THE Kaipara Advertiser, AND WAITEMATA CHRONICLE. WEDNESDAY, AUG. 13, 1913. MORE MONEY WANTED.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 13 August 1913, Page 2

THE Kaipara Advertiser, AND WAITEMATA CHRONICLE. WEDNESDAY, AUG. 13, 1913. MORE MONEY WANTED.

It lias been evident for some weeks past that more money would be required to complete the water and drainage scheme, and now that the Town Board has received the " Engineer's estimate a niove can be made to get the money. A ratepayers' meeting is to take place on Friday evening to consider a proposal to borrow a further sum of £3,000. The loan will doubtless be approved, for there is no other course open to the ratepayers, as everyone will agree that the works in hand must be completed. The ratepayers, however, may have some x)er * tinent questions to ask at Friday night's mooting iv regard to the undertaking, and they are entitled to full information on the subject.

The Engineer's estimate which we published last week showed that a sum of £2,300 was required to complete the works. The Board haye added the cost of drainage connections, etc., and intend to ask for £3,000. ! The explanation by Mr Wilson as to why the scheme is costing this sum in excess of his original estimate may "be satisfactory enough in some respects, but to our idea it does not adequately explain a further sum of £3,000 being necessaiy above the original loan of £10,000. The report goes to show that there were some alterations as the scheme was proceeded with, although these seem somewhat of a minor nature and by no means account for the extra money being required. There are also items of .=£66o for building dams and £533 for purchase of land and way-leave, but why these did not come within, the scope of the original undertaking we are at a loss to understand, as both items must have been inseparable from the water supply scheme. There are other details, including lead required £72, about which the ratepayers are entitled to have some information, as the first estimate should have included a supply suffiicient to practically complete the work. The meeting of ratepayers on Friday evening will doubtless require full particulars of the various items mentioned in the report, and may also wish to know why the works have been of such a protracted character. Further, the meeting should also give an answer

to the statement freely circulated that the water and drainage services will not be ready within the next two years.

We understand that there has previously been an agitation in this district for the establishment of a Native hostelry, and we think the reasons then advanced still hold good. It is not always convenient for hotels or boarding-houses to find accommodation, instance the period over which the present epidemic has prevailed. And in the interests of the Natives there are anomalies that require attention The other week a number of Pouto natives came to Helensville in connection with a Court case. It was stated ♦ that their district was then clear of the disease, but the fact that they had to go to an infected area for sleeping accommodation brought them well within the range of infection, and they no doubt took the disease back with them —a position that could have been avoided if an hostelry had existed locally.