BOROUGH VERSUS COUNTY.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2530, 14 February 1877, Page 2

BOROUGH VERSUS COUNTY.

(To the Editor of the Evening Star.) Sir,—Some few days- ago the Advertiser made the statement that the population of the Thames - was equal to about one-third of the Province of Auckland, and deducing therefrom that there .would be a great saving under the administration of the County > system.- "I* the first place the statement is a false one— and they could not be ignorant of,the fact—therefore the deductions are also false. If the third was divided by three, which would be one-ninth, this would be nearer the mark. What are the facts? The population of the Province at present being about 80,C 20, that, of the Thames including Ohinemuri cannot exceed 10,000. They also attempt to show a saving of £1100 in this place alone, but to do this they include the salaries of the resident Engineer and his assistant (£700) who were General Government secvant3, and whose services would cease on the completion of the water**race.; they also include £350 for.two Foremen of Works, wilfully , forgetting that when > the County system is in • full working order aod they , have money to spend they also will require Foremen of Works, and have to pay the same. ;'lt is a pity, Sir, the Presi will aot lay the naked facts before the comrau-. nity instead of toadying to the'powers that bo. I look upoiTltxfree and independent Press as of incalculable benefit t-o a community, and calculated to raise a people from ignorance and thraldom'; but a shackled and dependent Press is~on the other hand calculated to infect a community with the state of its own existence.* Would it not be nearer, the truth and more correct, to make the comparison as follows .—The salaries of the officers of the County are at present set down at £940, but add to that one pound per day for the flying,excursions of their Chairman to Ohinemuri, Tapu and Auckland, and possibly a trip occasionally to Wellington on business of importance; also add salaries of Foremen, of .W,orks,^&e., all necessary for the proper working of ihe County business. I think, Sir, wlien all the \ appointments are complete.' and the County in full working order, the cost of administration will not be less then £1500. Now, sir, we hare nineteen Counties instead of the

Province of Auckland, as heretofore, and if each County costs for administration the same as the Thames, we liaye £28 f SOD the cost of local government, instead of less than one-half, ks formerly under tho now defunct Provinces Act. I see Mr Vernon has valued the County (vide Advertiser) in rates to the amount of £2200, and some hundreds to come in yet. I wish they may get the half of it. Are these people at Ohinemuri taxed per acre for: improving Maori lands —taxed for increasing the value of the properties of their lords and masters ? and are they going to quietly submit to be still further taxed to make roads and bridges for the improvement of the broad acres of the Niggers? Verily, veriiy, ye are along suffering people, and ye deserve to be sat upon and your, noses held to. the grindstone. -Ye ratepayers of 27 Block; your block has wonderfully increased in ralue this year compared as forjnerly. Every extra pound they can squeeze out of you they get an extra poundirom »ur fatherly Government, for the County will need it all to pay the salaries of its officers, and to .make roads and bridges at Ohinemuri and Tapii. Do you expect to get any roads or footpaths made throughout your block ? If you do your beads are made of'the same material. Ye aristocrats of the Thames, ye inhabitants of Block 27,1 have always looked upon you as an intelligent and far-, seeing people, but you have belied this: . character in rejecting a man who has lerved you well and honestly as chairman of your lioad Board —a man who is an honest tradesman and a don at mending and making good your soles, and whose sole object was and would have been the mending of your ways and the benefit of ••'your district, and rejected him for what?—for a gentleman, not _ a professional* gentleman- like our worthy Mayor, -but a by profession, or whose occupation is that of a gentleman.',; So says the Borough roll—this is a distinction with a difference. A gentlemaiT^Groi save the mark—a gentleman of, what-4education, birth, money. Echo answers, of what ? 'O ye aristocrats—ye men of Block 27, come out from amongst the unclean 5' wash your hands clean .of |ie County ; quit the self named gentlemen ; come- into your proper place in this township^the Borough—and be ye the ieadSfa^ thereof. Heed not the democrats dfpkrawai: let them take their course; or the sheep of the Waiotahi, who must follow their, shepherd—the Chairman ; biitl'sliq'vr.ypxifselves men, and worthy of the goocl name you have borne since the field iwasu We will not give up our Borough-; we will yet divide the same 'into wards, in spite of a few designing men ; and you will have your important Block represented by three or four members in our Council, instead of one as in the Gonnty* At the head of our affairs we have a man of education and talent— a professional man; and the beauty of it is we can get into debt five'or ten thousand pounds, and just send him down to Wellington to the Ministry, and they will make it all right; they'll just tack it on to the poor'defunct provinces. In fact your Chairman requires looking after, and our Mayor does that part of the business; in truth he was commissioned so to do by the hatless and breathless Mini*ter, lest he (your Chairman) should make ad——fooLof himself, chattering and telegraphing, or such like. (I beg pardon for the language, but it is that of our model Minister.) —I am, &c, '■■ '*'"■ .' vJ-i ■'■'.■■■ ' Observer. Thames, Feb. 12th, 7/.

Aldrich »ays :—" As wild as the winds that tear the curled red leaf in the air, is the song that I have never sung." The man who knows a song like that, and nobly forbears to sing it, is a credit to any country.—Danbury News.

Going too. Far.—" There's no humbug about these sardines," said Brown, as he helped himself to a third plateful from a newly opened box, " they are the genuine article, and came all the way from the Mediterranean." " Yes," replied his economical wife, " and if you will only control your appetite they will go a great deal farther."

HOLLOWAY'S OINTMENT AND PlLLS.—lndisputable remedies for bad legs, old wounds, sores, and ulcers, if used according to directions given with them ; there ia no wound, bad le^, ulcerous «ore, or bad breast, however obstinate, or long standing, but will yield to their healing and curative properties. Numbers of persons who have been patients in several of the large hospitals, and under the care of eminent surgeons, without deriving the slightest benefit, have been thoroughly cured by Holloway's Ointment and Pills. For glandular swellings, tumours, scurvy, and diseases of the skin, there is no medicine that pan be used with so good an effect. In. fact, for removing the worst forms of disease, dependent upon the condition of the blood, these Medicines are irresistible.