The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1909. CONCERNING BOROUGH FINANCE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2667, 24 November 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1909. CONCERNING BOROUGH FINANCE.

The more closely the. financial statement issued by the Town Clerk ' is investigated tlfe less satisfactory does it appear. We do not impeach his -accuracy for a moment, but we do find fault with the basis upon which his calculations have been made. In assuming that the rental value of the Borough will increase by £SOOO per year for the next nine years wo consider lie has taken an optimistic rather than a conservative estimate., The fact that-values have been raised at a higher rate than this in ,past years by no means supplies- j an argument that they will continue so in the future. In fact, rather the reverse will apply. During the past five years the rental values have been jumped up from £61,986 to £99,655 and in our opinion Lorn values have been reached. Rents are as dear in Gisborne as they are in towns double or treble its size, and it is unreasonable to expect that they will show any marked advance for some time to come. Shops in the main street with but - narrow frontages suitable for a small business are (paying up to £6 per week and others removed from the centre of the town are paying £5. These rents arc almost as high as are paid in the chief cities of the Dominion, with the possible exception of Wellington. Yet the Town Clerk apparently assumes that high as these rents are they can safely be advanced. It is the same with residential sections. A quarter-acre section in Gisborne costs anywhere from £l2O to £275 according to situation, and anyone who has knowledge of values in other parts of the Dominion knows that this is high water mark. The effect of these excessively high valuations is that- a ratepayer, though paying an apparently moderate rate in the £ finds his annual municipal bill much heavier than at any other town he may have resided in. Thus it is but a modest dwelling that does not involve its owner in a rate bill of from £5 to £7 per annum, and this constitutes a heavy drain on the wages of the working mail. There should, of course, be some reasonable relationship between the population of a town and the valuation of its property, for . after all it- is tlie pepole who create the 'value, but in this connection Gisborne, thanks to land speculators and an ciptimistic valuer, has gone soaring away beyond all other towns. The following table from the New Zealand Alunicipal Handbook showing the population of various towns, together with their .rental value, provides an illustration of our meaning. The figures are for 1907 :

It will be noted from the above that ratepayers in other towns are paying rates on a much lower valuation proportionately to population than is the case in Gisborne and this is a very good argument for believing that an advance in’ the future of five per cent, will be higher than local conditions Will warrant. Our. present population; is somewhere’ between 7000 and; 8000, and the valuation is fixed at £99,000 odd or £BOOO higher than was that of Napier two years ago, .And £17,000 higher than , that of Nelson. Another point in regard to valuations must not be overlooked. The .effect of instituting a tram service wifi ,b.e v to. reduce the demand for residential'sites in the Borough, inasmuch as a portion, of the population will - lake up allotments beyond the Borough boundaries; where they cart, get more breathing space / .for less money and can escape the Borough rates. From the -point of view of the general interests of the community this is good, but it will certainly operate against immediate increase in the value of borough residential sites. So much for tlie revenue side of. the.statement; it is just as profitable to investigate tlie 'estimated expenditure. In this connection roads constitute the chief item. Last year £6689 was spent in the ac- ( tiral maintenance and construction of streets. As i 6 well known the bulk of the thoroughfares”were sadly~neglected” and many never had a stone or roller laid on them. Now the Totfn Clerk’s Statement allows for £35,000 of loan money being taken up in 1911. How much of this is to be for sewerage, waterworks, Waimata, Bridge, and other works is unknown, but it is certain that very little will be left for actual road work after the preliminary plant has been purchased and the Gentle Annie quarry opened up. Yet the allowance for street maintenance m that year has been reduced to £2,500. This amount does not take into <ohsidetation the sums, set aside for rna.ntaining bridges, watering streets, lighting lamps, and 'tartjhg footpaths. It ‘is simply for keeping the roads >:i d streets in order and we submit that if is absurdly low. As a matter of fuct

there can be no sound reason for lelieving that the maintenance of the streets will absorb less in 1911 than i' has done, in 1909. To" a lesser extent the same remarks apply to the lollowing year. In other words, until -the bulk of the streets have been reconstructed—which, according to the way the Joan money is proposed to bo allocated, cannot be for several years—the maintenance expense will not be greatly reduced. The residents of Kaiti whose streets are left impassable in winter, are not likely to bo consoled with tlie information that new construction works are in progress at Whataupoko. In brief,‘'maintenance will still be an important item in all parts of the Borough where new road's have not actually been laid down. Then .again comes the point already mentioned in these columns, namely that tlie apportionment of the loan into five equal amounts to be spent annually is entirely unsatisfactory. Most of tlie money borrowed will be needed in tlie first two years and at the end of 1912 the Borough will be paying interest on something like £120,000 instead, ot the £70,000 mentioned in tlie Town Clerk’s-Statement. This will inevitably have a drastic effect upon the financial position.

In drawing attention to those huts we are not doing so with a vie.v - todecrying the proposal that the Boro :g'i should embark upon a borrowing .-nicy in order to effect much needed municipal improvements. We are entirely in sympathy Avith that principle, but we must insist -upon the true position being put before the ratepayers so that they may go to the poll with their eyes open. There is nothing to be gained by undue optimism'. Our people are prosperous and in our opinion are able to stand the cost of the reforms that are being advocated. Blit it is only right that the probable cost should be made known and that every ratepayer should he given a full opportunity of registering his wishes at the ballot box. This he can never get under the method that is at present proposed, which would compel him to vote in favor of half-a-dozen issues that he disapproves of, in order that lie may secure the adoption of one or two which he favors.

, Population. Rental value. Mount Eden ... 7400 £ 58,737 Parnell ... ... 5260 , 38,102 Gisborne ... .... 6000 75,500 Waihi ... 5594 33,226 New Plymouth 5200 54,000 Wanganui ... 8500 83,658 Nelson ... 8164 73,124 Timaru ... 7700 .75,243 Itoslyn ... .5600 43,584 Oaxnaru ... 5100 39,787 Napier ... 9473 r ' .91,614