CITY LOAN PROPOSALS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 414, 25 January 1909, Page 4

CITY LOAN PROPOSALS.

Despite the arguments which the Mayor placed before a small meeting of ratepayers on Thursday night, we cannot feel that the citizens will be wise at the present time to endorse the proposals of the City Council to borrow so large a sum, as £208,400 for the municipal works out: lined, Some of these works are necessary, ; and should be gone on with, but others can well wait till there has be~en a,rest from heavy borrowing, and the finances of the tramways and Mother services aro shown to be on a permanently, stable basis. There is a strong case for the proposal to borrow £40,100 to provide a tramway to 'Wadestown; and money can well, 'be spent also upon a water supply for that suburb and Northland. Wadestown will be responsible for its own tramway, and if it is willing to make good, by epecial rate, the loss which will almost certainly be experienced for some years to comq'.nol one else will have reason to complain. The water supply, as was pointed out, is required for reasons of hygiene .and sanitation, which make cost.a minor consideration. The contemplated expenditure on the destructor, abattoirs, and the tramway and electric lighting services, aggregating £53,250, will'also probably repay itself. The extension. of the tramway system, however, : over Constable Street to link up with the Kilbirnie line, is a convenience which can very well wait. i The .tramway ■ connection with Kilbiftiie through the tunnel will satisfy all reasonable'requirements for some time to'come; cars covering the short gap to Constable 'Street would be a luxury .'to, an effete generation that may Boon lose the power ■to walk, but the luxury is not worth an expenditure of £22,000 at the present time. , The tramways engineer has. esti-" mated that there would be an addition of • £2500 or £3000 to <■ income through ;the :i construction of this line,. but all such estimates must, of .necessity, /.be', of. very, precarious value..: Kilbiriiie can , wait quite well for- reclamation,'.resor.ves, and ia sea-wali, to which the sum of £27,500 is allocated, and certainly a; sebinie for workmen's homes; which is entirely.in the ! clouds as .yet, does iibt.warrant an. exipenditure of the same ampunt. Even the.Mayor does not urge with any warmth the endorsement of.this latter scheme; "it would bo for the ratepayers to-dctonjline /whether the time was- expedient ior. the •spending of-money, on such works.." We imagine that the ratepayers will have no, 'difficulty in 'arriving' at' their: decision'. Any scheme for workers' homes which' had not first been thoroughly worked out in every detail,, and which could not be installed .under the most satisfactory conditions and on a large scale, would be only so much money thrown away. The example of the Labour Department has shown, how. useless it is to trifle with a problem of this kind., The Mayor does riot suggest . that tho Council has any definite ideas on the. best , way to establish .workers' homes. He mentions one way. that has been proposed; other ways would doubtless be discovered when the: homes were built. Additional sindll recreation grounds for the city, estimated to cost £15,500, aie desu'able no doubt, but it will not matter greatly if thoy are not put. in hand just now. By eliminating from, the council's proposals the schemes' to which we take exception for. the pre-r sent, the amount of the required loaii is reduced from £208,400 to £115,900. Tho citizens will be wise if they regard this sum as quite sufficient for present purposes. : :■•"■■■•'■ ■•■■- ■' :■• ..-