Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31 1905.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXII, Issue 42799, 31 October 1905, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31 1905.

I his above all--to thine own self be true, And it must follow as the night the dag Thou cansi not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

It is satisfactory to note the progress which is being made by the Piako Ratepayers’ Association, and the almost unanimous feeling that exists in the County in favour of the reforms which the Association is determinedly working for. Ratepayers have awakened to the fact ithat the maladministration of county mattes has given them very little to show for the rates which they hove been called upon to pay, and nothing has so much served to emphasise this fact as the working of the road machine, by means of which, at great expense, poor roads have been put into little better condition than before they were touched. Much could be done p> improve and systematise the method of using the road machine, and such reorganisation would no doubt lead to considerable economy being affected. I)ut undoubtedly the greatest step to- ■ wards economy in this matter would be the abolition of County horS' > altogether, and the substitution of the contract system, such as is adopted for almost all other works carried out by the Couucil Another change which the Association will endeavour to bring about is the adoption of the Separate Riding Account System, a system said to be perfectly legal,. and which is working quite satisfactorily in a number of counties in different parts of the country. This system encourages the allocation of rates collected in any riding to the carrying out of works in that riding. It is to the interest of every ratepayer to actively follow the events of the few days remaining before the county election takes place. Candidates who will fearlessly state their views and policy at a public meeting will of a certainty have a good claim for the ratepayer’s vote if those views coincide with the requi ements of the electors, for a man who has announced a favourable policy is assuredly more likely to carry out the wishes of his electors than a candidate who has not committed himself to any particular programme. It is wi li the object of announcing a definite ratepayers’ programme that the candidates chosen by the Association for electi n to . the County Council, will speak at Waihou and Morrinsville during the next few days. By attending one of these meetings ratepayers will obtain a clear insight into the work and objects of the Association, and will be thoroughly convinced that the Association’s c indidates are in every way worthy of hi arty support. All that then remains to be done is for ratepayers to register their votes in favour of the Association’s representative chosen as candidate for their particular riding, and that done unamiously, will assure twelve months of good and progressive work by the new Council, and the substitution of a sound and satisfactory system of working for the old slip-shod methods which a while ago it seemed almost hopeless to think of combating Now that the movement is prop rly afoot, enthusiasm will carry it through to a successful finish.