A Ratepayer's Letter.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7899, 15 August 1905, Page 2

A Ratepayer's Letter.

o— ■ - Exception taken by tkt Council. Jlf l ? tte ,': t0 th e Mayor, road at Mondays Council meeting, the Borough Lng.,new , lo ok serious abjection ito portion of letter published fa the T?''l nS to borou (f h «'<>rks, which stated "clerks of works, foro "ven, and engineers. seem to tlje hav- !"&.• * joliy iime at our expense." „„« '/? T i4 ' " W sil " l "s' inftt! "- ous and I claim the protection of of the.Council from such a cowardly attack. My clerks of works arc meu in whom I have the greatest confidence r tho foreman is a very capable man and does not l>y any mc«ns have 'a jolly time..' ; for myself, the Council is well aware that I have hardly a minute to spare from morning to. night, poller has his own horse and trap, which, he freely uses in. tho corporation service, anriTolir has his bicycle, and I have mine aho foreman also has his own bir cycle. No labourer is ever p a jd t< drive mo from place tp place n » stay ted. The man wtio gots with nle to the waterworks is Ward, my chainman, a man I "could not possibly do without. A trap is never under any circumstances employed by me except for carrying myself and instruments to works in progress." Cr. Brooking : The tetter wtis written on the day of the poll, (o influence the vote. I think this fuel is sufficient explanation.

The Maybr said that, the Council thought it was cheaper to hire a trap thun to buy a horse and conveyance, provide standing, and have a man to look after the turnout. A tender of 7s Gd was accepted. Tho only reason for the. heavy cost of trap hire was 'because of tho numer-' oiis visits the Ilorough Rugineur had to make to the intake works. He tHought the engineer was cntitlod to much prais.e for the*manm>r in which he had supervised the 'water schema, and safeguarded the interests of the Ilorough. The letter was written on the eve of the election as a doclf>o. Ho thought those -who voted against one of the proposals would live to see tiiit they had made an wrror. One newspaper had said the powe.s that be would grant the Jfoleswiorth Street scheme, but this-was not the case, as the Government had absolutely refused ito give that thoroughfare.

Cr. Collis said the explanation about the trap hire was entirely satisfactory. Referring to the letter, ho thought it was bad newspaper form to publish such a letter. The foot note was n|mpst sufficient ani swer. lie would like to know who were the three Councillors said to J* 1 interested in tho vuie. Several Councillms : So would I.

Cr. Colljs thouglil Mr (ii'ayling had taken up the ctijllonge, judging from " paragraph in tho paper. Cr, lis is so thin-skinned as lo_take any notice of the letter. It is not worth noticing, Tho (tyuneH then proceeded to other business.