Patea Borough Loan.

Patea Mail, 31 May 1882, Page 3

Patea Borough Loan.

MORE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

The latter part of the public meeting oir Saturday night was perhaps the most en- ! tertaining. The loan had been stronglyattacked): and the-Mayor seemed to' be' fighting a- single - handed 'contest with- : several antagonists. Mr Dale, Councillors Milroy, Aitchison,; and Gibson, had each gone against the. loan, scheme. The tide began to turn when Councillor Adams made brisk defence of -the shhetoe ; followed by Councillor Taplin’s.strong and hearty support) which restored the waning confidence bf the meeting. Councillor Taplin concluded a vigorous’ speech thus : : When; you get ; into the main street, the town has a appearance ; 1 but coming up the hill from-the river, the‘ approach is a disgrace to any place calling itself a borough. In New Plymouth the other day I noticed they had lower storeys such as Mr Aitchison is afraid of, and the' properties did ; not appear the least ’ de- ■ predated by the street being raised to a : higher level. -The question is; not that the Opposition don’t -want Bedford-street i made,: but they don’t want to be ratedlThey have made their money, and want to stick to it. Tam going to vote for the l loan, and for the scheme ;in its present state. (Applause.) ! > ■ - ! Mr Dale : You have informed the meeting that the Opposition- did not move in’ the matter of throwing out the Mayor’s scheme. Are you not aware that if is the custom to adopt or .reject the • Engineer’s 1 report when brought forward ?' Councillor: Taplin : In this case the Act does not compel you to. Mr Dale : Not to decide whether you. shall accept? . ■" : Councillor' Taplin : No! (very loudly. Great laughter.) You mighthave 5 Coun- - cillors out of ten who would-not; borrow -then how could you adopt a scheme •to borrow? - : • • ■- •>’- --Vuj

Mr Barker:; Put some different men m.d » Councillor Taplin-; You* have'got the* best mens in no w. (Great laughter.)' A f fact;' Mr Dale-asked several 1 other ‘questions• iabout;procedure. . > ; iJ r-'im ': ; •'■■■■ j Councillor Taplin ;: We have gone strictly l ■in accordance with, the Act.; df the* Go--vernmeUt erred in drawing up • that' Act, ; Utisinot our fault. ■■ ; nJ Dale : Why did you not -move ; the* adoption of the Engineer’s report ? You jhave l: stated > that . the* * Opposition were 1 ‘afraid to move : were you not -afraid to I . " Imoye for fear it would hedhrown out ? !; ‘ • Councillor Taplin: It is mot required do anove. Nt We are the Government, of course.’ (Great daughter.) ; Here is the bead|of the > ’Government (hand, on; the.-Mayor’s bead). , Mr Dale raised furthur objections about;a post and rail fence for the Bedford-street" ■ 1 > Mayor ruled Mr Dale-out'of order .for persisting in referring to what was hot in sthe plans. ; Mr J. W, Bright ; I came here under the impression that we were called to discuss - Reading matter is continued on Aik page. .

the Council’s scheme. We have a right to hear the opinion of the remaining Councillors in the room, and then we shall be able to form an idea of what the opinion of the Council is. THE MAYOR’S.REPLY.

Mayor : If no other ratepayer wishes to speak, I will now reply to the various points raised. We have received no other scheme —only a string of objections and repeated attempts to draw herrings across - the track. If the opposition thought this scheme was not coming legally before you, where is the evidence of the action they took to stop it ? Would it not have been more becoming in them, if they thought the thing was wrong, not to have gone to the expense of this meeting for an illegal purpose, but to have taken some steps to prevent what they complain of ? Councillor Aitchison has been fair and open in his opposition. I wish I could say the same for others. Councillor Aitchison was the only one in that Council who objected to the scheme as a whole. It is true that others offered a slight objection, but not sufficient in itself to justify me in abandoning the scheme. There is nothing in the Act requiring that this scheme shall be adopted by the Council prior to cpming before a public meeting. One Councillor asked what was the next course: whether the scheme would not'have to go before a public meeting! I said that was the next course. If they did not wish it to go before a public meeting why, did they not move ? As to the statement that I had looked after certain properties, the instructions were given by Councillor Milroy and mys’elf to the Engineer, and from that time I have not interfered with him in the . slightest degreed The Engineer ) has his reputation at stake. He was told to make as easy a grade as he could consistently with,the money available. * Is it likely that he would make a work which would be a laughing - stock ? The objection is .evidently, against borrowing altogether. The objection is dressed up in various forms, but there is a peculiar unanimity among two or three. As to the water supply, the Act allows us to acquire land outside the borough for almost any purpose you could mention. The borrowing of this £5,000 was moved years ago in the Town Board ; and finding there was a dead set against improvements except in a small way, round certain streets, I retired from the Board, and who took my place ?—Mr Dale. And in his advertisement he proposed to borrow £5,000. (Mr Dale;: No, £3,000.) The amount was reduced after to £3,000. But what did he do about borrowing? Nothing. Eventually I went again into the Town Board, and proposed , a scheme again. Then came, this Borough Council. Therefore lam not asking you in this scheme to do anything fresh. . As to not taking advice frommy colleagues, why has Councillor Milroy not tendered it to me? He has got, equally with myself, every access to what is going on in the Council. If this matter is wrongly before you Councillor Milroy is equally responsible. But I do not say it is wrongly before you. He says that since mentioning to me the town levels, he has seen nothing about the scheme. The Council appointed him to do so : why has.he not seen about the Engineer’s work on the scheme ? ■/ Whose fault is it ? Has if not been known all along that work / was goingi on for a borrowing scheme ? If he did mot know, I simply say he has neglected his duty in a nfost remarkable degree. I believe there has been a purpose in it, and I trace it throughout. If he won’t have this scheme, why does he not propose another ? I defy him to show that he has ever proposed to push the place ahead by borrowing money. I did not conceive it to be my; duty: to go. round and canvass you, or a list of ratepayers round and endeavour to upset a scheme before you had heard the other side of the question. This scheme Is purely for your own interest. , If you choose to reject it, you can do no more harm to me than you do to yourselves. lam firmly of opinion that this is the best scheme that can be devised. In the absence of any other scheme, I am' practically justified in taking thfe scheme to the vote, and I shall do so. Councillor Milroy’s public scheme is to spend a few hundred pounds in Bedford-atreet, and get a dozen of lamps- . . Councillor Milroy ; I did not say a few hundreds.

Mayor; Then if Bedford-street is to remain as it is now, I pity his want of go-ahead-ness. As to street lamps, we had a proposal to light the town by electricity. (Laughter.) You are almost led to believe that if you go in for this loan, you won’t be able to get a dozen of lamps. (Laughter.) I have taken the liberty of Sending tio Auckland for a sample lamp ; and there will be sufficient money to get a dozen of lamps after this loan is raised. Bide streets will not have to be made up to the level of Bedfordstreet, as you are wrongly informed, but will be graded. I believe the construction of Bedford-street will enhance the value of Mr Aitchison’s property enormously. When you go to the poll, I ask you to remember that if the town Is to advance, the people must encourage it. You are not asked to have any rate. The ordinary rate is 3d in the pound less than it was before. You have a splendid endowment, and it is for you now to utilise it and make the town some credit to the people in it. If this scheme should be lost, it cannot hurt me. If it, is carried, it can only benefit me in proportion as it benefits you. . Mr Dale rose to ask further questions. The meeting broke up, and his voice was lost in the hubbub. The meeting had had enough. A motion of thanks to the Mayor for presiding was proposed, and supposed to qe agreed to.