Bank Committee: December 18th 1933

4979   The following report of the General Purposes Sub-Committee was presented:

Disposal of Furniture, etc at 6/8 Edmund Street.

Your Sub-Committee report that arrangements have been made for the surplus furniture at the Edmund Street and Easy Row premises to be taken over by certain Corporation Departments and sundry persons at prices totalling £298. 3. 0.

It is proposed to remove the counter, ledger desks, screens and racking for ultimate use at branches, as a considerable saving could be effected thereby, unless the General Purposes Committee  are prepared to pay to the Bank the price of these furnishings and fittings, and retain same for the use by the Registrars.

Transfer of Establishment - Head Office.

Your Sub-Committee report that the removal of the whole of the cash documents, books, etc from Edmund Street and Easy Row to Broad Street was effected during the night of November 27th-28th. In addition to the employment of outside assistance, the male staff over 21 years of age were engaged from 11 o'clock to 8am on such removal, the total hours involved being 1,107. Your Sub-Committee recommend that a payment of 10/- per head be made to each member of the staff concerned to cover out-of-pocket expenses.

4980  RESOLVED:- That, in the event of the General Purposes Committee not requiring the furnishings and fittings at the Edmund Street premises, as indicated in the foregoing report, the General Manager be instructed to take the necessary steps for the removal and conversion of the same for use at branches.

4981   RESOLVED:- That the General Manager be instructed to arrange for payment to be made of 10/- each for out-of-pocket expenses to the members of the staff engaged in the transfer of the Head Office establishment from Edmund Street to the new premises in Broad Street during the night of November 27th - 28th.

The Committee further considered the question of a financial adjustment in respect of the expenditure by the Bank in respect of loan and sinking fund charges and structural alterations to the premises No 6/8 Edmund Street, and No 44, Easy Row. The Treasurer attended the meeting and submitted the following report on this question:

PREMISES LATELY VACATED BY MUNICIPAL BANK - 6/8 EDMUND STREET & 44 EASY ROW

TREASURER'S REPORT ON MINUTE NO 2011.

1. On the 10th July 1933 the Bank (General Purposes) Sub-Committee passed the following resolution:

"RESOLVED:- That, with the object of the Bank being reimbursed in respect of improvements and additions carried out at the premises allocated to the Bank in Edmund Street and the amount paid in respect of redemption of loan and stamp duties, the General Manager be instructed to confer with the City Treasurer, and report to a subsequent meeting of this Sub-Committee; also that the General Manager notify the Estates Department of the Bank's intention to vacate the premises in Easy Row."

2. For the purposes of this report the subject matter of the above resolution can be conveniently divided into two sections:

(a) reimbursement in respect of improvements and additions carried out at Edmund Street;

(b) repayment in respect of redemption of loan and stamp duties.

3. With regard to the first question the Treasurer is of the opinion that this is a matter upon which he should consult the Finance Committee and he therefore suggests that consideration should be deferred until after the next meeting of the Finance Committee  on the 29th instant.

4. In order to consider the second point (as to whether or not the Municipal Bank should be reimbursed for sums paid by them in respect of charges for redemption of debt) it is necessary to examine the arrangements which were made at the time the premises were occupied by the Municipal Bank. The records show:

(a) that both premises were acquired by the Corporation, acting by the General Purposes Committee; and

(b) that in both cases the relationship which subsisted between the Corporation and the Bank Committee was that of Landlord and Tenant.

6/8 Edmund Street.

5. On the 28th November 1923 the Bank Committee instructed their Chairman to approach the General Purposes Committee  and the Finance Committee with a view to arrangements being made either for:

(a) the property to be acquired by the Bank, or

(b) the portion of the property required for Bank purposes to be rented to the Bank at a sum to be agreed.

6. In December 1923 the General Purposes Committee reported to the City Council on the purchase of 6/8 Edmund Street and the observations of the Finance Committee are as follows:

"The Finance Committee are prepared to meet the purchase price of £15,000 from Capital Account. Loan charges on this sum, amounting to £883 per annum, less any income by way of rent, etc, received from the Municipal Bank, will have to be paid out of the rates."

7. On the 17th December 1923 Councillor Appleby reported that the General Purposes Committee were in agreement with the proposal for the Bank Committee to rent the portion of the premises for Head Office purposes and a resolution was passed referring to a Sub-Committee the question of the terms of the tenancy.

