. In conclusion, he said they were pretty heavily loaded, and some people said they were going to the dogs. He was very sorry that the Council had to increase the rate, but that should not bo continuous and unless the Council went into an aggressive policy they should get over the difficulty in a few years. There was always a Worst time, and he thought this was it and that there would be progress from now on. Economy would have to be studied, but for the next two or three years, the streets should receive attention. That much was due to the ratepayers. There was no need for pessimism. The Borough had plenty of assets and all that was required, was hard work.

The resolution was seconded by Cr. Watkins, and carried.