The Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7th., 1916. LEVIN TOWN HALL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1621, 7 October 1916, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7th., 1916. LEVIN TOWN HALL.

LEVIN will pardon us for suggesting that the time has arrived for them to seriously consider the advisability of erecting a suitable hall in keeping with such a progressive borough. We know that Levin has carried out “lirstThings lirst" in the past. Levin’s high pressure water supply is Foxton’s envy: their municipal gas works are well administered and self-supporting. Added to this, Levin is richly endowed, possesses tine playing grounds, and plenty of metal for road and street maintenance. Levin's burden of rates are, and will continue to be much less than Foxton’s. We mention these facts because we may bo asked to “sweep our own doorstep.’’ Foxton does not possess metal pits, the metal for our roads is railed from Tiakitahuna ; the revenue from our reserves is Earmarked; if we want a water supply to equal Levin’s we will have to go hack to the Shannon hills for it, which will cost anything from £35,000 to £40,000. Our gas works we bought secondhand instead of carrying the work out as a municipal enterprise in the first instance —with the result that we incurred a greater debt, and the works are not yet self-supporting. But the erection of a municipal hall has not, and will not, frost the Foxton ratepayers a, penny piece—it has been revenue-producing, and if the ratepayers are wise they will see that it continues so. Having said so much, we feel justified in suggesting to our neighbouring borough that in this respect at least they would do well to follow Foxton’s example and erect a Town Hall which would attract first class companies to the town and provide something more up-to-date than at present obtains there for the .social enjoyment of the community. If Levin erected a Town Hall we don’t believe it would cost the ratepayers a penny. Anyhow, the suggestion is worth considering, and we make it for what it is worth.