THE LATE MEETING OF RATEPAYERS IN No. 6 WARD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 187, 17 June 1879, Page 2

THE LATE MEETING OF RATEPAYERS IN No. 6 WARD.

\ I To the Editor of the Wairabapa Dailt. ■Sir—lt is to be regretted that Mr Moore's letter of 9th inst, did not appear before the outgoing of the Coast. mail, bo that the parties directly referred to might have the earliest opportunity of judging how far Mr Moore's representations are borne out by facts and the merits of the case; and had Mr Moore indicated the roadworks in detail by name, with names of contractors, the ratepayers could at once have recognised the works they had applied for and detected the eirors in Mr Moore's figures and the misleading inferences calculated to be drawn from his statements by the outside public. Mr Moore's letter savors rather of special pleading to serve individual interests rather than an exhaustive exposition in the interests of the whole Ward. I challenge Mr Moore's statement that "on the Messrs Meredith's application alone L 625 out of the total L 1047 has been spent on works to the north of the Patanuiand I also challenge the ratepayers to stato if any work performed at the instance of the Messrs Meredith has not been in the interests and for the benefit .of the ratepayers generally. To enablo the public, but more especially the Highway Board, to take a dispassionate view of the subject, I must explain that No. G Ward is a long narrow strip hemmed in between high broken ranges and the sea; that the traffic is almost exclusively from south to north throughout the whole Ward, while there is little or no traffic from north to south beyond the Kaiwata, consequently the ratepayers in the southern part of the Ward get the benefit of all expenditure in the northern part, while those in the northern part of the Ward would derive no benefit from expenditure in the southern half. The direct beneficial interest of southern ratepayers in the road in the northern part of the Ward, is substantiated by the fact that they and others south of Patanui were the applicants for the road between Twisted Creek and Patanui through my property (Messrs Welch and Dowling's contract), and which in round numbers cost L3OO. Bennington's contractscosting some L2OO more, were also partly at the instance of ratepayers to the south of Kaiwata, To argue that the ratepayers to the wutli of Kaiwata have not a great and positive interest in the roads in the northern part of the Ward, would be as inconsistent as to represent that no one to the east of the Otahuao estate benefitted by the road through that property but Mr Joseph Bennett. The land to the south of Kaiwata where intersected by the district line of road from Flat Point to the extreme southern boundary of the Ward, is for the most part level, and so far as the lino of road is within reach is in the occupation of, 1 think, about five ratepayers—three of whom have shipping places opposite to their doors, and the best road would not divert any produce in the southern half ol the Ward from those shipping places. The land in the southern half of the Ward, in many places where intersected by the road, is very broken, necessitating many side-cuttings to render dray traffic possible, It is in the occupation of, I think, twelve ratepayers, having only one shipping place, distant from their homesteads, on an average, about five miles; and as many of thorn arc engaged in agriculture their necessity for improved facilities foi traffic aro obvious. I may here mentior that Messrs Elder and Bennet have jusl commenced agriculture on a large scale, and they must find an outlet for theii grain through the northern part of No, ( Ward to Uriti. i That the ratepayers in the southern par of the Ward have a " grievance," I cor dially agree with Mr Moore, and I d< not think there is a ratepayer in the wliolt Ward who docs not frankly admit it; bu it, does not exist to anything like till extent to which Mr Moore makes it ap pear, and is not exceptional. But whose fault is it that tho Ward has a grievanci at all? However, as Mr Moore say " there is 110 earthly reason why the 1 mal contents' should not have their due in thi future," it is to be hoped that lie wil bestir himself to secure that much desirei result-.—l am, &c., Edwin Meredith.