OUR LETTER BOX

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 255, 1 November 1904, Page 4

OUR LETTER BOX

(We are not responsible for opinions expressed by correspondents.) MTXICIPAL MATTERS. <To tlw: Editor.) Sir,—Your contemporary, in a leader bearing upon the difficulty of getting representative men to, take their j share in tho municipal duties, in con- I sequence of no nominations for the Central Ward seat caused by the re-! tireinent of Mr Carter—which, by the way, has now been got over in a satisfactory way by tMa nomination of Mr FrasM-i—says "In spite of minor mistakes work is going on satisfactorily." The whole tenor of the article and this statement in particular have induced me to make some inquiries, and what do I find. Why, that maintenance of the streets is principally taken out of loan monoyS this year, and bad the balance of the street improvement loan been used for the purpose for which it was raised that the council would have been compelled to strike a rate equivalent to about one thousand pounds, or increased the overdraft by that, amount. It also appears to be an open secret that none of the works in hand con be finished (or the estimates. Now, Sir, I would like to ask what about the promises made to the ratepayers when the council asked them to vote ninety thousand pounds, namely, that loan would be ample for proposed works, and when it would be spent no increase of rates would be reguired to meet the extra interest. It is no doubt true that, with the advice and approval of your contemporary, we swapped horses in the, middle of uhe stream, and the new team took the bit in their teeth and act off at top speed and appear to be going at the same pace still. That it will end like all such escapades there now appears no doubt, and if the brake; is not put; on we will soon find the borough cart in the ditch. Now, &ir, this reminds me of another matter I have often wondered at, namely, why so many of our best men made or found convenient excuses to retire from the council since the last general election.- But I think I have got some light on the matter now, and later on we may probably hear something further on thisi subject, as the members of lhe council who induced the ratepayers to vote for a loan under misrepresentations are not freo from blame.—l am, etc., WATCHMAN.