THE PROPOSED BOROUGH.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 387, 24 July 1889, Page 2

THE PROPOSED BOROUGH.

(To tho Editor). Sir, — In reading the report of the meeting held on Saturday 13th inst., re Borough afc Waioroneomai, I was surprised that none of the speakers pointed out that when Ohinomiiri separated from Thames they were loaded to the extent of notwithstanding the waterraoe being handed over to the Thames for their own use and henefit ; and there is no doubt but that in the event of you at Te Aroha forming a Borough you would he saddled with a fair proportion of the debt. And as the tramway has, to a large extent,, caused the presert indebtedness of tho County, it is jnst probaMeyou mlglit be called on to take over the assets and these liabilities situated within the proposed district. For my awn part I cannot B<je wluvt you can

sfftin by tlw proposed separation ; you misjhfc spend cash on your footpaths, but • it coulil only bo done at the cost of the other portions of the g-oMfioM, and I am quite sure that mine owtiora are as well treateil by the present fortu of government as they could he by the proposed. I am, etc., Adam Porter. Auckland, July 18th, 1689,

[To the Editor.] Sir, — As I stood at the door' of my residence oa Saturday night about 7 p.m., I noticed u lunar rainbow, a rare phonomenon, and one which " Sages who wrote and Poets »who sung," Used to associate with pressafirin»:woetoman,ele. I&trolled upinto : the township, thinking- I might hear some original comments on the subject at " Our I Corner," Judge of my astonishment when, instead of the usual conclave ofPhilosojpheis, I observed people hurrying along 1 in a sort of stampede, to the battle or/ of "to the Hall, to the Hall^ J was suoked into the vortex of rushing humanity and whirled along, despite the danger of being lost to eight in " Barney's sludge,'* on the new promenade. On arriving in theForuin I hehpld the urbane looking face of "our Chair," looking every bit Sir Maurice O'Ronte, and I at once settled myself to hear sapient things from his lips, but his mellifluous cadences werepitched rather " sotto," and consequently I was deprived of much learning. However, by dint of straining mv tympanum I gathered, in short, that the minds of our local frogs, being much exercised by reason of glaring misgovern men t, desireto implore the Wellington Jove to enable them to have a king of their own, in theperson of a Mayor — no less ! Now, I may at once anticipate to you my opinion,, gathered from all the evidences 1 coulcj collect, and it is this, that if his thundering Majesty^ does gratify the froggy wiah.es, it will not be a log- I>3 will bless them- wirh,- bat a veritable Stork — of the genus Taxation. Oh, guileless froggies t Ye do not appear to realise yet tfte voracious appetite of that biid, but gobble yon up he will . Well, to the subject again. It soon appeared from the somewhat diffuse, not to say disjointed speech of th& principal speaker — or I might say the oily speaker for a couple of honrs or' so ; a well-meaning man I doubt not, but who,, unfortunately for those present, who really desired some sound tangible information, in fact, who needed education on the great question, and who formed a large and respectable proportion of tho«e present—forgot to bring with him all the necessary to carry conviction. I say, it soon became evident that he had a strong animofl against some printer"* dcvil — or Mn boss — and being promptly supported by one or two equally minded* partizans in the Hall, gathered courage,, and with it — wind, for to many precisely* similar questions, of an abtruse nature, forinstance, us to the exact resn't arising from the subtraction of one farthing fron* time halfppnf-e of taxpayer's money,, gave the required information, each tiin* nccomDanyiniriWith a fresh spiwb, each just the same in purport, but differing inconstruction from the preceding nne. When these tactics had been pursued for some time I ciught myself yavvnm*'' severely from sheer weariness of spirit— ' Hope deferred, etc." Hope of hearing faofs in their true light, figures, etc., in all their grim reality, presented to my mind, to lead? me to vote fnr the Stork-— but no. At this stage I was suddenly aroused by a great noise, one of the corner stones nf our intellectu.il edifice fell heavily on the head of our King of the Mudwaikn, for some interruption implying a reflection more or less opaque, but mere}' tempered 1 wiath, and the monarch of mud escaped. Anon the fray became more general aloni? t!ie line, attacks, in nil sorts of formations being now made on the P.D., feints in front, real attacks being attempted on liis flanks and rear ; but he coolly employed very old and sound atiategy and belched out uoon his opponents a withering fire from the ink pot, with the result that he remained master of the field of commonsense, as all commanders must whooppose the artillery of fact and logicto the brick walls of bottomless sentimentality. About this period my superior moiety came into the Hall and sternly rasped into ray ear that I had better be at home rocking the cradle than listening to a number of visionaries endeavouring to prove that it is not well to leave well alone, I quietly asked her to allow me to remain all night on the off chance of hearing just one little proof thafc we really needed a Borough arrangement, free from the ultimate fate- of borrowing or being taxed out of existence to promote a fad — but she would not listen, charmed I ever so wisely — she stamped her foot (size about 9) and said if I did not leave this Millsey-Murphy business alone and goat once, she would' " go at the meeting on Woman's Rights."— l went. That amiable half of me was not very sweet when we got behind our ' dimity * that night. She asked in a tone of vitriol if all I heard led one to the belief " that the present scandalous price of tucker ('yea, she used that very word) in the city of Mudville would bo reduced by the adoption of a " Barrow" Council instead' of a County ditto"? I timidly said I feared! it would' not bring about that needful reform — She softened, and said pittihgly — ah,. • dear Softy, if you are a sort of Saint Paul, you were certainly not to-night sitting at the f*et of Gamaliel, and, then, something about certain people making a stalking horse of the cry of " a Barrow," only •' to feather their own nests." At this stage I curled nayself np in mine. 1 dreamt, yes, we got our Borrough Stork. Advertisement in the " Te Arpba Terror" : Wanted, a Town Clerk for the Borough of Mudville ; salary, 41150 per annum. Duties i To keep the Borough books. correctly, that they may show where all the ratepayers money does not go ; to carry tafes and cossip jund intriguing clap trapto the ready ears of the Council, to be.'as well read up in - all Municipal Acts of" Parliament as a thi)id class policeman, so as to filter that information into the minds of the Council, to run with the hare and thehound b, and lastly,, never refuse a good ""tip" for whatever purpose offered. Office hours : AIJ hours." Seventy-five applicants, for billet—the dream burst up by " Touch, the cradle J^e." — 1 am, etc. Joe Soisry. Waiorongoinni, July 16, 1889. [Owing to the length of our Correspondent's letter, w e were obliged- to- hold over until this issue, owing to.Jpress.ujcq. c*t other mutter. --Ed*!