The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1853. THE PROPOSED BOROUGH.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1159, 11 October 1883, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1853. THE PROPOSED BOROUGH.

We have abstained so far from making any remarks on the counter petition which has been got up in opposition to the proposal to bring Temuka under the provisions of the Municipal Coporation Act. We have done so because we recognise the right ot those who got up the petition to take that step if they thought it advisable. It does not matter very materially who piompted this proceeding. The petition has been got up, it obtained signatures, and those who signed a had a perfect right to do so. Mr Hobbs says in his letter that 50 people signed the counter petition who had also signed the first petition. Wo are sorry to hear this, not because it can make any difference for or against the proposed Borough, but because it betrays a very deplorable want of principle and of public morality. It is really very much to be regretted that this has occurred, and no one who has signed both petitions ought to feel proud of it. There is another way in which the proceedings are objectionable. The first clause in the counter petition is to the effect that the first petition was not publicly notified as required by the Act. The petition was duly advertised, and that advertisement wa9 submitted with the petition to the Colonial Secretary, and it was accepted as sufficient at the very fountain head of red-tapeism. If the necessary technicalities had not been complied with, the Colonial Secretary would have returned the petition and insisted upon everything being done properly. The fact that he accepted the notification as sufficient shows that the Act had been complied with, and it shows also that the statement in the counter petition is untrue. It is very much to be deplored that any section of the people of Temuka have thought fit to approach tlie Representative of Her Most Gracious Majesty with a petition containing untrue statements. The people who signed it cannot feel proud of what they have done, and we venture to think they will yet feci sorry. Tho second clause asserts that several persons who signed the first petition did not know what they were signing. Can this be true ? Could it be possible that after the matter had been discussed at a public meeting—the largest wo have scon in Temuka—and after the petition was taken round for signatures by the most prominent men in the townpeople signed it who did not know what it was about 1 We do not believe it. It always occurs that those opposed to any petition assert that the persons who signed did not know what they were signing, but common sense will tell any one that it is not one man out of a thousand who will put his name to any document without first knowing what it is for. The first question any one will ask is ' What is it for!' unless he is a downright fool, and as a matter of course it must be explained to him. We have no hesitation in saying thnt the second statement is as untrue as the first. The third and last clause in the counter petition is to the effect thnt the population is too meagre. The law requires that there shall be 250 householders in the town, and a declaration has been sworn to that there are more than that number in the town. The third clause is therefore very little better than the first ones.' This is the sort of petition a section of this town has forwarded to His Excellency the Governor. If they are proud of what they have dono we do not envy them their feeliug. And the only ground on which the counter petition obtained signatures was that it was represented to the people living in the suburbs, that they could not keep cows if the town was constituted a Borough. We ask these people to consider whether it is possible to get in Temuka ten men who would do such a ridiculous thing »s to pass byelaws that would prevent people from running their cattle on the common in the Arowhenua township ? The thing is so absolutely silly that we are surprised at finding anyone believing it. We have so far refrained from commenting on these matters because we thought it as well to let the people please themselves. But when we found that the counter petition had been despatched to Wellington, after having obtained , all the signatures it could, we felt that we could do no great harm by explaining to the people what they had really signed. » ■ TOWN DISTRICTS. We know that we are suspected of being very anxious to have Temuka proclaimed a Borough. A certain individual, who makes his own sordidly selfish feelings the standard by which he gauges the motives of other people, says that we have advocated the Boreugh proposal not because we believe it good for the town, but because it would result in increasing the revenue of this paper. The man who does not forward his own interests ao wojl as lie can is a fool, and we do not wish to be ranked in that

