THE PROTECTIVE WORKS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1092, 27 January 1872, Page 2

THE PROTECTIVE WORKS.

[to the editor.] Sir— The Borough Council now finds itself in a dilemma on- the question of raising sufflcient funds to keep the protective works in repair. These works, though faithfully fulfilling, the. duty for: which they were designed, yet from the, quality of the timber the Council wal obliged to use (in order to save enormous expense)-has in part decayed, and the duty of now repairing those decayed places devolves on the Borough Council/ and compels that body to make provision for an expenditure of, say one_tho.usand, pounds per annum. I fully admit the', anomalous position in which^the'Borough" Council finds itself placed, and sympathy, with the Councillors in their exertions in trying , to meet a difficulty .with .which the General Governmerit never should have allowed them to cope. At the same time I must emphatically dissent from the mode of raising the funds for the necessary expenditure, as proposed by Councillor Moore a+, the last meeting of the Council, namely, to double the wharf ige and tonnage dues of the port. I know that in a small town like this any increase of taxation is considered by the inhabi- ; tanls as objectionable, but it is preferable to levy any necessary rates frorii all the burgesses of Greymouth . than from a few shipowners and merchants who would have to pay the whole cost of protecting the river bank, while the mechanics or publicans, who did not import, but, who would have their properties equally/ secured from the encroachments of the river rested in perfect immunity from that special taxation. It has been ingeniously devised that the expenditure ?on the port was in part incurred for the purpose of deepening the channel and' the bar ; but I very well remember all the discussion on harbor works since the Council was first' formed, and I must confess it is the first time I ever heard /that these works were constructed for any other purpose than that of saving the front' street from being swept to sea. Why then should a few have to pay for protecting the property of the many? I am, &c, ■ -•:<» ■■ ■■'■'■ -■■■■■ :• Fair. Play.