A HARD UP RATEPAYER.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1277, 20 August 1886, Page 4

A HARD UP RATEPAYER.

A ratepayer of a Christchurch subur ban borough addressed the following letter to the council: — “ Mr Chairman and Members of the saint albans Borough council I Beg to inform you that onless I get Work from the Borough council to pay tho enclosed amount I Must refuse to do so on the grounds that I am scarce able to get sufficient food for my family i hope you dont expect a person erning 26 to 27 pound in a year can doe such a thing Beside other publik Bodies are doeing something for the onemployed, and I think that the saint albans Borough council should do a little also so i Want you to bear in mind also to distinctly understand What I have said that onless i get work of some sort as i am not particular of what sort it is you may draw a line on My Name as a dead letter.

« also I wish to inform yon that I am Not particular With respect to Wages Whatever you are giving Others I'll take the same but I must have employment of some kind before i pay any more rates.

14 IT B i am not gone to leave my children fasting to pay rates i might "inform you that a ton of patates Would Be More useful to me in the meantime for i cant go about a hole year idle and find money to pay rate.” The careful reader will observe (says the Lyttelton Times) that the above is very like an Act of Parlia ment, inasmuch as it has no punctuation, It differs irom Acts of Partial ment, however, in the fact that there •can be no mistake about the author’s meaning, while “ the intention of the Legislature, as expressed in the Statutes, is often mucti more than all our learned lawyers, magistrates, and judges can fathom.”