CORRESPONDENCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2562, 3 April 1923, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

(To The Editor.)

Sir, —Please grant me a little space in which to give my reasons for my remarks at the' last Council meeting, when I said that in preference to supporting a recent arrival in Foxton, I preferred to support the present Mayor. At the Council table I asked the Councillors as individuals whether any of them were going to stand for the Mayoralty, and as each one declined to stand then I said I could only support the present Mayor, owing to his intimate knowledge of the various works to he completed. As regards .the Council Chambers, I voted against that proposal, as I considered that a library and reading room were part of the insurance money. My attitude was based on principle; part of the money belongs to the library morally, so why make provision for a room for the Mayor and Town Clerk as well as other rooms that could he done without. As far as the previous correspondent Cr. Smith, is concerned, he is of the opinion that a loan to cover the Chambers and library would have been turned down, and I should also remind him that that was his attitude to loan proposals that [ brought down for the purpose of putting down decent footpaths in the streets where there are none. In other words, the people can, in winter, become webfooted,, while the Council meets one night in a month, but in comfort. As to swimming baths, I have yet to learn that the Council have a section anywhere near the school. It’s all very well for some aspirants to civic honours to say we have been asleep (granted some Councillors do sleep at the meetings), hut as far as the Council is concerned there have been more loans raised, more money spent in reproductive works, and more responsibility taken, than has fallen to the lot of any previous Council or all of them fore that matter. Under recent legislation, we cannot spend over a certain amount out of a general revenue, which, as far as Foxton is concerned is very small. It seems to me that some aspirants are going to spend more money in general than they receive in revenue. Well, I don’t wanted sit on such a Council, tor each individual Councillor will have to part up his quota <|f overspent money. To bang the drum is one thing, to understand music is another. Personally at a later stage, 1 shall give an account of my stewardship, an’d let those who put me in to represent them, and the electors in general, judge for themselves under what conditions an outsider has to work. Yours, etc. E. G. MARTIN.