Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1879. HIGHWAYS BOARD RATES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 97, 5 August 1879, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1879. HIGHWAYS BOARD RATES.

■ * . The Manawatu Highways Board have, financially, " pulled up with, a round turn." On Thursday last that body lesolved to pay no money except officers' salaries, and to accept no tenders unless for work subsidised by the County. This is a very serious state of affairs indeed, being fraught with grave evils, and likely to retard the completion of urgently-required works, and consequently the settlement of the County. And it is a matter that every settler in the Mauawatu Highways district is interested in. The reason for the stoppage of these pay men-ts and the non-acceptance of the tenders is simply — " Want of money." The rates have not been paid, and the Board consequently have had to cease spending money obtained on overdraft, as that most inexorable of persons — a Bank Manager — has stepped in, and gently given the first turn of the screw. This has naturally awakened che members, and they have determined to avoid difficulty by temporarily stopping all expenditure. Now, what does this mean ? It means that men. who have worked for the Board have to wait indefinitely for their money, and their einploj'ees and creditors have to wait also ; it means that many settlers will still have to wade through creeks and sloughs to reach their homes ; it means that iv all probability some settlers who have taken up holdings in outlying portions of the district, will be compelled to give up their one or two years' labor and time, as tho case may be, and seek some other locality in which to make a home,— .men who have been waiting for roads to be made through their settlements iv order to despatch their produce to market, or obtain the means of improving their lands;— it means, in short, a great drawback to the progress of the district. It seemed really pitiful to hear deputations of settlers, who waited on the Board at the last meeting, represent the bad state of their roads, and how they would lose what they had been striving to obtain, and probably abandon their holdings.^ And yet, with the Banker's caution, no one can blame the Board. The evident remedy for the evil is the early payment of the rates; and how to obtain this is the ques tion. It seems that to post the notice giving intimation of the rates being dae on a certain day is not a legal service ; it therefore becomes necessary for an official of the Board to either personally deliver the rate notice, or else affix the same to a house or tree on the property. This would involve a large expenditure, ! and would sink a considerable amount of money, according to present experience. A cogent reason for the non~receipt of the rates is that a large number of properties are held by persons resident in other parts of the Colony, and it is almost left to their honor to pay ; whilst a number of properties are constantly changing hands, aud it becomes a difficulty to discover who really does own the land. Hence the Board are in a quandary. On the one side are demands for roads to be repaired • culverts to be erected ; new road' lines to be formed ; and on the other — -aimply no money to do the works with. It therefore behoves every settler who has the interest of the district at heart to at once pay what rates he owes, and if everyone does that, we have no doubt that next month the Board will not be in such a sorry position, as they were at last meeting. It is clearly a case of the many being able to help the one, and if settlers do not pay their rates, they can blame no one else if they have no road to their homes.