BOROUGH LOAN PROPOSALS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9153, 28 July 1908, Page 5

BOROUGH LOAN PROPOSALS.

MEETING OF RATEPAYERS

ADDRESSES BY THE MAYOR AND DR. FRENGLEY.

About thirty ratepayers attended the nr.etir.g convened by the Mayor (Mr P. L. Rollings) for last evening in connection with the loan proposals of the Council in regard to the drainage extension and proposed purchase of the Showgrjunds in Dixon Street for a public recreation ground. The Mayor occupied the chair, Dr J. P. Frengley, District Health Officer, being also present by special invitation. The Mayor, in explaining the object of the meeting, which he slated was a purely form.il, statutory affair, said that the question of improving the drainage of the borough was brought to a head by the report of Dr. li. Makgill, District Health Officer in 1906, who stated that ,t he septic tank was a failure,/and that a large area of the tbwii, which remained undrained could never be propelly drained into the present tank. He suggested three schemes to remedy the defects and improve xhe system generally. These were duly considered, and finally re ferred t) Mr D. Dobson, the then Borough Engineer of Masterton, who made a report, the details of which had been published in full in tre newspapers, and no doubt the report w«: w.!l 1...:.:" io the audience. Mr eLlnnaUd the I :,*.s'. cf his scheme to |be about 1 £26,000. The Council decided to make no mistake in such an important matter, and at the cost of £l5O they procured a further report fr:m Mr G. Laing-Meason, C E., an eminent New Zealand authority on drainage qucsvLr.s. Mr LaingMeason bore out in its entirety Mr D'obson's scheme, the two engineers' only difference being on the question of ccst Mr Laing-Meason fixing the e-titrate at between £22,000 and £23,000. Mr Hollirgs then explained the meaning of the Council decision to consolidate the present and proposed loans, ir. order to strike an equitalle average loan over the whole borough. It wa=, he said, obviously unf iir that the spec;i.l drainage area should bemoie heavily rated than the rest of the borough. His Worship pointed out on the plan of the borough, which he displayed suspended on a wall, the various streets propose 1 to b* inrlncrrd. in the extended scheme, a.iil impieSS-d st. .ngly on bis hearers how necessary it was for the sake of the health and det.ncy uf the community at large that the question of 'absolute sanitation nhoufd be faced ,at once. He dwel: particularly on the rapid grow'.h of the town since the original drainrge sclier.e; hud been formulated, on the' crowded state of many jndrained thoroughfares. It would I.e he said, imperative on the cowv l :fe": l:?z P r sooner or latef, cv:r. if the pv::ehl proposals were rejected, to phce ' outtfy.l! oji a sat/i c fn"t::-y workfrig bas»' ' A his; ifcas wade of the fa-'; tl:at those :i, che present drainage aL'ea, sftfl might c '.r> up a selfish attitude- afifl Appose the bah, believing they had feW all thfy wanted, were under a gWv# misappreh:r.s:o;\ The 'Mayor M-', peated his intention of 3Uggestin t v t<? the Council to secure a highly quayfled engineer on such terms as the Council deemed best to see to the expenditure of the lean moneys. He explained that it would De at bast two years before any iti.roase i.i rates would be brought about, as it would be quite f*mfc long before the loan r.*.:n:y would be expended, as if the Government lent the money—a likely event—the CotJficll could not borrow more than £13,000 a year 1 . Hia Worship said that the position in a {nutshell was that on a property Of the value of £SOO the ra'e would be, if the money were loftned at 4 per.cent., about 8s 4d. He thought that no self-respecting ratepayer would begrudge such a 1 trifling finiotfnt par annum fbt so'great a boon ds the expenditure would bring them, and what was more, they paid considerably more at present for the maintenance! of the present system of sanitation in the undrained area. The aggregate amount proposed to be raised might bole formidable, but as he had shown it worked out at a comparatively very small responsibility when portal over the boiough. His Worship closed an elucidating speech with a stro-g appeal to the ratepayers to support a scheme which made for the health and general prosperity and cleanliness of the town. (Applause.) Dr Frengley the:i gave a brief adin support of the scheme for the extension of th" drainage He" 'dwelt on the m itter f :om two standpoints, that of the person in the drained area, and of the person in the undrained area. The Doctor's remarks on the forVner aspect were corroborative of the Mayor's, inasmuch as they referred chiefly to the failure of the present draina'ge scheme ti do all that was necessary, on account of the outfall station being in an unsuitable locality, and because the sceptic tank had its operations stultified by the ingre&s of too much water.* Furthermore, it was very undesirable that such a thing as a sewage farm should be situated so close to a populous town-a farm which was polluting the river into which it emptied its affluent. In speaking of the question from the standpoint of the people in the undrained area the speaker disposed of an erroneous idea which he believed prevailed that sewage was not really sewage unless it contained nightsoil. Dr Frengley said emphatically that sink sewage was eqaully liable to cause dangerous in fections without nightsoil as with it, and declared that diphtheria, and enteric were just as much tt'e products of plop-rlrainaee as of night soil sewage. Quoting figures, he showed that for the year emit d March 31st, 1908, and since, 40 cases of pcarlet fever, 8 of enteric, and 7 of diphtheria had been reported in the borough. From these he excepted the scarlet fever cases, as it was not yet certain whether that disease originated from defective sanitation, though he thought it stood somewhat to reason that it did. With regard to enteric, two cases had been reported in the borough, and df the remaining cases, four were patients from the undrained area, while five of the diphtheria cases had also come from the undrained area. The speaker was strongly opposed to cesspits or

