The Daily News SATURDAU, JUNE 20. A PEERILOUS POSITION—FOR SOUTH TARANAKI.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 154, 20 June 1908, Page 2

The Daily News SATURDAU, JUNE 20. A PEERILOUS POSITION—FOR SOUTH TARANAKI.

The campaign of opposition to the ' New Plymouth Harbor Jiill has now , reached a stage beyond which. in the : interests of truth and of th? ratepayers, it must not lie allowed to proceed without some emphatic protest. At the outset. let us state that in exposing the misrepresentations upon which Mr. Marx is asking the ratepayers to oppose the Mill, more must lie. said than ever should have been necessary. This is entirely due to Mr. Marx's failure to keep his word that, he would place the whole position fairly before the ratepayers. Instead of doing. Mr. Marx has set' himselt the ta-k ot endeavoring to defeat the Hill, knowing but not acquainting !ii- ratepayer- of the fact, that the rejection of the new loan proposals would place them in a mo-t. perilous position, l-'iirllier. Mr. Marx ha, mo-t unjustly and wrongfully led the ratepayers to believe that certain almost exclusive information lie had in his possession would, if divulged, prove to the ratepayers that the liill -huuld be defeated, and. .urther, that the information would explain why .Mr. Maxwell and Mr, .Mcljcan. hitherto opponents of oorrowing, had championed the present liill. In short, he insimiataed that if he divulged I lie contents of a cerlaia letter, it would be to Jlr. Maxwell's discredit. So tar a.s .Mr. .Marx personally is concerned, lie is perfectly at liberty to hold any views he chooses, ami to misconstrue the information he holds any way lie chouses; but, us an allegedly fair-minded public mail, lie is not at liberty to hoodwink the ratepayers and inferentially cast odium 011 an opponent, ine liberty he has alreauy taken in this respect, we imagine, will be short-lived.

in 'the foregoing we referred to the ■"perilous position" in which tlte ratepayers of the southern district would lind themselves il the loan proposals are defeated either in Parliament or at the poll, in so stating we arc basing our statement on a fact that hitherto has not been referred lo on a publi? platform, nor, indeed, is, to the best of our belief, within the knowledge of many and not more than three members of the Harbor Board—and these are country members, .Mr. Marx being ou,.' of them, it was this fact (which we -hall state turther on), in conjunction with the arguments already adduced bv theni, that convinced Mr. .Maxwell and Mr. Mcljean (the late uicmli,-r for 11awera riding) that the proposed loan Lill must lie carried for the protection »'f Southern Taranaki.

Ml*. Marx, Mr. Hughes, and others are opposing the Bill primarily on the grounds that their districts should not, be included in any further borrowing, but, that oniy the tljO.(ll)i) u f the expiring £200,0(11) should be renewed—or. ,1- .Mi. Marx puts it, The old loan should '»• paid oil' with the assistance of , hr: land revenue. In other words. Mr. M.irx propo-c- that .doll, Will only -hould lie raised, the ratepayers to make nji, from rate, ,„e difference between land 111 11,1 revenue and the total Tntcrcv. charge-. Now. while thi- i- cxai/;)y what lias been done rc-pccting the expiring loan, the Hoard is under no obligation to devote its land fund revenue

to the payment of intere-t 0,1 any particular loan, and certainly not specifically ou the renewal 01 the pi'e.-eni loan. Unit this is mi i- ve 1 y -eriou- nja'.ler lor Southern Taranaki. admit at once that ieiv are aware „r this reading ol tin- Act, ami that Mr. IJau Hughes and other- have, -o iar its thi- provi-ion is concerned. ~ired in faith: bui ill'. Marx 1- in a dili'crcnt position, and cauiioi plead ignorance in justification of hi- attitude. Mr. Maxwell, who illscovered the discrepancy in the Act. disclosed. in (onlideiii-c. t he po-iiion to Mr. Marx, but the latter gentleman. iii-leud of profiting by the knowledge. 1110-1 reprehen-ivcly used iL 101 altogether ulterior purpose-, presumably iu the belief and hope that .Mr. Maxwell dale not reply.

