The Daily News FRIDAY, APRIL 16. GREATER NEW PLYMOUTH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 68, 16 April 1909, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, APRIL 16. GREATER NEW PLYMOUTH.

In another part of this issue a. correspondent signing himself ••Ratepayer" raises the question that the time is ripe for reconsideration of a Greater New Plymouth scheme. With the views of "Ratepayer" we are in entire accord, and for this reason particularly wish to see returned at the forthcoming municipal election a council that will be progressive on comprehensive lines. A splendid opportunity to initiate the lnovoment was hist some months ago when the secession movement of the surrounding road boards from the County_Council area was under consider- ] ation. 'Xo one believes for a moment,! however, that the present settlement of the suburban government i|uestion is

onier man tentative. Iho interests of tlie suburbs nre dUtinct from those of the county as n whole so far as loeiil government is concerned. Between the borough and -the suburban districts, however, there is inseparable community of interest, which has only to be united to .at once raise the status of New Plymouth amongst the provincial towns of the Dominion, and make possible the realisation of schemes for the advancement of the town and the greater convenience of citizens. Few would cnullengc .the advisability of creating a Greater New Plymouth, but it necessarily requires more than the mere advocacy of an ideal for its own sake to convince ratepayers that it would lie to their own immediate advantage. It is necessary, therefore, before the movement can be approached witli reasonable prospect of success that a comprehensive scheme, based on a sound actuarial investigation, should he evolved. At the present time, when it is suggested that there should be set up, immediately on the boundary of the borough and in a closely settled locality, another governing body to administer a comparatively circumscribed area, a strong effort should be made to turn the movement to more profitable account for all concerned. The multiplying of local bodies is a huge mistake, an eU'ectual bar to progress, and an unnecessary drain, for administrative costs, on the ratepayers. When, therefore, such a district is considering means whereby it might best improve its position, the Borough Council, as a vitally interested party, should take steps to demonstrate the advisability of extending the boundaries of the borough to include the disaffected area. We believe it can be clearly demonstrated that the advantages of the municipal utility services and municipal management would be available to the suburban districts at a cost, at the most, not greater than they would require for their local management with its circumscribed scope. This, we urge, is a matter in which the Borough Council should take the initiative, and we should like to hear aspirants for municipal honors express their views on the movement for a Greater New Plymouth.

The extension of the borough boundaries would ultimately involve the extension of the water-mains, extension of electric light, and extension of drainage throughout the new areas requiring these services at a cost that would be snared by the whole borough. It would bring within measurable distance of attainment an electric tramway system that, we believe, would do more to forge New Plymouth ahead as a desirable place in which to reside than any or all of the natural advantages this district enjoys. There is a rapidly increasing scclion of our population who, having made a competence on flic land, decide to spend their leisure days in a town supplied with the modern conveniences that make life the more enjoyable. New Plymouth, although, as we already stated, possessing natural advantages unsurpassed by but few towns in this island, secures but a very small proportion of this class of new population. Their choice, in the vast majority of eases, falls on one or other of the four principal cities, and to our mind the deciding factor in their choice is, in most instances, the electric tram, which .brings their suburban homes within a fewminut.es of the business centre of the town. Hut, after all, that is only one of the advantages gained by the tramways. It is an awakenor: making for the rapid despatch of business, and has done as much as the telephone is revolutionising business: it induces building >by bringing reasonable priced laud within convenient distance of the centre of employment; in short, it is the greatest modernising factor in town life.

New Zealand is more fortunate than most New Zealand towns in that it has available an excellent and economical source of power for an electric tramway system. Of the live municipalities in the Dominion possessing electric tramways, only one (Duuedin) is fortunate enough to be able to generate its power by water, and even in that ease it has to he transmitted over about 20 miles of wire. New Plymouth already possesses excellent electrical generating works that only need enlarging to provide at a minimum of cost all the power required for a tramway system. Hut so long as the districts that would he traversed -by trams are under separate managements we see little prospect of the scheme receiving the consideration its importance and necessity warrant. The Mayor, Mr. Tiseli, is alive to the necessity of making New Plymouth attractive, and of taking full advantage of the splendid natural facilities to that end we enjoy. Advantageous, no doubt, as the development of our aesthetic attractiveness may be, it is but a circumstance compared with what the town would gain from the attractiveness of ■up-todiile public utility services. The forthcoming election affords opportunity for men of progress, unhampered by parochial conventionalities, but animated with a. desire to bring New Plymouth to the forefront, to test the progressive spirit of the ratepayers. Tlie time is ripe for a forward move, and we hope to see offering for the council ratepay-i ers who appreciate the advantages to I be gained by a policy of progress. ■ i