peptic tanks in any shape or form on private premises in any growing town, as they really constituted permanent stagnant sewen. Dr Frengley closed his remarks by expressing strong approval of the site chosen for the new oUtfall, at the junction of the Ruamahanga and Waingawa Rivers. He resumed his seat amid applause. The Mayor, in response to a query, from Mr H J. O'Leary as to whether the Government could force the ratepayers' hands in the matter, said that if the ratepayers thought there was no necessity for improvement the Government could step in and do the work itself, at the borough's expense, a proceeding which might prove calamitous to the town, and perhaps entail rmscdcrably more out lay than waa proposed under the pre sent scheme. In reply to Mr S. Bartlett, as to whether Mr LaingMeason guaranteed that the proposed scheme would prove effective in view of the present one having failed in soißfi respects, the Mayor eaid that Mr Laing-Meason had reported that the scheme adopted by the Council was the only real solution of the difficulty, and, further, Mr Napier Bell had from the first urged that £50,000 should lie raised instead of £30,000, and a thoroughly reliable system of drainage sanitation installed. The present scheme had ony failed so far as the outfall was concerned.

A hearty vote of tl anks was then accorded to Dr Fretgley, by acclamation, for his addres .

The Mayor eaid he was pleased to sec that the meeting offered practically no opposition to the scheme, and he hoped the proposal would be as favourably regarded on polling day. He said no resolution was necessary from the meeting, and formally intimated that a pill would be taken on the question as early as possible. SHOWGROUNDS PURCHASE 'PROPOSAL. The Mayor then shortly outlined hte proceedings of the Council in regard to the acquisition of the Showgrounds. His Worship said it was a unique opportunity for the town to secure a splendid reserve at a bargain price—a reserve which would be of immediate utility, and which would also assure fur posterity a valuable and indispensable sports and recreative area The amount at stake \va3 really very insignificant when spread over the whole borough —it worked out at £450 per annum, requiring a rate equal to *22 d in the £, or on a property of the total-value of say £SOO, abcv.t Is lOd p«r annum. For such a small sum the Mayor thought every public spirited ratepayer should be in favour of acquiring the grounds, especially when there waa a prospect of a portion of the grounds being either sold outright at a good margin of profit or leased for workers' homes or other purposes, thus considerably reducing the ratepayers' burden. Then again the CcuiKil would derive a revenue from (he grounds, which it was not improbable might Ve sufficient to obviate the calling «P ?, f , th s^ te ' Mr appealed I. ».io +« give *lr proposal earnest support, aj It Da a step they would never regret taking, and meant the Well-bei"g of present jjnd future gen, : erations (Applause).' •" v._ ! Mr A.. Haughey this |6\)friion tlftat the scheme meant an to the* Borough tii £iw; and he did not believe the J?& l sPift> would reach £IOO.

To th/fl ih> Mayor replied that he had Already intimated what means were availed td the Council to raise revenue from the The Mayor then stst«4 thM the Council were practically UMflithbtiti over the proposal, Cr Haughty fc#irig. the only opponent to the schetfi*/ His Worship was rleased to see the" meeting was also in sympathy with the movement, and he hoped to see this proposal also carried. He thanked them for the patient hearing, and splendid sympathy, intimating that the poll on this question also would be duly taken. This concluded the business, and the meeting terminate' 4 .