The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, April 12. THE COMING BOROUGH ELECTIONS.

Taihape Daily Times, 12 April 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, April 12. THE COMING BOROUGH ELECTIONS.

(With w&i«si : «R Ttseorprvrated The Taihap© Post en 4 WalntaiJ-so Mows).

Notifications in our advertising columns from Borough Councillors "Wrightson and Joblin, offering themselves as candidates for the position of Taihape's Chief Magistrate, ought to be sufficient- intimation to Taihape electors that the biennial election of Councillors, as well as of Mayor, is

at to a sense of their civic duties and responsibilities, to say nothing of their consideration for the progress and welfare of" the borough from every viewpoint. However Heavy the responsibilities AA'hieh rested upon the the pioneer councillors who established the chief public services in the town, they were no more pressing than these which are to devolve upon the Council that is shortly to be oleeted. New conditions of Borough life have arisen as a result of the war, chief among tbem being the housing of the people, and the institution of sanitary conditions that will constitute a reasonable protection from the ravages of infectious diseases. With respect to the housing problem, it is evident that if people are to increase in number the local Borough Council must take immediate and practical steps to supply the habitations that are so urgently needed; the shortage of housing'room has now reached the scandal stage. The alternative is a reversion to primitive days when man delved out his .own hole in rocks, took shelter in caves, or built himself wigwams of twigs and mud. We are faced in Taihape with the undeniable fact that private enterprise has failed to furnish the requisite houses; that housebuilding is an unprofitable business owing to the abnormal appreciation of commodities used in their construction together with a current depreciation of money for all purposes, and yet the town must have

houses if it is to progress; it cannot grow or extend without them. Then, the question for the incoming Borough Council will be, "Is the town and all its business to stagnate; to "stand absolutely still, or shall means be devised and put into practice to provide the houses that people already packed away are languishing for?" We say straightway that this town neither wants a mayor or a councillor that is not fully alive to the housing necessity, and who is not convinced that it is his first duty to evolve immediate measures for overcoming the difficulty. Ratepayers have given their sanction to a loan at £17,000 for street and other improvement which the new Council will have to spend. More than at any other time does this community need the services of practical men, for such men mean the difference between valueless and profitable expenditure of the l°an money. The Council chamber must not he used for a mere fortttightly smoke -aad korcro alxmt things in general but if the very utmost is to" he achieved with the means available there must be deeply interested conferences between nine or ten fit the best, the most outstanding, business-

men of the town, who possess a knowledge beyond a mere smattering of. their daily account-keeping. Conditions of life are being reflected in a wave of greater interest in public matters generally throughout the Dominion; positions on local bodies are being contested by a more capable lot of men. It is realised that the individual i n the community cannot progress unless the community movTs onward to better life and conditions; the3 T have found that community progress is the basis upon which all individual progress rests, and that without one there cannot be the other and the result is that new life is being infused into Municipal matters everywhere. In Addition to , {the housing problem and the spending of the £17,000 loan the town is menaced with great sanitary difficulties. A few people, somewhat arbitrarily, are selected from the great number to be compelled to connect up with the town's water and sewerage system. But the grave state of«y'nefficiency of water supply renders it quite impracticable to compel all houseowners to connect their homes with the sewerage syst?m, as such a course would result in a breakdown of the present water supply. We cannot have reasonable sanitary conditions because there is no dependable water supply, and we are not aware that the present Councillors are giving the borough, or the incoming councillors any lead on so vitally important a situation. There should be no rush to adopt any particular proposal for a gravitation supply; the country northward is of a higher altitude and there should be no groat difficulty in selecting a reliable, permanent source at no great distance that would pro"vo ample for a town of ten times the population, only something must bo done promptly if disaster is to be averted; conditions are so serious that they do not permit of a weak council with its inevitable policy of drift. Everything cannot be accomplished at once, but it is imperative a start should be made somewhere, and as ratepayers are the source of all Income, we urge that steps should be commenced to -increase fthe number of ratepayers to bear the burden. The town cannot have improvements in its services of necessity without an increase in its source of income; the present source of income is too limited to bear the strain it would be necessary to put upon it in solving the housing problem and furnishing a safe and sure water supply, therefore there must be more ratepayers first. This is not a great difficulty, nor would it add to the already fairly heavy burden taxpayers are now under. Rents would be sufficient to pay interest on money borrowed to erect them, and the borough would benefit to the extent of whatever additional volume of rates was forthcoming. Increased business would tend towards making the business centre of a higher rateable value, as well as of a higher selling value, and as the town rapidly moved on from a two thousand population to one of three thousand wotild come other sources of revenue which are inseparable from large communities. There nrust be caution exercised by any council that may be elected to avoid penalising beyond endurance the same old few ratepayers who have hitherto carried the town's burden. Their number could be increased by the erection of one hundred houses, which could all be made rate producing by the time the last nail was driven into them. Taih'npe needs- the aid of its best and ablest citizens to enable it to solve the almost insuperable difficulties with which it is faced.