CORRESPONDENCE. CAB FARES. THE POLITICAL SITUATION. NEW PLYMOUTH: PRESENT AND FUTURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 234, 1 April 1912, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

CAB FARES.

THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

NEW PLYMOUTH: PRESENT AND FUTURE.

To the Editor. Sir, —As the matter of Greater New Plymouth is now sailed for a period, I won M!''•? 1:> 1: (it is the intention of the Borough Council to amend tho bye-law (if that be necessary) relative to cab-hire. Before the eu'burbs wer« amalgamated with the borough, peopl# knew what to pay for cab-hire within the boundaries. They also knew that the cab-men could charge what they chose outside the boundaries. I hav« heard many enquiries lately as to when the fares were to be fixed, and I think it would be opportune if the Council were to arrange the fares so that they could come into force as early as possible in the commencement of the coming financial vear.—l am, etc., FITZROY.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —The breast-thumpers had a field day at Stratford and made the best of the occasion. We are not like the rest of men. We are honorable, upright citizens! Our opponents are a bad lot set upon ruining the Dominion! Such is the menu placed before the public by the lights centred round Mr. Massey at Thursday night's meeting . Mr. Massey had something to say about the pledgebreakers, but he was silent as to the means adopted by himself and followers to obtain the promised support of laborites previous to the election. He and his party have been taught that it is quit# an easy matter to go about the country indulging in all sorts of wild and reckless charges against Ministers, but to substantiate such charges when confronted 1 with the traduced on the floor of the House of Parliament it is a horse of another color. Did not some Labor members admit thai they were the victims of misrepresentation by the breast-thumpers who on their own showing are the 'only "white men" we have in Parliament? lam not a great admirer of the Liberal Party, and consider there is plenty of room for improvement, but the self-glorification of Massey and Co. I find'nauseating in the ) extreme.—l am, etc., I TRUE REFORMER.

J To the Editor. Sir, —Having noticed much writing recently in your valuable paper about "Greater New Plymouth"Wake Up," and "Progress," I would like to acquaint you with how New Plymouth struck me j when I stepped off the train four year» ago. Since that time I have been a New Plymowthite. Before seeing New Plymouth I very much liked the name, and imaginarily pictured the city clean, wide streets, good buildings, and, for certain, electric tram cars. But, no; I was dreaming, and as the train service to New Plymouth is so slow and arrives at such a late, inconvenient hour, I did not feel at all pleased with New Plymouth or myself. Upon my arrival I found the Park, ■•which, in my opinion, after viewing some, in New Zealand and Australia, is about the finest, if only taken care of, and a little work and money spent when required and in the right place. But, oh! the Technical School! The building i think is very fine and on a beautiful site. But why the dobs of grass or weeds and one or two pines trees, growing or battling for an existence in front of this fine building, and the straggling hedge—- [ which has not 'been cut back or trained since I first saw it four years ago? Surely this fine building deserves at least a decent fence instead of the posts and wire and tangled, unkept hedge and a crumbling bank, with a few yellow dandelion-looking plants scattered along which have not grown for four years. I have wondered if it took a lot of agitation to get the school; so much so that the agitators are exhausted altogether and not yet sufficiently recovered to see this, which is an eyesore to those who expect to see things a bit ship-shape and smart. New Plymouth is naturally pretty, with nice sloping streets and easy grades, but at tbe same time it requires a good tram system, a better railway station, old shops removed, and generally a smarter appearance, which always appeals to the visitor who will for choice settle in New Plymouth, and, with the greater population progress always follows. Then New Plymouth will in a very short time be second to no town in. the dominion, even apart from oil and ironsand, which certainly in the very near future will turn New Plymouth up-side down. To my mind, there is no town in Australasia with the present prospects so certain as our New 'Plymouth, which will, by the natural resources alone, boom the place before we-can rub the sleep out of our slow eyes.—l am, etc., UOOKER-ON.