THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1909. IN THE INTEREST OF THEIR INTERESTS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9225, 24 June 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1909. IN THE INTEREST OF THEIR INTERESTS.

It is to be hopad that there will be a large attendance at the meeting convened by his Worship the Mayor for Friday evening, in the Town Hall, to discuss the proposal to raise a loan of £12,000 for the construction and improvement generally of the principal business and residential streets in the Borough. We would rather have seen a proposal for a larger loan brought forward, but In view of the fact that the present is not a good time to advance loan proposals, we recognise that half a loaf is better than no bread. The broad position is that the carrying of the loan will be helpful to the town in several ways. We certainly do not advocate the raising of loans to provide employment for the unemployed; at the same i time we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that there is a great deal of un- ! employment in Masterton at the [ present time, and if the town can raise loans the expenditure of which will be to its advantage, then surely the present unemployed trouble is a very cogent and humane reason why it should do so without delay. Moreover, the proposed loan money would not go out of the town in the purchase of expensive plant, or material, or anything of the kind; it will all be spent locally, and after it has been divined up amongst the working men in consideration for substantial Borough improvements effected, it will find its way into tho pockets of the business people, and thus into the usual channels of monetary circulation. The sum asked for is not large, and, moreover, it would be, practically, two years hence before the first of the rate is collected, and by then ratepayers should be far better able to afford the payment thereof than they can to-day. There is, also, another point—a very important one—• that should not be overlooked, and it is this, that works of construction, street so forth, cannot be done out of the ordinary revenue

of the Borough, for the simple but extremely forceful reason that the revenue is insufficient to meet such demands. If the streets and roads are not attended to in due tima it means that inevitably it will cost a much larger sum to put them in a proper state of repair; therefore, it is simply a penny wise and pound foolish policy not to carry out the work when it can be done more economically now than it will ever be able to do so in the future. Although we should be sorry to cast any reflection on works policies that have been previously pursued in Masterton, we should like to draw attention to the present condition of Queen Street. Do any of our readers remember Queen Street in, let us say, 1906? The town has certainly value for money spent in that splendid thoroughfare! Then, again, it will, we think, be readily admitted that Ihe people of Masterton should not only develop their town as far as is reasonably possible, but should desire to send abroad as creditable a feeling for it as it is possible to secure. To do this we must consider "outside

appearances," as the phrase goes, and if jthe Borough Council are going to allow some of our main streets to resemble very fine pasturing grounds, then ratepayers may rest assured that such "economy" will not prove profitable. In conclusion, we would suggest that ratepayers in their own interests make a point of seeing that the proposed loan is raised, and, as a first step, that they roll up in numbers and give the Mayor their hearty support to-morrow evening, at the meeting in the Town Hall,