A SUGGESTION.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 249, 18 August 1874, Page 6

A SUGGESTION.

To the Editor of the Cromwell Argus.

Sir, —I see in your last issue the attention of the public is drawn to the leasing of a piece of land to Mr : James Marshall for ten pounds per annum, when thirty pounds could have been got for it. Now, if such is a fact, and as lam informed the term of lease is for seven years, it must be a loss to the Corporation funds of one hundred and forty pounds. No one objects to a good turn to a friend, but it is too. much of a good thing when it comes to be done at the expense of the citizens ; and it seems to me that the parties who are responsible for it should be asked to make the difference good. The citizens have a right to demand it, for no men should be placed in a position of public trust who would be guilty of either directly or passively supporting such a waste of public money, and if they did they should be called on to resign. Let us hope there will not be any repetition of such an affair as the Cromwell and Nevis road contract, when the highest tender was accepted, namely, one for £495 ; while one was as low as £195, and the others were for intervening sums. Some of the candidates were talking the other day about "going the radical." Is this lease affair going to be a specimen of it ?—I am, &c., Hawkeye. Cromwell, August 15, 1874.