THE RATEPAYERS MEETING.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 512, 26 October 1912, Page 5

THE RATEPAYERS MEETING.

The Editor. Sir, —Kindly allow me space to reply to the Mayor's thinly veiled innuendo as to my work while engineer to the Borough, which he threw out at the ratepayers' meeting to consider the new loan proposals on Thursday last. In the first place I consider his tasts was very questionable in bringing my name into the controversy, at all especially after the stigma which I consider he and the majority of his Council is under in connection with the letter which recently appeared over my name in the Chronicle, which as yet remained unaswered, and which most local bodies would, I consider, constitute rather a serious indictment. 1 may have made small mistakes, for who does not, and in looking back at the bickerings and absolute lack of British fair play which a majority of the Council showed me on every possible occasion, the wonder is that I did not make more mistakes, or mistake of a more serious nature. I would like at this stage to exempt Crs Somerville and Lusk on these tactics and thank them for their kind remarks on my behalf at the meeting. Nnw, with regard to my estimates and actual expenditure: Let us take the largest item first, viz.: The water. My estimate for this work was £12,100 and the Council which, I believe, some £io,Boo has been spent, and for this money everything I undertook to do, and somewhat more, haa been done with the exception of the dam, which I estimated in my preliminary estimate to cost £I2OO, so that ratepayers can see ,that there is not much wrong with that. In drainage my estimate was £4321, which included £BOO for house connections to the boundary, and £650 for King street drainage from Taupiri street to bridge, and sewers over the river, which have not been put in. The Council borrowed £3OOO, which is just about spent now, I believe, and seeing that pipes soon after my estimate rose nearly 100 per cent., and Mr Metcalfe has been paid £250 instead of £75, which I should, under ordinary cirumstances, have been paid, ratepayers will see that by putting these figures together that there is not much wrong with these figures of mine. Might I remark that the cost of the pipes represents about 25 per cent, of the loan. With regard to streets, some £3OOO remained after I severed my connection with the borough, and about all that remained to be done was to metal 566 chains of streets, which with reduced cost of metal production with the crusher and engine—which were not included in my estimates —should go a very long way to metalling these streets. Neither did my estimate include the metalling of streets which is being, I believe, done out of loan monies, and which, no doubt, the auditor will have something to say about, when the time arrives. A certain section of the Council has bsen always eager to criticise me and make me a "scapegoat," but it will remain yet to be seen whether methods, especially from a financial point of view, are perfect. I will mention the water rate only as onu instance: the water has been in use a year now, and I have great doubts as to whether they can collect a penny, yet. In any case, I personally, shall refuse to pay it, and it will be interesting to see if they cn enfora me and from when.— I am. etc., L. G. P. SPENCER.