SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1894. REDUCING THE B0R0UGH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4764, 4 July 1894, Page 2

SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1894. REDUCING THE BOROUGH.

;( l Mi- G. W. Wootmooro: appears to have (lone some good after nil with his curiously worded petition to the Legislature, to trim the agricultural edges off the town of Mastertoii, Mr Hogg lias taken an interest in tlie question, anA has put the issue very fairly and plainly before the Public Petitions Committee. The farmers and business men of thistown,though friendly enough to be neighbours, hardly look upon Municipalimprovcmojits iji the same light. The busis ness men want a high pressiifc water supply, but the farmers put their feet down oil it, the business men want drainage,but the farmers arc against, spending money in this direction, This difference of opinion is very natural, and arises from the farmers being round pegs in a square hole. They and their farms' belong properly to the Masterton Bond Board, and ought not to bo included within the Borough area, Unfortunately as yet there has boon no legal provision available for cutting clown the size of the Borough, but if tho Public Petitions Committee ■ endorso Mr Hogg's suggestion, this [ difficulty will bo at an end. When ; , r Masterton was first' proclaimed a ' Borouch, it was difficult to got into | any reasonable area a sufficient mini- I " bcr of houses to qualify it for its < promotion, so farm buildings had to ' ll ho thrown in on all sides, and far- ( mors, for the good of the place, con- '' verted into burgesses. At Grcytown a still greater difficulty was experi- ' e enccd. When Masterton was pro- / claimed a Borough, Greytown was n.ot going to rest as a Town Board, j so it laid oft' an area big enough' to i hold New York, and appointed a t grave man of prohibition tendencies 1 to count the buildings within tho J boundaries. The enumerator was a ) little too matter-of-fact for the pur- c pose, and could not bringtlic number 1 up to the required quota r Thenagcnial v ' soul'witli no prohibition weaknesses c was put on to the job, n-nil he counted <, a good many more' houses than his k predecessor, gaily signed tho affidavit „ and drew the pay for his remnrkablo ftalent as a calculator. Thus Grey* - town became a municipality, but, it 0 would take a population of half a C million to fill the.municipal areas of \ cither borough. Both Masterton and P' Greytown entered upon their niuh- jjj icipal career a little, and U tho small ipiv ol experienced necessary j< improycM#i are in a injure the c] rcs«)i4>nnistakes mndc.t-wontyycnrs j h'fo. If Mr Hogg succdods in getting ai a provision inserted' into the Mim- h icipal Corporations Act to curtail jjj the aroa.of /Boroughs, ho will earn G the gratitude of both tho farmers tl ana>iUhe: ; business men in this !e neighbourhood, . ,