OPUNAKE.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 November 1921, Page 6

OPUNAKE.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) The poll for the hydro-electric loan of £70,000 will\be taken on Wednesday. There is no indication of organised opposition. It is generally accepted that the poll will be carried. The position is that £7OOO has been borrowed, and will be spent by next month on contracts let in connection with rhe power scheme. The work is fairly well advanced. If the ratepayers vote the proposal down they will do the very thing .that will create a rate over their properties. The work and contracts must continue to a certain point, even if the work is not completed. The cost and interest •accrued will have to be met by a levy. It : would mean a bad position to the ratepayers if the loan proposals were defeated at the poll. We would be in the position of having spent £7OOO to £BOOO and the work hung up. It would be a far worse position than having a rate. As [ far as a rate over the properties is con- ■ cerned, that guarantee must formally be j given, but to cnfe -ce it is another matter. 1 I The consumers must pay. It is a business i concern, and must pay its own way. I The Town Board has decided to obtain expert legal advice as to the best form of lease. The board has a Jew municipal ; building sites to lease. It is not so much a question of form of tenure; it is more a question of financing buildings on the sections. A person who can finance his own building will not bother to build on a board section. Workmen who would lease the sections have not the finance to erect buildings. The board is" the party that should assist the homeless to get a home : erected on tihe board’s sections. The leases i could be put up on optional terms. i A team of four-in-hand drawing firewood lis nowadays quite a novel sight. Such a turn-out is carting firewood, to our local I factory. j Mr. and Mrs. Simister were welcomed to j die charge of the Opunake district by the ! Presbyterian congregation on Wednesday evening, and the moderator for the dis- ■ trict (Rev. Smith, of Manaia) announced j the charge. Mr. J. S. Tosland (for the ! managers), Mr. Farquhar (Awatuna) and Rev. E. S. Harkness (Methodist) extended a hearty welcome to Mr. and Mrs. Simister. During the evening a programme of music was given by Mesdames Campbell, Watt, Harkness, Walker, Clough, Miss Farquhar, Messrs. Smith and Crow. Painters are at work on the Town Hall improving its appearance. The newly-appointed ranger for the board has been doing a “clean-out” of unregistered stock. The Tennis Club held a very successful social on Wednesday evening.