The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1918. ROADS AND LOANS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 408, 10 September 1918, Page 2

The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1918. ROADS AND LOANS.

"We nothing extenuate, not tet down avaht in malice

The decisive majority, viz., 179 votes to 38, by which the Franklin County Council's proposed loan of £27,000 for metalling the main roads in the Walau Pa and Karaka districts was carried at the poll of ratepayers last Friday is a very welcome indication that property owners In the County are prepared to shoulder the financial responsibilities of bringing about roading facilities in accordance with modern requirements. Also it can undoubtedly be taken as an expression of full confidence in the County Council and of entire approval of that authority's administration. What opposition was forthcoming to the scheme as designed raised two points, one being that complete details were lacking and that the carrying out of the work was left to the Council's discretion, whilst the other argument put forward was that instead of a wide area being dealt with in one large loan small loans for different sections of roads were to be preferred. In regard to the first contention the County Chairman (Cr W. C Motion) was not slow in assuring the ratepavers that the County Council's policy was to secure the best possible results for money expended and that the Council could be depended upon to thus act in the interests of those who found the money. In the matter of the suggested small loans, Cr J. S. Montgomeiie, as the member of the riding, very properly and convincingly contended that it was not only more economical in the long run but that uniformity and greater thoroughness of execution were secured by roads being dealt with in one comprehensive scheme instead of in piecemeal fashion to suit the whims and fancies, and possibly selfish ideas, of small knots of ratepayers. The result of Friday's poll was thus a signal triumph for the Council and an endorsement of its system of administration. Indeed at the polling booths of Waiau, Patumahoe, and Pukekohe (County Office) not a single vote was cast in opposition to the loan, and the same remark applies to Te Hihi, in the Karaka district, which, moreover, produced the largest vote of any of the polling booths and where having regard to past friction that has prevailed of Road Board v. the County some dissentient voices might have been expected to have made themselves heard. A few owners, probably absentees, voted in the negative in Auckland but they were even in the minority there, and only at the old Road Board office, Karaka, were the non-contents in the majority, such being explained by the fact that that particular locality was on the borderland of the special rating area and not so directly deriving benefit therefrom. The result of the poll is certain to have a very material bearing on other roading schemes that are under consideration in the County by providing a lead for others to follow and at the same time it will encourage the Council to persevere in progressive measures.