The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 1889. The Defeat of the Wellington Loan Proposals.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3234, 19 June 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 1889. The Defeat of the Wellington Loan Proposals.

On Monday evening a duly convened public meeting condemned the proposals of the Mayor and Council of Wellington to raise a loan of £75,000, of which sum £21,000 was to be allocated to drainage, £24,000 to streets, $5,500 ( to recreation grounds, £2,500 to city reserves; £17,000 to town hall and library, and #,OOO to a new cemetery, The result was to a certain extent anticipated, yet it is' a matter of surprise that when a proposal which would confer large benefits on the city was brought forward by the elected representatives of the ratepayers only twentyfive hands were held up for it, Had the movers in the affair made the slightesljffort to bring their friends to the "meeting to support.the project they could surely have commanded a vote' ten times as large as the one which was accorded to them. The battle appears l to have.been fought mainly over the allocation to drainage, and public opinion seems to have favored a more thorough and costly scheme than the one submitted, The question of drainage is of such .paramount importance that possibly no harm will result from it receiving further consideration as the hands of the Council. Mr Duthie, the Mayor, has'undertaken a somewhat thankless task. He, with the assistance of his colleagues, devised a scheme, which, regarded as a whole, would be pro-

b'table to Wellington, one that would tend to make the town in fact as well as name the metropolis of the colony. He has now, assuming that the poll will .confirm the vote of the public meeting, either to take back and recast his project cr to abandon it, Wa trust he will adopt Hie'former, alternative, but should he decide upon the latter it should then clearly be the dutyof Mr Kennedy Hacdonald, tlie leader of the .opposition, to succeed himjsthe mayoral chair, and to assume the responsibility of submitting a iiew soherae of public worksite the burgesses.- The decision of the meeting on Monday last is sot an indication that the loan proposals as a .whole are unsatisfactory,, but simply that a more .comprehensive drainage system us required. A.city like Wellingtoniieejs borrowed money for its development.' We remember the! old provincial; daye when its

streets^and'foot^^ afr abpmina'tibn I j: Lraiejv. Yeats tliia miserable condition of"theXdity.was, changed by a fairly judioious'ex^enditure'of borrowed :raoney, with' the' result "that city properties rose rapidly in value and a growing "rate roll more tban compensated fortb'e cost of the improvements made.;' Wellington is' now ripe for further loan expenditure, the resources of the city amply justify a large,, outlay in the directions recently proposed, and provided the moneyjs fairly and honestly expended on good substantial work, it will bring enhanced; prosperity, to the ratepayers, the provincial district, and the colony.