The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, January 29th, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1201, 29 January 1914, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, January 29th, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The ratepayers of Foxlon are not displaying much enthusiasm over the proposed water supply scheme from the Shaunau hills. There is a feeling abroad that the scheme, while it has everything to commend it over an artesian supply, will prove too costly for the present population to carry. The feeling against anything in the nature of dual control or tacking on a customer will have to be more tully cousidered before the ratepayers will sanction it. What Foxton requires is a straight out water scheme lor Foxton aloue. Anything iu the nature of cooperation, by whatever means, ii sanctioned, will, iu the long run be regretted. From wbat we can gather Shannon is not nearly so keen on a water supply as some people would have us believe and this will be made manifest when tbs Council's recommendations are under consideration by the residents of Shannon, The Shannon scheme is fraught with many side issues, which up to the present have not been taken into account and speculation has played a part in the present estimate. The Council is doing its best to gather all the facts which, iu due time, will be submitted to the ratepayers. The Mayor has warned the Council, however, that there is little prospect at present oi floating a loan owing to the stringency of the money marker. This is borne out by the Dargaville Borough Council, In that borough a poll to raise a ,£25,000 water works loan was carried over a year ago, but the Council has been unable to acquire any portion of the sum. A request made to the Advances Office was refused, and every application made to the several banks and insurance companies has met with a like fate. The reason the loan companies had to decline the advance was due to the statutory rate of 5 per cent, interest being too low for their requirements. The position at Dargaville to-day is lamentable tor iu a borough population of close on 2,000 there is an acute shortage of water, which is being sold at one penny per gallon. In the previous two summers there was a similar shortage, but this year the position at Dargaville is beiug accentuated. Iu auotber week the bulk of the tanks attached to residences there will be empty. In ;he meantime all bathrooms are closed, and exceptional care is being taken against any waste. Some statutory provision should be made to financially assist boroughs situated as Foxton and Dargaville are in respect to water supply matters. According to United Empire, one of the last acts of the late Sir Frederick Young was to “address a letter to Mr Massey, Prime Minister of New Zealand, urging the incorporation of the Maoris in the ranks of the British Navy, a policy which he characterised as ‘the dearest wish of his heart.’” The point does not appear to have been raised locally, but there should be no question at all of the right of Maori youths to become members of any naval force that New Zealand may create. The Maoris are descendants of navigators whose wonderful voyages over the Pacific give them rank with the greatest seamen of history. During the whaling period of New Zealand’s development many hundreds of natives proved tbeii courage and skill at sea, and it would be a shameful injustice, not to be tolerated by any true New Zealander, to deny a Maori volunteer the privilege of serving on board a Dominion warship. Sir Frederick, who was shipping manager for the Canterbury Association in the days of Canterbury pioneers, was ever a good friend of the Maori people.