The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1886. GOVERNMENT LOANS TO LOCAL BODIES ACT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2405, 21 September 1886, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1886. GOVERNMENT LOANS TO LOCAL BODIES ACT.

We observe that in various parts of this district advantage is being taken of the Government Loans to Local Bodies Act and its companion measure Iho Local Bodies Loaub Act which were passed last session, The object of this legislation is to provide for new works in Counties, Road Board districts, Town and River Board districts, and within certain limits it is applicable to Boroughs, but it is not likely to be resorted to generally by municipal institutions, It is generally recognised now that the rates of local bodies are only sufficient for ordinary maintenance and repair 111 sparsely settled districts, anj so new works have either to be left undone or const ructed out of borrowed money, the burden of which falls psrtly on the rising generation, Tho Wairarapadid fairly well out of the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, a largo amount of roading and bridging being accomplished We have some reason to regret that this measure has been wiped out of existence, and our only consolation will be to' fall back on 1 the new friend in need—the Government Loans and Local Bodies Act, and make as much out of it as possible. As with the old measure so it is with the new—the first comers are tho fitst served, and it will be unwine to wait till the £200,000, at tho disposal of the Treasurer for the purposes of the Act, becomesexhausted. £200,000 is not a very big sum to go round a colony studded with impecunious districts, and we may expect it to be readily absorbed. Counties are allowed to borrow £6,000, Road Boards £3,000, River Boaids £IOOO, Town Boardß 1300, and Boroughs £BOO. There are somewhere about five hundred local bodies who can go for the Treasurer under this measure, and no doubt sooner or later the bulk of them will find it convenient to do bo, The charge for interest on loans is 4 per cent, and the period 25 years. There is a further payment to be made for sinking fund, but the terms as a whole are not unsatisfactory, and the new Act may for a time prove a convenient milch cow for Local "Bodies.