NEW PLYMOUTH BOROUGH.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 April 1917, Page 7

NEW PLYMOUTH BOROUGH.

EXPENDITURE.

TGVfN CLERK'S ANNUAL REPORT.

The Town Clerk, Mr. F. T. Bcllringer, presented to the Mayor and Council on Monday night a lengthy and comprehensive report up»n municipal matters, ft summary of which is given hereunder.

[£42,000 LOAN.

The expenditure of this loan was suspended during the construction of the tramways, the object being- to prevent anything in the way of a slurhp which might have occurred had the tramways construction and the Work provided for in the £42>000 loan been completed about the same time; The intention was that upon the completion of the tramway construction as many as possible of the men engaged upon this work should be taken over'by the borough, and the £42,000 loan work pushed on energetically to completion. At the end of April, 1916, the council passed a resolution Authorising the engineer to proceed with the Works scheduled as in his opinion was convenient. By this time, however, the summer had gone, and little was done, Then came a change of engineers in October, 1916, and the council instructed the new engineer to furnish plans, etc., of certain specified works, and in the meantime to employ tie men on Paynter's Avenue. For several months this was the only work in hand, and the summer is practically over, besides which there is a shortage of labor, so that it will be difficult to carry out more than the works already authorised. There i 8 £12,903 of the loan unexpended, over £6OOO of which is earmarked for footpaths.

£22,000 LOAN.

Of the £22,000 loan and the supplementary loan of £2OOO there is a sain of £3575 left; £I2OO is set aside for a desiructor, and £1560 for the Brougham Street culvert. The traA route has absorbed practically all' tjie. money provided in this loan for' other streets. The actual cost of 'the train route streets to date has been £20,591, which i a £7891 moe than the 'estimate.i and there still remains a smaHF-portion' uncompleted. '■'■ , In addition to this is the wdrtt feature of the whole sorry business j' it is becoming more apparent every day that the work has not been carried out in! a satisfactory manner, and ''without constant attention and repair will wrtfoj Wreak up and be destroyed, This' o%)ect) of the council was to have constructed these particular streets in sucn'-tl'-'jsferV manent manner as to duce the very heavy annual' cosi'sbj) upkeep, and so release nftltnti'iiaiice money for other streets in the 'borough. This hope can now never 'be realised; and instead of the annual cost of inalhf tcnance of these particular streets 'bejing reduced, it is quite evident thp it will ibe substantially increased'. Theoretically the first year the cc-st'of maintenance should have beeri ; praetii' cally nil. In reporting upon this matter, however, the borough engineer estimated that the length between Liardet Street and the Waiwakatfho bridge, approximately two miles, would cost an average of f(i per chain to put in. order. There are approximately five miles of streets comprising the tram I route, and taking the same average it j will cost £2400 to repair them all. This is out of all proportion to What it would have been had the work in. the first instance been carried out in anything like a' satisfactory manner'.

ANNUAL ACCOUNTS. The fallowing statement sets out concisely the receipts and expenditure..fifth* whole of the accounts of the borodgji for the ye*r under review:— ...;"." [ RECEIPTS, - ':- .''■<!■ '£%,*•' i Cr. Balance April 1, lfllfl 47,90,9.^2,?! Loan Accounts 7,87? {&', (5 Tramway Working Account A f 0,042 7 0 District Fund Account 48,335,,,7, ;10 £l^,«toi'' ( ,i. : J) EXPENDITURE. ' . Loan Acounts 29,314 7 5 Tramway Working Account 7,784 5 3 District Fund Account 40,730 5 9 Cr. Balance, March 31, 1017 34,832.3 4 '■•'•• '£112,061 19 GENERAL ACOUNT.: Some tfyo years ago the general rate was increased in order to reduce \he debit balance of this account, which had been steadily increasing for some, years previously. The intention was to reduce the debit balance by £SOO per anndm, but it has been possible 'to do inuch better. The year opened with a debjt balance of £4131 3s 7d, and dosed wiih a debit balance of £2584 13s sd, being a reduction of £IB4O 10s 2d. On April 1. 1915, the debit balance stood at £5422 10s 4d, so that in two years the amount has been reduced by no less than £2838 2s lid.

