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Southland Times, Issue 1607, 19 July 1872, Page 2

/ The Tay-street money has certainly given the Town Council a great deal* of trouble. TNo sooner has one plan for getting possession of it proved impracticable than another is devised. The latest idea on the subject is, tbat as the Council cannot legally take it to spend on the streets, they should borrow it, which, it seems to be thought, would do nearly as well. This process was aptly described by Mr Pratt, at the nomination meeting, as " practically taking it out of one pocket, and putting it into the other." 7N,0 doubt ; and it seems pretty evident that this fact constitutes the great merit of the proposal. The Council would be its own creditor, and could hardly be expected to drive a very hard bargain about tha rate of interest when it was lending money to itself. One per cent, per annum was the rate proposed by Mr Jaggers for the £500 he wanted to lend the Education Committee, when ifc was discovered that the law would not admit of making them a present of the money. In the present case, no rate has been named, although it has been suggested that " the current rate of interest" would be fair. What the current rate of interest, on money tukeu oufc of one pocket and put into the other would be, might possibly admit of some difference of opinion, but as the Council itself would have to settle it, and fin if: Txrrwil'-l «*+■ +lxooatnotiifio itopfocciilbolh borrower and lender, besides being composed of " business men," as some of its members occasionally take pains to assure us, it would no doubt find it very easy to come to an amicable arrangement. The same friendly spirit would prob..bly prevent any unpleasantness, which in other circumstances might arise, if the interest did not happen to be forthcoming when it fell due. Altogether it is a very nice little arrangement, and highly creditable to the ingenuity of those who devised it. Tbe only fault of the plan is thatit is a little too transparent. It is not very difficult to understand what would become of tbe money before long, if the Council gets leave to adopt this clever scheme for " taking it oufc of one pocket and putting it into another." Tlie principal would be spent at once, and the interest, having to be paid out of the rates, would soon come to be regarded as a yearly burden imposed upon the citizens for keeping the reserves in order. Tnis, of course, would be a fertile source of grumbling among the ratepayers, and the next aspirant for civic honors who wished to m;.ike a bid for popularity, would be sure to propose thae it should be reduced, and the next after him, that it should be discontinued altogether, both of which proposals would probably be c.irried in course of time, and the fund effectually and finally plundered. That this is the intention of some of the members there can now be no doubt. The obstinate and unreasonable persistence which a few of them have shown in refusing to place the money in a separate bank account, awakened suspicions some time ago which hardly needed the confirmation they have since received. No sensible reason, said one of the retiring Councillors at the nomination, had been given for placing the money in a separate bank account. All that had been said, for it was that the fund might otherwise be encroached upon. That, then, in the estimation of this gentleman, was not a sensible reason. We think differently, aud most of our readers will be inclined to agree with us, even though they may nofc be " business men," like the Councillor in question. Another Councillor stated openly in a letter to the newspapers that there could be worse ways of dealing with the money than expending it illegally, and at the meeting the same gentleman aaid that if the Couucil did take the money, the worst that could happen would be thafc some of the citizens would have to demand that it should be repaid out of the rates. They would be sure to get it, of course. He was a " business man," too. The suggestion of borrowing the money, for useful works, as opposed to improving the recreation reserves, which is described as merely ornamental work, certainly has a specious air aoout it, which makes it seem at first sight rather hard to saythat the object is neither more nor less than to plunder the reserve fund. But the confirmation of this asser- <•* tion is lound in the fact that if the

Council wants to borrow, at a fair rate , of interest, and to pay tbe interest when it falls due, there is uo need for applying to this fund at all. Tho whole money market is open to it, in the ordinary I wav, and ihere will not be the slightest ! difficult/ iv raising the full amount allowed by the law, without touching the reserve fund. But it* it does not mean to pay a fair rate of interest, or to meet it punctually as it falls due, then the plan of taking the Tay street money, of which they are at present the custodians, |has obvious advantages, which those who have proposed it — beiivj; " business men" — must of course have been aware of. The suggestion has been made that the money should be placed in the hands of trustees, and we think it a very good one. Only, to be of any use, this step should be taken before the money is borrowed, not afterwards. The trustees | might then refuse to lend ifc, and would i I at least have to see that the interest was ■ paid if they did. The borrowing plan ! would not be heard much more of, in that case, for the simple reason that it would be as easy then to borrow any other money as this. The attention of fche Assembly will be called to the sub. ject shortly, and the Council will probably find themselves relieved of further trouble thereanent, by au Act which will place the money for tlie future effectually (beyond their reach.