RANGITIKEI ELECTION.

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 53, 21 October 1890, Page 2

RANGITIKEI ELECTION.

MB MACARTBUR IN REPLY TO MR JACOB. TO THK KIUTOH OF THE STAR. Sir, — Mr Jacob's contentions are now, it appears, reduced to three : Ist. That as it i> not considered advisable for ta* Government *f N.Z. to insure its publi* buildings, th« saws arguaasafc holds good with r«sp*et to the large bridges local bodies nx* responsible for. Th* two eases I art u»t parallel. Mo probable or, I might say, possible 2mb »f public buildings by fir* during any ana year would cripple the resources «t New Zealand, and it therefora is supposed |o pay the State, as an owotr «f a large a«oab*r of public buildings better to b« its own insurer, just as is the •aafcua tf soms large shipowners with their •xUnsiv© fleets. On tha e*atr«ry, %h* loss of a large bridge, aestiag £r»u three to seven thousaad pounds* would be a very serious matter to- a loaa) aedy with a revenue of, say, r>»iu out to &**# thousand pounds. The r*e*l* waaM is nest *as*s b* great public inconvaniaoe* and detrimsnt to settlement, thraaga lha total inability of the local b?dy |a repair the danage within any reasonable tine. 2nd. Under my plan thar* would b* no scramble tor the plunder, as llf Jaoob tsrmj i*» any more than thar* is for Wans under ih* Government Loan* ta Lacal Bodies Act. My scheme is cont^mplatad to benefit all the weak and outlying districts of the colony, and not this inusadiat* laoalUy only. I used tha «aa* (tf th* Manohastar and Eiwitea Disfarists m«raly to iU«strat* the principle. Brd. I esrteinly did say in the House that tha saVsidisi should to davotod strictly to Mldajuanl purpose*, and I still maintain tha axpadianev of that polioy. It gow wtlhaat saying that in a country like New |[*al*ad 4 ißttrst9t«4 oo every hand by hug* iiv*rs» th* m&uitaaaßo* and constrvotian el bei^ga* ava an absolute necessity fcr settluaeoi purpones. My utteraao*« aa tha sabjaoi must be taken as a wbal*. I did not consider it advisable in th» speech ia tha Qeuae on th* Financial gtatamanft, ta which Mr Jacob refers— a speaoh wbiah naoassarilf had to trav*rs* & good deal of gr»twd— to go elaborately into ntia«ti«e. Tlm ff»9*tal expression 11 sesUaoMat purpera* " was intended to, and &£* *o?w» Ih* datails of this .scheme «ttSdia»i|y iar »y than purpose. Mr Jaaea's laai iksm remaining con. tootieras heyittg h*«o thus disposed of, I hope thai gantlsQCtta will not, as he hints, e'-Q93 oa? litile controversy without a candid a*knowlodg«ment that bo far I have mat all hi* objections. In any oas*, his letters have been useful to me ia showing th* arguments my opponents rely on, and enabling me to refute them in a form that will reach the public. I hope, therefore, h« will not refrain from publishing any additional criticisms which occur to him from time to time. — I am, &0., D. H. Macabthub.