RECEIPTS. ' - .' :4, !■')»•■ a - Subsidies — ~#'.,, Government subsidy .... 450 0 6 Licenses— Under Licensing Act .. 300 Q\ 6 Under Borough By-laws and Auctioneers' Act.. 943 10 '5 Kent of reserve j>....... 795 17 3 Rent of Avenue Road Reserve 192 , 8 9 Town Hall and Fitzroy ' Hall ..... 17 15 6 Reimbursements— I Streets •.... 543 7 1 Horse and cart account.. 390 6 '.', Waterworks .•. 282 18 7 Sanitary 10 1 3 Drainage fees and extensions 94 4 0 Abattoir share office expenses 25 0 0 Tramway share office expenses 50 0 0 Drainage agreements _. GeneralFire Board y ~..- 105 0 0 Dogs / 131 7 0 Baths yi 174 10 4 Carnegie Library .; 134 19 (1 Pound fees ~ 26 18 0 Sundries \! 44 5 7 Rates— Water domestic supplies. 1745 6 11 Extra water 2819 0 3 Sanitation 1287 13 11 10 per cent, penalty on / rates 89 14 6 General rate of Is 6d in £on £101,712 ...... 7687 10 B Tota' £1.8,45:2 011

RATES. The collection of rates still contnued to be satisfactory, 08 per cent, of the total amount having been collected. The total amount levied was £25,203 8s lid, of which £24,71)6 7s <M has been collected to date, leaving £407 Is fld outstanding. Further payments will probably reduce this slightly before the end o) the year. The following schedule shows the total amount levied each year since Greater New Plymouth was constituted, the figures being for the year ended 31st March in each inßtance:l9l2, £9042 17s; 1913, £10,460 2s; 1014, £13,539 12s 7d; 1915, £14,309 10s !id;' 1010, £18,449 2s Sd; 1917, £25,203 8s lid.

CEMETERY. The present sexton has continued throughout the year to keep the cemetery In excellent order, and in addition has effected many improvements. (The increase in the fees made some two 'years ago has enabled the committee to keep one man permanently at work assisting the sexton, and the result of their labor is plainly to be seen in the mproved appearance of the cemetery. The total receipts from all sources, inclusive of credit balance brought forward ( £IOO Ma 4d), amounted to £BSB 16s 4d, and the expenditure amounted to £425 4s 9d.

Office- -• ■ [£ 8. d. 1153 9 10 Clerical assistance .... 17 11 8 Mavor 150 0 0 Sundries 41 13 2 Advertising, stationery, 332 8 9 StreetsLabor, metal, tar preparations, plant, materials, maintenance, asphalting . 5640 18 10 Horse, cart and forage account 1013 17 10 Rent borough yards 37 0 0 Lghting streets 978 12 0 Borough engineer & staff

proportion salaries ... 445 19 8 Sundries (stationery, etc) 154 12 7 Reserves— Reserves 183 1 ft 24 1 3 Town Hall ..' 64 16 11 Town Hall, removing offices and furnishing ... 108 17 10 Carnegie Library ,'■ ■ 307 15 10 Subsidies— Levy Fire Board i...-.-? 725 O 0 Pukekura Park Board ,J 150 0 0 Western Park Board ...] 50 0 0 125 0 0 Technical School 25 0 0 30 0 0 General— ■ "" j' Sundries -..,.,,., ; -..-. - 273 9 5 Valuations 28 10 0 Bank-interest and charges 13 0 General inspector's office 219 19 6 Sanitation plant 480 6 1 Sanitaton inspector's department 1009 2 10 Sanitation inspector's of81 4 0 P.O. clock .'. 43 9 6 Pounds (N.P. and Fitz7 18 8 Electoral roll 65 9 4 Licensing . 31 16 0 Drainage upkeep and extensions ". 181 1 0 Drainage agreements ■..«• 12 6 Baths 292 7 7 41 16 10 1481 5 10 Waterworks extensions .' 141 7 7 Waiwakaiho bridge 400 6 8 Henui Bridge, Junction Road 100 0 0 Purchase railway land .. 484 1 0 [h .7.190 14 3 Credit balance ,£1,291 6 8 Total '£18,482 0 11 1 SEPARATE ACCOUNTS. Receipts Expenditure. '£ e. d. £ 8 d. Abattoirs -.* 1423 16 3 1533 18 0 Beach cot/tages ....-, 85 19 2 3 2 0 Contractors' deposits .,- 202 0 0 840 0 0 Electric light departm't 13,566 17 11 9473 10 1 Hospital levy 1282 0 0 1240 0 0 Hospital loan rate .... 1279 10 2 1279 10 2 Interest account, special rate .. 9737 8 7 9506 15 2 Library books 125 0 0 123 0 7 Skinner Road quarry .... 843 19 6 370 2 1 Temporary advances .. 15,420 0 0 i 15,420 0 0 Cr. balance March 31, ' 19U :..>..-, 4314 15 5 [£44,553 17 1 £44,553 17 1