The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1882.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1017, 8 March 1882, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1882.

We have recently congratulated our selves on the fact that some of the best business men in Masterton are now members of its Borough Council. It is curious to find that anyone is anxious to get rid of them, but facte are stranger than fiction, and the new movement to divide the Borough into Wards owes its origin to a desire to get rid of these " Queen-st shopkeepers." .If we for a moment imagined that the bulk of the ratepayers sympathised with a prejudice of such an extraordinary character, wo should despair of the future of Masterton; but we recognise that the illusion is bora'of spleen rather than of ignorance, and we believe that very few are. under its influence. If the business men who have been attacked were not in the Council we would willingly advocate dividingthe Borough into Wards to seoure their assistance, but it is a mild species of insanity to divide the Borough with aView to gettingrid of them. Ratepayers, we feel assured, are quite capable of judging of • the'valiw $ their Bepi«s, ajjd wi)l fom:>l ,<:Vi 'Z'£.-c:i--i ■■■"■ ' ■■'■ ;

want some better argument- adduced for dividing the Borough before;?; acceding to it. Under the proposedfdivision.of Masterton into quarters;{the Queen-street'resicteiita wHLji-if they think proper, havie ; ! admirable s o^, portiiiity of securiiigta; sentatibn than they now posssss,' - In; pitting the centre of the town against the outskirts, Mr Renall may succeed in evoking a result which His followers hardly; contemplate. Is there,', we might ask, any real reason for setting up one. section of the burgesses to fight another section! Mr Renall relies upon his Kimpuni contingent but the settlers in that locality know well enough that they have on the whole been fairly dealt with in the past, and that if they enable Mr Renall to carry his point the chances are that they will be in an helpless minority in the future. Their rates will probably bo expended in maintaining Colestreet and part of Queen-st, Is it worth while for the sake of Mr Renall to disturb existing arrangements? When three years ago the question of dividing the borough was mooted it was admitted on all sides that the cost of administration would be increased by the change.. Mr Muu has always advocated the expenditure of as much as possible on roads and as little as possible on administration—but as in the case of the appointment of a paid engineer—the moment' one of Mr Renall's principles is personally inconvenient to himself he strangles it without the slightest remorse, and goos at a moment's notice on an 'opposite task. This year the cost of administration will probably amount to one third of the borough revenue, if the borough bo divided it will certainly be more than one third of it. How much better would it be for the town; to diminish rather than increase the cost of administration ! We are now paying, too* dear for our borough whistle, and 'we scarcely require a worse,whistle at an, enhanced price. We hope that councillors and ratepayers will carefully consider the proposal which has been made, and if they find that it istbe : outcome of a factious opposition, and brings with it no advantage to the community, that they will not hesitate to stamp it ont, ~:.'