King Country Chronicle Wednesday, January 17, 1912. THE LIGHTING QUESTION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 431, 17 January 1912, Page 4

King Country Chronicle Wednesday, January 17, 1912. THE LIGHTING QUESTION.

It is satisfactory to note that the ratepayers have been given an opportunity to hear the views of those who are interested in the different phases of the question of providing light for the Borough prior to tho poll being taken for the neceesary loan. The chief features of any proposal to provide public utilities must always be the question of finance and the quality of the article that is being provided, the objective naturally being the obtaining of the best possible article at a reasonable cost within the resources of the ratepayers. The burden of taxation in any new and growing town must necessarily fall on a limited number, and when, an in Te Kuiti, the town has to be built up from nothing to rank equal with other propreosive centres of the Dominion, taaxtion bulks big in the ratepayer*' mind. We have to bear in mind that public requirements which have been gradually adopted by other centres in the course of many years have to be established by Te Kuiti within a very short space of time. The growth of the town has been amazingly rapid, and the demands upon our local authorities have been of a correspondingly urgent nature. Probably no other local body in the history of the Dominion has been called upon to undertake the work of planning and building a town on modern lines in such, a short space of time. It says much for our public men, and much for the public spirit of our residents that the work has been planned, and is being pushed ahead with the vigour and confidence necessary to the success of any great undertaking. Street lighting is one of the first necessities of any town, but tho providing of light or power for borough residents generally is as yet regarded as a side issue of the initial requirement. Only if it can be reasonably and profitably incorporated with tho initial requirement should the providing of the extra power be considered by the public. Universal recognition, however, is now being accorded to the principle of co-operation in many matters which hitherto have been left to private enterprise, and the providing of light and power for household, and industrial purposes, may well be considered as coming within the scope of public activities. Whether the Borough is sufficiently advanced, or whether the immediate prospects of the town are sufficiently encouraging to warrant the adoption of the best possible article is tho question for the ratepayers to decide. Little doubt can be entertained about the ultimate destiny of the town and district generally. Progress has but begun, and many years must elapse before the resources of our great district are brought to the highest point of production. Each step for* ward in the district means added growth to tho town, and as tho prosperity of the district is baßed on the production of the world's staple requirements there is little fear of progress being seriously hampered at any

time. The question as to what is the best possible article in the matter under review is a point upon which few people other than experts are competent to offer an opinion. Moreover, the point is so persistently association with the relative coat of the various lights, and the uses to which each can be put, that the main issue, as Ear as the ratepayers are concerned is apt to become obscured. Everything considered the wise course appears to be the adoption of the best .possible article, be it what it may, providing the cost is not absolutely prohibitive. The matter of determining which is the best possible article may be materially assisted by such meetings as that held last night. It is to be hoped full advantage will be taken by all who are interested to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion on the point. The issue is of considerable importance not only to the present ratepayers but to the future of the town for many years to come.