THE BOROUGH LOAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 231, 18 February 1913, Page 4

THE BOROUGH LOAN.

In addition to the loan for electric tramways the ratepayers of Greater New Plymouth will be asked on March 5 to vote upon a proposal to borrow the sum of £42,000 for various street works, viz., kerbing and channelling, tarring and sanding, metalling and forming, and for extending the water service to the suburbs, or, rather, making additions to the present suburban services. A schedule of the proposed works has been published, and it is the fault of the ratepayers if they have not familiarised themselves with the details. The proposed loan is, in a general way, the outcome of the merging of the suburbs with the borough. The new districts require conveniences and facilities that the old borough possesses. The prospect of securing them, as a matter of fact, was the chief inducement to (lie suburbs joining the borough. The hitter is, therefore, under an obligation to provide the improvements, and it is an obligation that cannot honorably be left undischarged. For that reason, if for no other, we hope the proposals will receive endorsement at the poll. It will probably be found on examination of the schedule of the proposed works that some of the works could well he left over for the present, partaking, as the}' do, of the nature; of luxuries. But the works that can be placed in this category are comparatively small, and entail no heavy expenditure. They, 110 doubt, can be left till the last. If the loan is authorised, it will take between four and five years to complete the whole of the works, which means that the money need only he raised as it is wanted, to the extent probably of not more than £IO,OOO a year. It is argued in some quarters that the town is already heavily in debt, but one has to bear in mind that much of the present debt, like our Xation.il Debt, is selfsupporting if not revenue-producing. For instance, the electric lighting installation has cost about £38,000. The ratepayers, however, have not had to provide a penny; on the contrary, this department is paying liandsomely, and in the course of a decade or two the sinking fund will have extinguished the total debt. So with the waterworks (£51,000), sewerage (£16,000), abattoirs ( £9OOO) —they are all self-support-ing. The extension of the services in the suburbs should, ton. cost the ratepayers nothing. It is but a nominal liability they are being asked to assume. Of course, there is a good deal of work proposed to be done in the old area, in kerbing and channelling, tarring and' sanding, etc.. but this should prove a remunerative investment, apart from the convenience the work will afford, as the saving in maintenance should nearly equal the interest on the cost. Tt has been stated that New Plymouth is already an over-rated town, compared with other towns of equal size and importance. It is difficult to make fair comparisons owing to the difference in the rating systems, the services—like sewerage, water etc.—comprised in the rating, and the conditions and circumstances obtaining being alike in hardly any two towns. If the rates of New Plymouth are high as compared with other towns, it may he because of the very low valuations that have up to now obtained. By doubling the valuations the amount of rates levied in the £ could be reduced hy half, though in the sum, of course, ratepayers would have to provide all equal amount. It is a notorious fact that much of the property in the borough is under-valued for rating purposes. We have in mind one property that is rated 011 a rental value of £OO per annum, from which the owner has for a long time past been drawing £270 in rents. The new valuations, we hope, will remove anomalies of this nature. It has been urged that the present Council is of such a nondescript character that it would be courting disaster to entrust the members with the spending of so much loan money. The matter of who shall have the handling of the money is solely in the hands of ratepayers themselves. Tf they have no confidence in the Council they can easily elect others in their place at the forthcoming elections. But let critics be fair. We are nil apt to forget, and sometimes to belittle, the services of municipal representatives. The present Council is not a model one bv any means,' but. it can show a record by no means insignificant. If for nothing else, councillors are entitled to the thanks of the ratepayers for their consummation of the Oreater New Plymouth scheme and putting the electric lighting department 011 a sound and efficient footing. In passing judgment on the Council critics should remember these matters. In any case, the councillors will retire soon, and in the event, of the proposals being carried ratepayers can entrust the carrying out of the works to whom they like. In the belief that the loan is necessary and will prove of advantage to the borough, as well as redeeming a pledge given to residents of the suburbs, we commend the loan to the approval of ratepayers.

chosen. He went to meet the dark angel, and she drew him tenderly to her and held him very close. That was a great death for an honest gentleman to die. But all these men died well. The great radiance is already over Scott as he writes those last pages in his'diary, for ho never wrote anything like that before, nothing that will so surely live in literature. The dignity of those closing passages is magnificent. Nothing finer than this maryrdom has come out of the long tale of Antarctic exploration. Ah, but it is line to hear of men again that do a great thing without fuss, that suffer without whining. All around us the world is- full of whining and writhing shapes. Men whine about their pains, and whine about their religion. Maudlin fools are everywhere whining for sympathy. But 110 whine is heard from these Englishmen about to die. Calmly, unwhimpering, they go into the night. They are far from the loved faces and the dear comforts of home, and with tenderness of heart and loyally of purpose they must be sad for the sadness that is coming to their own folk: but there is no note of complaint. In Scott's last message, so painfully scrawled there witli death's strange eyes visibly peering in, there is perceptible a stimulating note of triumph. Impossible to put aside from one some dim haunting picture of that tent in the snow. The men whose tasks are done, whose end is near, and who speak their brotherly farewells as they go out to meet their fiorl. T speak with all reverence when I say that I think fiod must be glad to meet men like that. And I love especially to think that when they got to the light and pierced the, veil 'that we find so impenetrable, they laughed in gladness to find their brother Oates already there. Feeling thus, we who arc saddened by the impotence of things may yet take heart.