CUu-e 111 ol' the .New l'lymouth llat'ho, Oulinance, IS,o, oi' the J'rovincial Louucil ot laranaki, which was incorporated in the Amendment Act of 1577 and the Harbor Act of 1878, states:— "All land revenue which the - Hoard may receive under the provisions of the 4th, 10th, and 12th clauses of 'The Financial Arrangements Act, 1876,' shall be set aside by the Hoard for the payment of interest and sinking fund on ANY loan obtained by the Hoard, and for no other purpose." Mr. .Maxwell's reading of this clause, which, we might explain, ha s since been confirmed by the highest legal authorities in the Dominion, is that the lionrd may utilise its land fund revenue towards the payment of interest on ANY OXJJ ot the loans il may raise. Jl is not earmarked lor the payment of interesL 011 loans under any particular Act. The position i-, therefore, perfectly obviotis. If l,he Hoard's present proposals are. defeated, the .C15",<11)0 to redeem the old loan will be raised immediately thereafter, under the old Act, 011 a level late over the whole harbor di-triet. Aew propo-als lor the additional money required will then bo put before t'Jie ratepayers of the, northern district, the southern district being granted the e\emption Mr. Alarx says it desires, but with this difference: tliat instead of the land fund lieing applied to the reduction of interest on the tl,ill,1)0(1 loan, it will be applied to the payment of interest 011 the second loan, exactly as the Hoard proposes with regard to the present loan proposals. In this manner all the money required may be -eeiired bv the

board, in a manner as the opponents of tile r.ill nr»,' should be done: bnt while they believe that they »,, u ]d thereby be taking the burden ofl' (Im> southern district and putting it on the shoulders of the ratepayers nearer the harbor, the clleet would be exactly opposite.

In other words, the di-tricf under the first schedule of ll(e propo-cd I'.ill—thai is. the di-trici immediately -in-rounding the town ni' New Plymouth-would lie iuliniiely better oil under tlie two-loan propo-al we have indicated t'aan under llie dillereiiiial raling conditions of the | -C.11)11 .1 till Hill, and en r ro-pont I i ng I v the | soul hern district would be tiie J The sun! hern raiepayci- will therefore I M'c al a glance 1 be nnl'i, ruinate position in wli-ch .Mr. .Marx would deliberately l l '" 1 ' 1 ' i liein. || should now. also, be clear why t lii, lad wa- not openly placed before | |,e ratepayer- by Mr. Maxwell, who I. a- acted -olely j„ best ioteie-.!- ( ,i do. -bullion] ralcI'avers. So lone' as the ratepayer- at; tlie noribern end of the district were satislied w'itb the pre-em equitable proposal-, and so long as the ratepayer* at the southern emi were not advised, against their better judgment, to oppose (he Hill, there was no neec-sily lo acquaint, the. people of New Plymouth with the legal power tliey possess to lighten their rates at the expense of (lie j southern district. Desperate diseases need desperate remedies, however, and Mr. Marx's opposition must be met by desperate means if the southern ratepayers are t<i be saved from themselves. We are utterly at a loss to understand how Mr, Marx, knowing the pisition. could continue to ini-lead hi- constituents. but lie lias dune so. and if. as; tlie result of the-e di-clo-nres New Plymouth fakes a turn ill opposin'/ the Bill ir order lo secure trie benefil or the Mdisequent propn-,,;15, Mr, M:trx must bear the responsibility and he answer- [ able to his ratepayers for the wrong he will have done '

To sum up, we \i..l "'yejit what we stated on Monday; 't the present proposals are rejected, houthern Taranaki will he burdened vitli a perpetual annual charge of £ll3OO to pay intereston the £150,000 loan. That st dement is emphatic but irrefutable, and Mr. Marx knows it. On the other hand, under the differential rating provisions of the proposed Bill, with land fund, endowments, and port profits earmarked to meet ilie interest, no rate could lie struck that would be worth collecting in the southern district. The choice is a simple one, and we challenge Mr. Marx or anyone else to prove it is not as we have stated. As things now , stand, it is not unlikely that instead of this end of the district having to woo the support of our southern friends (and nppouents). the, boot, metaphorical I.V speaking, may be on the other loot.