category. We have done our best to forward our own interests and the interests of the district simultaneously, but we defv any one to show an instance in which we made the good of the people subservient to our own. The accusation is base, false and mean. We have always stood by the public far better than the public have stood by us. We have not hesitated to oppose the richest and the mostpowerful in the district when wefound them impeding the path of progress, and have thus made enemies of persons, who might have been useful friends, for tht sake of the public. Is our reward to be that we do everything for selfish reasons 1 Now, in answer to this we say that we are not and never have been anxious to have the town proclaimed a Borough, and we shall not feel the slightest regret if it is not. Those who have been readers of this paper will remember that when we lo.ok the subject up we suggested the advisability of bringing the town under the provisions of the Town Districts Act. Those who attended the preliminary meetings to consider the Borough question, will remember that at these> meetings we advocated a Town Board in preference to a Borough. But we were almost alonu in this matter ; every one was in favor of a Borough, and so we sunk our own opinion altogether in deference to the popular view. We then took up the Borough proposal, believing it to be the next best thing. We did not hold bumptiously to our own views, but cheerfully submitted to the voice of the people. If our views had been adopted then, we feel convinced that the town would now have a Town Board in existence, and that it would do just as well as a Borough. We ask our readers to reflect how it would work. Only 50 householders are necessary to constitute a Town District ; that number could be got in the thickly populated part of the town, and the necessity for taking in the suburbs would be obviated, in this portion of the town the courthouse, the pound and all our hotels are situated, and consequently the Town Board would get all the fees that would accrue from them. We would thus have the same revenue from fees and licenses to spend in the small area comprised in the Town District as we would in tho large area taken in by the Borough. There is between £4OO and £SOO geing into the coffers of the County Council out of this town every year, and if we had that sum to spend in the Town District there would he no necessity whatever for rates. Between £4OO and £SOO would be ample to keep our streets in repair, and taxation would be unnecessary. The position is exactly this. If we have a Borough we must pay rates, but most undoubtedly we need not pay such rates as we would have to pay the Road Board. If we have a Town Board for tho centre of the town we need pay no rates at all, for the revenue from licenses and fees will be ample. The new Act passed last session extends the powers of Town Boards considerably ; it places them almost on an equal footing with Borough Councils. The only thing is that under the Town Board we would not have a Mayor, and none of our citizens would stand any chance of being knighted in the event of the Queen coming to Temuka. The principal reason why the people desire to have a Mayor in this town is beoause great inconvenience is caused by having no Justice of the Peace living in the town, but surely that could be remedied. To us this appears a small matter compared with the advantages of having a Town Board. The counter petition reveals the fact that the people in the suburbs do not want a Borough. They have been deluded by misrepresentations into this way of thinking, and it would be futile to try to alter their minds now. Even if they are in the minority we do not hold with coercing them into compliance with what the majority think best. If the Borough is proclaimed those who oppose it now will be an element of discord in the Council bye-and-bye, and perhaps go a long way towards destroying its usefulness. The Town Board would be unanimous, the Council would be divided, and these considerations make us more favorable towards tho former than the latter. At any rate we shall not shed a tear if the Borough proposal fails. * THE TEMUKA HIGH SCHOOL CONCERT. The concert to celebrate the opening of the High School was the greatest success ever witnessed in Temuka. The attendance was the largest we have seen in Temuka, all the better class of people being present. And still the concert was not advertised only in the Timuka Leader and Geraldine Guaedian. It will be remembered that the concert in ' aid of St Mary's Church, Geraldine, was the greatest success in the district, and as we pointed out at the time it was only advertised in the local papers. This Bhows beyond a question of doubt that to advertise in the local papers is sufficient for anything local. It shows aIBO that to advertise in outside papers is simply to thiow away money; but if people are so foolish as to do so we cannot help them. If the people spent the money they give papers outside the district in more extended advertisements in the local papers, the same as the Temuka High School Committee and those who got up the St Mary'B Church concert have done, it would be better for themselves, and it would enable the proprietor of these

papers to improve them. The money we get is speDt in the town, the money they give to outside papers never returns, The man who takes his moDey elsewhere whilst he can obtain bettor value at home does not do a very prudent thing. Our excuse for thus putting our claims forward is:—We do it for other people and therefore ought to do it for ourselves. Everybody knows that we advocate keeping the money in the place as much as possible, and if we do this for other people we think we may do it for ourselves.