MARTON BOROUGH LOANS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXII, Issue 9011, 26 November 1907, Page 2

MARTON BOROUGH LOANS.

" SIR,— Unfortunately, owing to Mr I Hodges’ use of a nom do plume, I, at the time of my previous letter to vou, was unaware that my reply was g directed against so reputable and j worthy a townsman—one whom piersouallv I hold in high esteem. His mistake of quoting a repealed section j was a natural one, due to Lie un- f fortunate everlasting meddling of j our legislators with their own , efforts. I was quite aware or tho , re-enacted provisions, hut to naye mentioned them at that stage would have taken from the jioiut of my letter, which was merely to demolish, not to construct. io answer, however specifically, the I point raised by Mr Hedges, I did not i err when I stated at tho ratepayers - ! meeting that tiiore was no existing 1 power to differentiate in these loans ■ . between ratepayers living within ’ tho area of expenditure and those ; living on the outskirts of tiie : Borough. Mr Hedges is quite correct when ho suggests that separate ; loan districts can bo created v.itnm one. borough, but the difficulty, however, is that the money raised in any particular loan district created must ba expended" wholly within the loan district in which it is raised. Therefore, if with tho object of striking a lesser value over the farming and other outskirts of tho Borough of Marton such outskirts _ should bo created 0110 loau district, and o tuo well-populated part of the Borough were created another loan district ao the full rate, (the money raised m the outskirts loau district could not bo expended in the town loan district, but tiie loau money raised m tho outskirts would have to be spent wholly in the outskirts, and no part of it could bo spent within tho limits of the town proper. It cannot be seriously contended that - suburban areas do not benefit by the expenditure of money in improving tiie town to which they rare adjacent. Supposing, for example, the expenditure of these loans were to so attract nopulatiou (by the improved conditions of having decent footpaths and roads instead of Turakiua lanes in ; : front ot ratepayers’ houses) as to i make Marton as large as Wellington,

could .anyone assert that tho farming properties, situated, say on Goebel s 01 Newman’s lines, would not i greatly increase in value to the ! benefit of their owners? My point j was that while the expenditure | should in tins case be, in the town proper, I regretted there was no power to differentiate, on tho ‘‘ 1 >ehtorment’ ’ principle. I do not know what Mr Hedges means when ho says that niy

economy has lately cost tho ratepayers some £2O. Ho may mean tiie Park (cricketers generally do): but the annual receipts from tho Park have never yet reached £3O (for me to lose for tho ratepayers). Kindly be, explicit, Mr Hedges, anil I am thou put in a proper position for my defence. Financially tho £4OOO loan is a splendid business transaction for the Borough. For tiie first time in Now Zealand the money will bo able to ba obtained at 3G per cent. Theanimal expenditure of £i4o for 41 years will pay the interest and extinguish the loan as well. Never, probably, again will money bo able to bo obtained so cheaply. It is a great opportunity for the Borough, and a. good business transaction for the Dominion. The Act enabling loans to be made at such a cheap rate will probably bo promptly repealed, and then when the money is (as" it must be) later required and sought for those street purposes a higher rate of interest will have to bo paid. What commercial man for the purposes of Ids business would not seize such a magnificent oppor tunity of obtaining Hie uso of £4OOO capital at an annual charge of only £140? Tho annual interest that is required for tho two loans—£lßo and £B2 10. £222 30s altogether—can be obtained without increasing tiie rates

by oven one penny. To pay such sum iu interest will procure for the town £3500 for use iu streets that the present wucration (instead of their children’s children) can walk upon. To expend (say) in tiie ease of tiie £4OOO loan for example, as lias been suggested, tho amount of tiie annual interest £340 iu gradual street improvements would mean that it would be 29" years deuce before tho last barrow load of gravel would be wheeled upon Hie contemplated works, and yet Hie expenditure would be exactly the same (£140) through all those years. Why not for the £340 Jiave tiie present benefit? and thus have a full 29 years’ use of the streets at precisely the same expenditure, as by doling the amount out in dribbles. The water supply cry is only a red herring of the parsimonious. Tho men who arc now loudly advocating a water loan are (with one or two -geuniuc exceptions) oulv doing so with a view to defeat the street loan proposals. If Marton by the expenditure of tiiis money is moved on tiie road to progress and developod tlierc will be many more houses erected, and it will then (by tiie prescnce'of a "renter number of ratepayers to bear the burden) be an easy matter to finance au adequate water supply iustead of the present jinny efforts resulting in the obtaining of a trickle. Tiie town should wake from its long lethargic sleep and stride with tiie times or Palmerston will seize the'trade Hint the opening of the Central Trunk Railway now offers to Marton;-r-i am, etc.. ALFRED LYON.