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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 1 September 1880, Page 2

TitE scheme that has cost many a headache to those connected with it, supplied subject matter for many a leading article, and produced public anxiety which has scarcely yet ended, will be "officially" brought to completion to-morrow. It ia well that the ratepayers should wish to celebrate this occasion by a public celebration, and the Council may be congratulated on having resolved upon carrying out the wish in a manner at once economical and befitting. The opening ceremony will b.e performed to-morrow at 2 p.m., and in order that all may be able to be present, his Worship the Mayor requests that a half-holiday should be observed, commencing at noon. We think that the request will meet with a liberal response. The weaiiief is likely to be agreeable, and the occasion affords a goc,d pjfeuse for giving one's family an outing. To-morrow will be a red-letter day in the history of Oamaru, and should not be allowed to pass without some recognition of its importance which wiil live in tfjc memories of those who, although yet oblivions of the terrors of taxation, will know all about them quite soon enough. Our children should witness the consummation of the project which cost their fathers a sacrifice for which they may not receive anything like corresponding benefit; for we believe that future generations will have cause to bless those >yho suffered so much turmoil and deprivation that they might provide the basis of prosperous industries and public health and comfort for the people of what is destined to become a crowded city.

The burgesses of are decidedly to be congratulated upon having, in the face of the averseness to enter the Council generally displayed by the most capable men in the town, obtained such a number of respectable and intelligent Councillors, The members elect combine amongst them all the necessary qualifications to enable them to perform satisfactorily by no means easy or pleasant duties. Business capacity, financial ability, and practical knowledge, three very necessary elements in successful carrying on the work of an important borough, are pretty equally represented, and it will be wt. - ;nf;e indeed if the combination of these talents dot<a not tend to the good of the borough, more especially as tho element of discord is likely to be entirely absent from the Council's deliberations. We should have preferred to have seen more of the old Councillors re.elected, but it is pleasing to find that one-half of the present members of the Council have given the town the benefit of their services for another term. Their experience and intimate knowledge of the affairs of the borough will be of great value. There is a large infusion of new blood, and this should certainly beget new life and fresh vigor. It ia a mattor for regret that through an omission on the part of the compiler of the Burgess Roll the nomination of Mr. John M'Combe could not be accepted, because the town was thereby deprived of the services of a gentleman who would have made a useful Councillor, while another election for Thames Ward will be necessary, and the affair is likely to lead to some unpleasantness. It appears that in compiling the roll the Town Clerk omitted to enroll Mr. M'C'ombe in respect of the most valuable of his properties, and that those properties Tp-jth which he was credited on the roll were not of sufficient ratable value to enable him under the Act to become a candidate. Mr. M 'Combe is taking legal advice upon the matter, and, pending the decision of the question, we refrain from further comment.

Mp.. Ciirucii, Assessor under the Property Tax Act, is now in a position to verify what we stated last evening, under the authority of the Commissioner of the department, regarding the extension of time for sending in filled-up schedules to the 30th inst. But it seems strange that the department should have been so remiss as not to inform Mr. Church immediately. they had resolved upon making this change. We know for a fact that that gentleman was besieged yesterday by anxious taxpayers, who, failing to get the information they required from him, favored us with a visit. We fortunately were able to show them our message from Mr. Sperry, or we would not have answered for the consequencea. There is yet nothing satisfactory to hand regarding the schedules. It may be the intention of the to accept those already sent in, or to insist upon the new ones being universally used, or, indeed, not to issue any now ones at all. Whatever course they elect to adopt, their position is beset with difficulties begotten of haste and incompetence. One word to taxpayers who havo already forwarded their schedules. In case you should bo roquirod to send in a second assessment on the new schedules, if you have not already made a note of the estimates of your property included in such assessment, remember, if possible, those estimates in order that you may not lay 3'ourselves open to a charge of falsification. If you cannot romember the figures you may have already sent in, you need not be terrified at tho consequences of any discrepancy that may occur between your first and second assessments, for, as you are your own valuer, you can, if excuso be necessary, say your property has changed in value since you formed your first estimate.