BOROUGH FINANCE

Taranaki Daily News, 19 October 1920, Page 5

BOROUGH FINANCE

OTSW PLYMOUTH LOANS. MOKE MONEY REQUIRED. •In in liis usual monthly report, the General Manager of the New Plymouth borough (Mr. I<\ T. Bellringer) touches on the question of the flotation of loans, ftnd sets out the amounts already raised by means of debentures in respect to the streets and tramways loans. He says;— "Of the two loans, £72,000 (HydroElectric), and £57,000 (Streets, Waterworks, etc.), now on the market debentures to the value of £36,100 have been disposed of or arranged for. The debentures were disposed of as follows: Borough office, £12,700; Bank of New Zealand, £15,200; brokers, £8200; total, £36,100. The amount sold through the borough office docs not mean that this amount was placed in New Plymouth. A good deal of the money came from putsido towns in response to circulars which we forwarded through the post. As' between the two loans, the de-beiitures were taken up as follows: £72,000 Electric Light Loan, £13,300; £57,000 Streets, etc., £22,800; total, £36,100. The proposed increase of taxation on municipal debentures had the effect of immediately stopping the sale of debentures. The amendments made before th Act was finally passed lias, however, placed municipal debentures upon even a better footing than before, and it is hoped that more debentures will now be disposed of. Further advertising will be effected and a special appeal will probably be made to local investors to take up as many of the debentures as possible. , £57,000 LOAN.

"The fact that this loan has not been floated will necessarily have a very retarding effect upon tho operations >of the Council during tho coming summer. For the information of the Council I set out the present position of the loan and recommendations for the allocation of the money available amongst the items comprising the loan schedule. The actual anjoimt allowed in the loan schedule is shown in parenthesis: Amount raised £22,800. Allocation recommended : First year interest and sinking fund and,, costs of raising loan (£4500), £2300; streets, including plant, etc. (£42,000), £14,500; public conveniences ( £2000), nil; waterworks extensions (£10,000), £5000; sewers extensions ( £3000), £1000." In regard to other allocations, the report stateß that £14,500 was set aside for streets, and in this connection plant purchased or ordered and othel' liabilities had already been incurred to be extent of £7300. This included, a 5-ton lorry £IO7O, disc crusher (ordered) £2OOO, and tar storage wells £l'i>oo. Taking into consideration work started, the amount available for work to be authorised would be £ll2O. "From this it will be seen," says the General Manager, "that very little money is available for streets in Which work has not already been started. In the event of the ratepayers authorising the extension of tho tramways to David Street the whole of the available balance will be required for Morley Street. If the David Street extension is not adopted one or two more small works may bo authorised, but the balance will require to stand over until more money is obtained by the sale of debentures." In regard to the waterworks, the amount available for new works waa estimated at £I9OO, and for sewer allocation (essential extensions) £250. Tho report pointed out: "In both the above undertakings large extensions are urgently required, but as' shown there is very little money available for work.

"In regard, to waterworks, the demand for extensions of mains is incessant. I understand from the borough engineer that more connections have been already made this year than in any other two previous yeara combined. The small amount of money available precludes any of the larger size mains being installed although urgently required. All that can be done will be to lay small communication pipes where moat urgently required." £IO,OOO LOAN.

"The unexpended balance of this loan is £2805 0s 7d. The Council is under agreement with the Taranaki Jockey Club to complete Gover Street, the cost of the work remaining unfinished being estimated by the borough engineer in July last at £1832. The following works have been authorised and are ,an various stages of construction: Vivian Street, part in £IO,OOO loan, and part in £57,000 loan;' asphalt footpaths Devon Street from Gover Street to Henui bridge, Silver to Morley and Liardet to Washbourne's Garage, and £221 is earmarked for asphalt footpaths in St. Aubyn Street in conjunction with the £57,000 loan. The works mentioned will absorb the greater proportion of the £2865 available, and under the circumstances it would not be advisable to make any further authorisations in regard to this loan at present." When the report was received at last night's meeting of the Council, Or. Parkin remarked that they were expending a good deal of money on plant, but would not have much revenue to tarry on road work. He questioned whether tho Council could keep all this plant going in view of the limited sum at their disposal. The engineer reassured the Council that the plant would be kept going, as the amount of maintenance work would ensure this.