LOAN PROPOSALS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 62, 18 March 1913, Page 5

LOAN PROPOSALS.

(To the Editor “Stratford Post.”) Sir, —The fact that New Plymouth sanctioned the raising of two large loans recently has been quoted as an example for the guidance of voters at the poll, to be taken in Stratford tomorrow, but before deciding to follow this example, ratepayers should consider the various circumstances of the two boroughs and their proposed loans.

In New Plymouth, £50,000 of the proposed loan is for tramways, which presumably will be self-supporting, and, therefore, this portion of their loan must be deleted from consideration. The balance of their loan, £40,000 is for street improvements, and this expenditure will not be directly reproductive. Our own proposed loans approximate a similar amount, and are for expenditure on works which will not be directly reproductive.

Taking the figures of the year-nook for 1912, the position is as follows: — New Plymouth.—Capital value of rateable properties, £1,096,158; total rates, £7975; rates in the £ capital value, 1.7 Id. Stratford.—Capital value of rateable properties, £327,460; total rates £3309; rates in the £ capital value, 2.42 d.

Thus Stratford’s rates are just anout 40 per cent, higher than they are in New Plymouth, and our capital value less than one-third.

In spite of this, we are asked to sanction a similar loan. —I am, etc., J. B. RICHARDS. Stratford, March 18.