THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1907. THE TRUST LOAN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8984, 19 November 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1907. THE TRUST LOAN.

T.ie Masterton Trust Lands Trust intends to put to the arbitrament of the ballot box on the sth of next month its, decision to borrow under the Empowering Act, 1905, and Amending Act of last year, the sum of £IO,OOO for the purpose of erecting buildings on its lands. It is unnecessary at this time to go minutely into the history of the movement to give the trust power to borrow money upon its securities for building purposes. Sufficient to say that such opposition ■ as was brought to bear upon the projact was rendered unavailing by the greater wisdom of the majority of the residents interested in the matter, and in 1905 an Act was passed giving the trust authority to raise" money up to £IO,OOO for the erection of buildings. Last year the Act was amended so as to limit the sum borrowed to £3,000 in any one year, but leaving the power to raise £IO,OOO in the aggregate. Under this authority, the trust has now decided to seek the consent of the voters to acquire the full amount. There are cogent reasons why residents possessing the franchise should give their sanction to the proposal. In the first place, many of those who have acquired trust lands on building lease have done remarkably well out of the t transaction, and the profits that have gone . to the individual have necessarily been diverted from the community. No one grudges the lessees their good .fortune; but the object of the endowment had a higher end in view than the aggrandisement of unhs of the population, and it was to give fuller effect to that aim that the trustees sought to obtain building powers on their own account, and so secure to the people the benefits which under existing conditions go to the individual lessees. To attain this object alone would warrant the amplest support of the borrowing proposal. But there is'more than this to be considered. The eyes of

the trust lands have long been'picked

out, and the still large residue does not find ready applicants, may not do so until increased population makes it as attractive as Queen Street sites originally were. As a consequence, the trust finds itself saddled with vacant blocks upon which they have to pay rates amounting to about £IBO per annum. There are many persons who would be willing to become tenants under the trust if business premises were available, but small capitalists find themselves barred by the necessity of erecting shops, as the cost would swamp the funds they would require for stocking purposes; and so both the trust and the borough lose under the circumstances. Not only does the borough and some localities beyond the borough lose through the absence of revenue that would be expended upon them, but the borough proper loses by the keeping out of persons who are anxious to establish businesses of their own. It is a case of loss all round. This, then, is another reason why the voters should support the borrowing scheme.