BOROUGH LOAN PROPOSALS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81873, 24 October 1906, Page 3

BOROUGH LOAN PROPOSALS.

£14.300 ASKED FUR. 1 lie ratepayers of the borough o New Plymouth are lo be asked isanction a loan of £14,31*) made ui a- follows.—To pay oft existing Ha biiitics on the electric lighting account, and hi extend the lighting am power system £10.000; waterworks £1000; sewage £ioou; purchase 0! site for erection of Carnegie library. £2.300. The proposal to go to th<- ratepayers on Ihe electric light ing loan wa* passed some weeks ago, but iln* whole of the other proposals were waded through at Monday's meeting of [the Council. Th<' proposal will be submitted to a meeting of the rate payer* without delay, and it should ij> undmtood thai each item stands by itself, i. e.> a ratepayer may vole lor any one of them, or more as he or sho desires.

ELECTRIC LIGHTING ,£IO,OOO.

I At Monday night's Council meeting Cr. liellringer asked if the proposed duplication of the generating plant at Mangorei, giving an extra (jo kdo wats. would be sullicient for all time! or if not, lor how long would this extension suftice?

Councillor Brooking,* chairman of tin- ejeiiric lighting committee, said that new machinery would give as mueh energy as the existing mains could carry. Mr Mestaycr had advised the Cwncil that another yo kilowatt could be obtained by making a dam and raising the level of the river. Another pipe would have be laid from the pipehead to the powerhouse, but this would cost a good deal of money. But at present the additions would complete the installation planned. The Mayor asked if the line would carry au extra go kilowats. Councillor Brooking replied l that' in the loan proposals provision was made for an additional main.

In answer to Councillor Bellringer, Councillor Brooking said lie would explain as fully as possible to the ratepayers meeting, adding that ho expected "a lively quarter of an hour' :

WATER SUPPLY EXTENSION. COMMITTEE'S FIGURES REDUCED. £iuou REQUIRED. The committee set up to consider the waterworks extension, recommended that a proposal be submitted to ine ratepayers to borrow the sum of £2OOO for the purpose of paying, the liabilities already incurred in connection with the waterworks and for ihe -PUfpo-e of addition and exten|iions lo the waterworks either within 01; without ihe borough; and that those who had petitioned fur waterworks extension be informed iliat their petitions would be considered after tiie above proposals had been submitted to the van-payers.

The Mayor in moving the adoption of llie report, stated that the waterworks loan had been fully spent, and overdrawn, and there were many wo]ks lodo; amongst others the i-'itz-ro'y extension asked for would cost £lO7, Belt road £so, Vogi-ltown £l7O. Reveitue would be Fitzroy £ls 1( s. with probable additions £4 7/; Belt road, £ll 3.(1; Vogcltown £ll 3/, with a probability of £x 16/ from other properties along the route of the water main. These seemed good investments, but they could not be made unless further loan money was obtained. The Council had material in hand worth about £375. Councillor llutchen considered this an extraordinary proposal. Certainly .£6OO was wanted to pay off the existing liabilities, and abi/ut £3OO was asked for to make these extensions, but why ask for £2OOO, when £IOOO would do? The ratepayers wire very chary of these borrowing proposals. They wanned to know how all these loans were going to work out, and if llie Council loaded tlu- borrowing proposals with so manv Schemes, there was a danger of the Vihole proposals being thrown out. lie would b'- sorry to see that, principally because he wanted to see the electric light extended to make it a paying concern. lie would support the report up to ,£IOOO. Tin- Ma'yor said that if the electiic light loan were sanctioned it might not be necessary to raise this money for some time, as the water work could be done out of overdraft, which would be relieved by raising the electric light loan. The rcpori of the committee was rejected, Crs. Monteath - Bellringer, Wilson, Collis, ant! ilutchen voting against it.

Cr Bellringer moved that the ratepayers be asked lo sanction £IOOO loan.

Cr. Colli- seconded, and considered the Council was not called upon to exiend tho water beyond the borough boundaries.

Cr. Brooking : Those are my sentiments, but tliey don't seem to go down.

liie Mayor said tlu' extension would be a very profitable investment, returning from S 10 iu per cent 011 outlay.

Ihe Council agreed to £rooo, and lite report was adopted. / DRAINAGE £wuo.

Ihe Drainage Committee recommended that a proposal be submitted to 'he ratepayers to borrow £iouo for the pui pose of completing Hie drainage -synem.

Cr. liuich'n asked if this /,'iuuo would complete tao drainage of the

1 lie Mayor; Oh, -no, not by a lung chalk ; but u \\iil more ilian complete M; Mt'sia'yer s bdmiiii', i'he tuval amount involved in tin; compleiion el the original scheme and Mr Kendall's was There was n°»v to cieuit of UK- loan account A sum oj /.4J9, accumulated lets for hou.ie connections, would be tian-feired fixm ihe general to the account. This mad*' ,£1307 1.) be deduced I'ioin the /.jjob, leaving Z>iOji) lo be provided. ['he committee proposed lo rai-e /,'nioo. Eurther drainage work might bo done out of ovcrdiafU