MANY COMPLAINTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 December 1942, Page 2

MANY COMPLAINTS

ABOUT EARTHQUAKE REPAIR ■ ACCOUNTS DISCUSSED BY BOROUGH COUNCIL. MAYOR APPEALS TO PEOPLE TO PAY. An appeal to the community of Masterton to pay earthquake repair accounts, despite anomalies, in view of the emergency which existed, was made by the Mayor, Mr T. Jordan, at last night’s meeting of the Masterton Borough Council. A resolution that the Government he asked to set up a commission to / go into the accounts was lost by an overwhelming majority. Councillors objected to the name “Disputes Committee” and it was agreed to call the committee “The Means Test Committee.” Councillor G. D. Wilson was appointed Borough representative on the committee. At Councillor Wilson’s request' a deputy, Councillor J. Ninnes, was appointed to act in cases which concerned Councillor Wilson’s clients. Councillor W. Kemp said the money had been spent but he objected to the method adopted of computing the costs of work carried out. He had the names of five people who had re ceived bills for repairs to chimneys, yet the chimneys had not been touched. There was something wrong in this state of affairs, he said. Mr Jordan said the work had been carried out by squads under the charge of a master builder. He knew that some charges were reasonable and that others were not, but if accounts were to be disputed who would find any shortage of money? Suppose, he said, nothing had been done in the emergency. What would have -happened? The community, as a whole, had been extremely fortunate. Had it been left to the mercy of private contractors would anyone have been better off? INVESTIGATION SOUGHT. Councillor Kemp said he thought the Government should be asked to set up a commission to go into the matter. Mr Jordan said he would make a plea to the community to “take it and meet it,” even if it had, in some cases, been taken down by fellow citizens. On the whole the community was lucky to be still alive. Councillor Kemp: “I am not casting any reflection on you, your Worship.” “I am not taking any reflections,” said Mr Jordan. He added that commissions were a waste of money. Councillor Kemp observed that he did not like seeing the whole town upset and being taken down. Mr Jordan said the accounts might well have been charged as a rate, but there were no powers to do that. He acknowledged that there were anomalies throughout the town. Councillor Kemp said he had heard it stated that there was a shortage of £l,OOO and it had to be made up by someone. He had also heard that people had been into the Borough office and had asked for their chimney accounts, but their names were not there.

The- Town Clerk, Mr G. T. O’Hara Smith, said he had no knowledge of that. Mr Jordan said that rumours should be discounted. The discussion was wasting time. Councillor Kemp then moved a motion that the Government be asked to set up a commission to go into the whole of the earthquake accounts. Councillor A. D. Low said that were the amount greater than the £20,000 involved he would have liked to have seen a Government commission set up, but it seemed a trifling amount to go to a commission. However, to test the feeling of the meeting he seconded the motion. • CASES OF HARDSHIP. Councillor R. Russell raised the point that hardship would be imposed on widows and pensioners in meeting the accounts. Mr Jordan: “So far as that is concerned there should not be any worry. The Prime Minister has made it clear that the Government will pay.” “Had people been asked to pay their accounts, speaking generally, at the time of the ’quakes, they would have been’ delighted,” said Councillor Wilson, in stating that he opposed the motion. The weather was cold, he said, and ' people ,were in need of fires. That was now forgotten. The men would not have come here from outside districts if extra rates had not been paid. Speed was the essence of the matter. He had been told of complaints concerning Wellington's scheme and he considered the job here had been magnificently handled. Councillor G. W. Morice deprecated talk of disputed accounts. It was his experience that the work had been done more cheaply under the scheme than by private contractors. Mr Jordan: “If people had been adked to pay on the night of the ’quake they would have done so cheerfully.” Councillor Kemp: “Where is the money now?” Mr Jordan: “It was paid out weekly as the work was done. The spirit of the community now is not the spirit which was shown on the night of the ’quake.”

Councillor Morice: “What is the good of a disputes committee?” Mr Jordan: “It is a misnomer. The committee simply say who can pay and who can’t.” Councillor Wilson said he was pleased to hear that. He asked what would be the position if the committee wrote down accounts. Mr Jordan: “That is what I want to know. Who is going to find the money?” ALLEGED FLEECING. Councillor Kemp cited a case in which a single chimney had cost £l4 16s to re-erect. Yet a twin chimney only cost £6 to re-erect. He held that the charges were unjust and that as the borough and county staffs had received overtime on top of their wages, no attempt had been made to keep down costs. Although some men did work without wages sOme outsiders, he alleged, had fleeced a community which had just “got it in the neck.” Mr Jordan: “You have no fight to say that.” Councillor Kemp: “Well, I have said it-.” Mr Jordan asked for the names of the outsiders against whom Councillor Kemp’s allegation was made. Councillor Kemp gave no names, but asserted that wages in excess of award rates had been charged. Mr Jordan said the rates charged were laid down by regulation. Councillor Kemp stated that in some'cases labourers, under the name of bricklayers, had put up chimneys which were not. satisfactory and either fell down in further ’quakes or had to be pulled down. Mr Jordan explained that a call had been made to the Army for bricklayers. Some men had' been released from camp as bricklayers, but it had been found that they were not bricklayers and had only wanted a change. They had been weeded out. Speaking in defence of the emergency committee he thought that every safeguard had been taken, particularly in ’the

appointment of master builders as overseers. . Councillor C. E. Grey: “The master builders did not carry out their jobs. After further discussion Mr Jordan appealed to ratepayers to meet their accounts. They had much to be thankful for, he said, and had the emergency action not been taken wha. would have happened could not be told. He hoped that the community would rise to the occasion.