Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1923. MUNICIPAL CHAMBERS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2544, 17 February 1923, Page 2

Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1923. MUNICIPAL CHAMBERS.

REVERTING to the Borough Council’s decision to erect Municipal Chambers, general opinion favours the proposal. It is very questionable, however, whether the Council will get the backing of the community in the matter of expending the whole of the money, representing the insurance on the building destroyed on the Municipal Chamber without at the same time making provision for a public reading-room and library. This is a fine point which will need the approval of the Auditor-General, for it must not be forgotten that the fund in hand is what is left of the loan specifically raised for Municipal Chamber and public readingroom and library. The public read-ing-room and library are equally entitled to a share of the insurance. Would it not be belter to make one .fob of the whole business '! The ratepayers would .not object to sanctioning an extra thousand pounds in this connection and surely posterity should share the burden. That the Council Chamber should be an independent building is a good proposal and with little extra cost alterations or additions could be made to the Town Hall to provide a public reading-room and library. To utilise the whole fund in hand for the much-needed Council Chamber to the exclusion of the reading-room and library is unfair and possibly illegal.