Manamatu Herald. FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1880. WHERE THE MONEY GOES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 89, 2 July 1880, Page 2

Manamatu Herald. FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1880. WHERE THE MONEY GOES.

» A return has been laid before Parliament showing in detail the amount of money expended by the General Government, since the abolition of provinces, at Timaru, Invercargill, New Plymouth, Waimate, and Oamaru, in the erection and construction of Gaols, Courthouses, Post Offices, and other public buildings. The return was moved for last session by Mr Shrimski, one of the members for Waitaki, and from the facts brought out by the return it would appear Oamaru has not received its full share of the " plunder," as compared with the other four places named in the return. The total amount expended in the five towns is £22,980, of which Timaru has obtained the lion's .share, made up as follows ; — New Courthouse, £4,042; Gaol additions, £499; fencing Courthouse, £163 ; new Post and Telegraph Office (payments to date) £5,456 ; total, £10,160. Happy •Timaru t Next in order comes New Plymouth, with a total of £5,146, made up thus: — New Government buildings £5,146 ; Courthouse fittings and alterations, £217 }f converting

old ;Post ? Office into Police Station, j£l4s;; Waimate comes next, and the expenditure in that township affords an indication cf whera the loan moneys have gnie. It will hardly be believed that in this obscure township the Government spent the enormous sum of £3,509 (payments to date) on a Courthouse ! Waimate is an insignificant village in the south of Canterbury, and is the chief town of a Couaty containing a population of between four and five thousand people,- whilst the population of the township numbered at last census, three hundred and twenty-seven ! Yet this, is the town that the Colony ornaments with a Courthouse upon which the payments to date (the expression suggests other amounts are owing) amount to £ 8,509 ! Invercargill's share of money spent in public buildings is about equal to that of Waimate, £8,200 having been spent in a new Courthouse, and £285 on a strong room at the Government offices. Oamaru brings up the rear with a very small expenditure of £317, of which £210 was spent on additions to the Post Office, and the remaining £107 in alterations to the same building. No wonder Mr Shrimski was disposed to put in black and white the treatment Oamaru has received as compared with Timaru and Waimate. If he came into this electoral district, we could show him towns with three and four times the population of Waimate, where the Courthouses have certainly not cost £3,509! There is Palmerston, for example, where a District Court is held ill a building of absurdly small dimensions, with no provision for jury box, or any other convenience. But " comparisons are odious." The only thing wanting in the return is the dates upon which the respective contracts were let. We suspect that if these were furnished, it would be found that the Grey • Macandrew Ministry are the persons responsible for the expenditure of the £22,980 with which the return deals.