THE GAS QUESTION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1061, 29 April 1882, Page 2

THE GAS QUESTION.

» TO THE EDITOR, Sir,—l must troublo yon to kindly insert the following few remarks relative to the question which was reported upon by mo at the last meeting of the Mastevton Borough Council, In the first place I must refer to the action taken by my colleagues of the Gas Committee, viz,, His Worship the Mayor and Cr Price. These two gentlemen have rather taken me by surprise,- They first agree with me [in framing the report, and then (for what reason I know not) they turn round and condemn it, If this is consistency, keep me from such As my colleagues they should have iatimated to me that the report was not in accordance with their wishes or ideas, I should then have been prepared to alter or amend, and should have submitted to their opinions, there being two to one. But on the contrary they quite agreed with the'whole thing, the ouly exception they took was as to the likelihood of the burgesses to agree to a special rate. This,-however, I submit would have been entirely a matter for the ratepayers themselves to decide. If these gentlemen had done me justice I should not, as you have remarked, have ken left in a hopeless minority. With regard to the question at insueitappears that the Councillors are unanimous on one point, viz,, that the time has arrived when the town should be lighted with gas, but their feeling is "let some; one else do it, as for ourselves we will have nothmg;whateyer to do with it,' Our time is so much taken up with 'our own business that we would much prefer director's fees, to giving our time free to the management of an affair of this kind." This appears to me to be the spirit of most of the Councillors on this particular

queolion. But air. ttiis wema-tb me to " W be representing " aelf* and ignoring the M interests ofthe ratepayer's at large m v M oan they inform me, did the Legislature M give munioipal bodies power to undertake rSI such work if it did not see that it waß de- 1 PJ flirable they should use it ? Why did the \JJ Government of the country form itself tfl into such an institution as a Life Assuranoe Association if they did not see that it was profitable and beneficial for thoir constituents} Why did they form themselves into a railway company if they did not see in their wisdom that it was for public convenience and profit? How long would New Zealand have had to wait for railways if the Government had not taken the matter upon themselves? These and many other arguments may be brought to bear against those Councilors who take their Bland against solely on the ground that it isflSkJln the ', province of the Council to undertake tho work. Sir, I feel no doubt in my own mind as to the practicability of the conccra being not only a paying one, but, one of considerable convenience to the inhabitants of this town, and a saving to the whole of the ratepayers. Any of your readers may if they wish, see at the Council Chambers the report and balance Bheet of the Aahburton Gas Company, which show that it received during last year a „ sum equal to nearly £2OOO for lighting" alone, of which about SOO only went for coal, £BOO for management and working expenses, 1800 being profit! Now what would be the position of the people in that municipality if they were burning kerosene? Why, simply this, they would be lining the pookete of dealers in kerosene and sending to New York annually the sura of £I6OO, or it the lighting by kero« sene did not cost so much by one-third ftq gas, they would be sending f rpfli midst sos! pe.fi ' This i'n itself should be. of sufficient iuiportaaoe to have induced the Council to give the 1 ratepayers an opportunity of sayinq'"yes" or" no"- " for" ov " against"- through the ballot box, But, sir, lam afraid I roiißt, to use a colonial phrase-knuckle dowu for the present, and though now in a hopeless minority I trust at some future time to be one of a hopeful majority on this important question, '■■;.■ ''"■ '■'/ lam, &c, Job Vile. P.S.—An idea is prevalent in Master, ton that it would be more expensive In import the coal here than it }b in ton, but tips, is not tho fact, as the cost of coal de_livere.d in Mastevlop, is cheapertip jt is' jn the former place —J.V,