MASTERTON DEBATING SOCIETY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 858, 29 August 1881, Page 2

MASTERTON DEBATING SOCIETY.

THE BOROUGH LOAN Mr W. Sellar opened the debate by saying that he did not advocate a loan which would be a burden to the ratepayers but only such a one as would suffice to put the roads in the Borough in a decent state. The roads as they ware now could only be described as fordablp.,. The streets were simply fine weather streets, and the footpaths passenger tracks, He held up Perry street as a model and its kerbing as an advertisement for the : Accident Insurance Company. Even tho: best streets such as Victoria Street were ■only partly made, He maintained that the present was a very opportune time .for borrowing. Better provision was required for lighting the streets, The present rates were sufficient, for the interest . and repayment of a loan, and for keeping the roads of the Borough iu repair. ~. " ■:' ; Mr Park assumed that the amount of the loan would be £BOOO the Bum formerly agreed to in Masterton. At present 12£ miles metalled roads and G miles of •footpath were formed in the_ Borough Twenty more miles of road required to be made and this would take the, whole of the S3OOO leaving no balance for lighting or wuter supply. 'lhe repair nf the present streets cost £2BO a year. If all the .roads were made the cost of repairs would be three or four times as much and might absorb ths whole of the annual revenue which only amounted to ■ £ISOO. Ho maintained that there would be lobbying over the distribution of a loan which would 1u.i.l to some of it being misapplied. He held that the assets of the town, the. Mangaoiio block and , the Immigrants Cottages wero only of nominal value and advocated as an alternative proposal constructing necessary roads at the cost of those who were benefited by them, or by voluntary subscriptions. He also held up to.ridicule the schedule of works passed in 1878. Mr Payton said tho schedule pf 1978 would not be the schedule of 188,1, Mr Park's view of the increa ed cost of repairs was a fallacy as the cost depended on the amount of traffic rather than on the mileage. If they had four times the present traffic they would have a much' larger population an :I a larger annual revenue. The system of private subsides adyooatetl by Mr Park gave one or two residents in a street the power to block all improve: ments. The Council, should be "iu a. position to construct all works which co.uld be shown to be absolutely necessary. Mr J. Brown said that if they could afford boots they could afford blacking, and if they could afford to have a borough they could afford tp haye streets. He advocated a portion pf a Iqan bejng u§od for pr.o : curing a public market. He showed that Mr Park liiid estimated at too high a rate the cost of street construction. It would be better to fix MasteVton' as'the'leading inland town of the North Island rather than stand still and let fungns grow pver them. If they did' not njeah goiiig ahead they had no'lrasiiiess in New Zealand. If for'no other 'reason'than to obtain-a water suppjy, & l° an 'Wild'sooner or later be forced upon them to project fhp public health. Mr T. Hall said they were indebted tq the borough for most of the roads they now used. The Borough had constructed their works, and was I QS s i u debt ilfl w lhafi when it started,' He. thpijglit it wsis belter, tq depend on themselves rather than upqn others and opposed borrowing, Tho prosperity arising from Joans was of a mushroom character, The population which borrowed money at. traded to a place foil away as soon as the money was spent, He instanced Wellington and New Plymouth with its breakwater as instances of the bad effects of borrowing. Mv B'Avpy said tho opposition had admitted ' that' lo'uhs of •'a reurndugtiye character wore advisable—w.asi not street formation Veproductive! Wasnota wa'ter supply reproductive? And if as one meni: be'r'had said it would pay a company to light' the tolvn, wjiy ahouloj it not pay t|je Borough )io db ao 1 1 'According to some, happiness' Beome'd 'to consist in having no poads'jind'pq \Mm- ! l'l'Py 8 ll« u ! ( l 8" a little furtliep, and to bq pqrfdptly happy haye qo houses, »hd wear hq.clothes. He held that? lqijn fup rgprpductiye works would do good for- both the present and futuro generations, It would conduce to the prosperity or Masterton if the proposed loan was raised at once, and judiciously expended. Mr Price had only heard tho latter portipn'of the debate,, am} jjas npf prepared to express a de'cided'opinioiil From what he had heard his feeling \yaa adverse to' borrowing, He thought it would be prudent to wait three or foqr years before floating a loan. Mr Arnold was favorable to a small loan for making many of their half chain roads into chain ones, as this was a work whicl] pould be rnore ecqnqn|iga]ly ui]der ; taken nov>,'f,han ? nt a later ctajg.*' H,e was afraid of anticipating population by'roads. When the population' was obtained, the roads would follow as a matter of oourse. They might by road making inoreaso the population, but they could not fix the increase by this means. Mr Grundy said that if the number of of roads in the Bqrotjgj} wore inqreaaed, the expqnßes'qf iheir' maintenance would be greater pvet) if tho traffic on then) was limited, on aoe'ount of the wear and tear alii roads were subjected to by- bad weather, His instincts. were against borrowing till the town was larger, and the necessity of reproductive works beim> qiidertaVen '"waV morjj apparenji. Jf a fkildd to'see that Masterton w«a likely to make tremendous strides in the future, A good'many roads were already constructed, which would make the completion of others an easier tns|, Ife would support, however, a sma)l lo'ah for such a necessary work as half chain roads. '

Mr B, P, Perry speaking from a practical exporienoo of thirty years showed that the prosperity of Wellington had beon mainly due to borrowed money. Of course some men failed under under any circumstances, but he had found that men with" energy had gstabjisjjfld though borrowed' "rnoijey'ho'me.a for themselves and: their families on all sides, which they QouJd not otherwise havo secured, In the country hp asked where the man who had made for himself a position without the aid of borrowed money 1 He argued that-road making, was ■ re-produc-tive, and advocated progress,' What would posterity say to. them, if th«y handed dotvn half chain streets, and refused, to avail themselves of the opportunity. IJiey had of widening them, ] He thought a'loan 0f'15,000 would, be aufficiautly. large for the present. ■' '■' •' "■ •'■' . -'Mr Sellar .having briefly replied,.the Chairman put the question, which was carried in. the affirmative by a small majority.