The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1882. HALF-CHAIN STREETS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1093, 7 June 1882, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1882. HALF-CHAIN STREETS.

The half-chain streets to be found in most of the Wairarapa townships are a set-off to the debt owing to their founders, and are always more or less an embarrassment to the municipal and town board authorities who have charge of them. In Masterton the inconvenience and danger of these thin thoroughfares has 'been"• 'repeatedly demonstrated, and it is to the credit of the publie men of the town that they I have always been alive to the necessity of widening them whenever an opportunity offered. There are few public men in the town who do not recognise that ultimately the whole of these rejics of ancient road engineering will halve to be done away with—that with the large population Masterton may be expected to contain twenty or even ten y«avs hence, these " back slums" will be a nuisance and a pestilence. The difficulty in dealing with them now is

the question of ways and means; It is, however, indisputable that the work of street widening can be done much more cheaply now than in another decade. The real solution of the diffi culty would be to widen the half-'chain streets now and make the ratepayers of the future contribute their share of the burden. Were we to do this and hand over the bill to the next generation, those who came after us, if they fairly weighed the benefits derived from the expenditure, would add thanks to the payment. If we now make the town healthy and comfortable for those who come after us at a comparatively trifling expense, we should be taking a wise and honorable course. It would be practicable fer the ratepayers of Masterton to take the work in hand and pay for it through a loan of which only the annual interest would be a present burden, The plan whioll has

hitherto been pursued of occasionally widening these streets bit by bit as , opportunity offered has been successful so far/but it is not calculated to entirely abolish the nuisance within a reasonable time, and it is worth while considering whether a more speedy and sure measure could not be adopted. Masterton is now freo from municipal debt, and many ratepayers, we are aware, feel that this condition is one of security, if not ef progress. Borrowing within reasonable limits for well defined purposes is, however, neither dangerous nor ruinous. The most prosperous cities in New Zealand are the ones which have registered the most, loans, because as a rule when they have gone into the money market "the gamo, has been worth the candle," 'they have seen their way clear to make a profit out of the money which they have borrowed. This town has overspeculated in buildings, and many thousands of pounds which have been so invested are now unproductive; but in the matter of public works it has never speculated at all, The golden mean in either case would have been the best policy.