8. It is the practice in the Corporation, in connection with inter-departmental transactions relating to surplus land and buildings, to charge rents based upon the outstanding loan charges, since it is no part of the function of the various Committees to seek to make profits inter se.

9. Councillors Appleby and Gelling, with the General Manager, were appointed to confer with representatives of the Public Works and Town Planning Committee and the City Treasurer, for the purpose of agreeing the proportion of loan and Sinking Fund charges to be borne by each department in respect of the use of 6/8 Edmund Street.

10. Certain figures, then based on estimates, were agreed, but the two Committees have in fact borne rents equivalent to the actual loan charges to be set each year, as to the Bank Committee five-sixths and the Public Works Committee one-sixth. The Estates Committee, who manage this property on behalf of the General Purposes Committee, are responsible for the payment of the actual loan charges.

44 Easy Row.

11. In this case, letters from the General Manager of the Estates Department to the General Manager of the Municipal Bank and the Treasurer clearly show that the premises were let to the Bank and the Finance Committees on short tenancies.

12. The following extract from a report dated the 27th January 1928 by the Treasurer to the Finance Committee is interesting, not only as further evidence of the relationship of the Bank Committee as tenants for 44 Easy Row, but also as bearing upon the general principle of rents based on interest and sinking fund charges.

"1. The Committee will remember that at their last meeting the opinion was expressed that properties managed by the Estates Committee and let to other Committees of the Corporation should be let at rents on the basis of apportionment of out-goings and not on the basis of fair rental value.

2. I have had a calculation made showing an apportionment, on the basis of floor space, of the loan charges on the Easy Row premises (including the appropriate portion of the Old Wharf site) with the following results.

3. If the Committee approve the revised figures, I recommend that the Estates Committee be informed that this Committee do not accept the  principle of user, as between Committees of the Corporation, on rentals based on commercial values; but are prepared to accept a rental based on the apportionment of outstanding loan charges in accordance with the figures submitted."

13. The Treasurer's recommendation was approved and an appropriate resolution was forwarded to the Estates Committee, who concurred in the reduced rents based on loan charges.

14. Having regard to the foregoing facts, the Treasurer is unable to advise the Bank Committee that there are grounds for a claim for reimbursement for sinking fund charges paid by the Bank, as suggested in the Minute of the General Purposes Sub-Committee. The Bank Committee were tenants to the Corporation in respect both of 6/8 Edmund Street and 44 Easy Row and, as such, paid annual sums by way of rent, calculated, as the matter of convenience and in accordance with usual practices in departmental transactions of this kind, on the basis of outstanding interest and Sinking Fund charges.

A lengthy discussion ensued, during which reference was made to the arrangement arrived at by other departments in respect of loan and sinking fund charges on premises occupied by them, and it was eventually:

4995   RESOLVED:- That the Chairman, with the Treasurer and General Manager be requested to confer with the Chairman of the Finance Committee and the Chairman of the Staff and Accommodation Sub-Committee, with the object of an equitable adjustment being arrived at in the matter.

Bank Committee: January 15th 1934

On Minute No 4980 (Disposal of furnishings and fittings) the General Manager reported that arrangements had been made for the General Purposes Committee  to take over the same and to reimburse the Bank in respect thereof.

5008   RESOLVED:- That Minute No 4980 be discharged.

Report of the General Purposes Sub-Committee: January 15th 1934

Financial Adjustment in respect of old Head Office premises.

It will be remembered that this question was referred by your Committee to the Chairman with the Treasurer and General Manager to confer with representatives of the Finance and General Purposes Committee with the object of an equitable adjustment being arrived at in the matter.

A Minute of the Finance Committee, passed on the 29th December last, has now been received, in which the opinion is expressed that (a) there are no grounds for a claim for reimbursement for sinking fund charges met by the Bank, and (b) that the question of reimbursement in respect of improvements and additions carried out at the late Head Office in Edmund Street should be referred to the General Purposes Committee.

The views of the General Purposes Committee upon the question are now awaited.

Bank Committee: July 23rd 1934

5197   On Minute No 4995 (Former Head Office Premises - Financial adjustment), the General Manager reported that the views of the General Manager of the Estates Department on the question of depreciation was still awaited, and the Minute was continued.

Finance & General Purposes Sub-Committee: December 17th 1934

Financial Adjustment - Edmund Street Property.

The General Purposes Committee  have now arranged to transfer to the Municipal Bank the sum of £1,017. 3. 0. due from that Committee in respect of the improved occupation of No 6 Edmund Street.

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