STREET IMPROVEMENTS IN CAMBRIDGE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1528, 20 April 1882, Page 3

STREET IMPROVEMENTS IN CAMBRIDGE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — I was glad to notice by a letter which appeared in your issue of the 11th inst, signed " Victim," and dealing with the matter of street formation in this town, that some one of our townsmen had taken upon himself the duty of bringing to light the very selfish way in which our town board have carried out the street improvements. By endorsing what " Victim" has said I do not seek to create dissensions between Cambridge people and their local representatives ; but my sense of duty does not permit me to treat with apathy the unjustifiable couduct of which your victimised correspondent complains. Truth, which does not admit of contradictions, will stand the test of publication. And I say, Sir, that the manner in which the members of the board have enhanced the value of their property at the expense of the ratepayers cannot be questioned. Your correspondent justly remarks that personal disinterestedness should be a prominent feature in all public men, but it &eems to me, Mr Lklitor, that a view to one's own pecuniary interest is the only inducement which retains our representatives in office. My complaint is the complaint of many, and by permitting me to bring it to light through the medium of your journal, you will, I am sure, obtain the thanks of the community. Let me give your readers an idea of how the public works are carried out in Cambridge. A few hundred pounds are at the disposal of the board, and then it is unanimously agreed that the streets of the town are in a wretchedly bad condition, and require seeing to. Petitions of unfortunate property-holders roll in from all quarters, asking to have the street in which they reside put in respectable repair, so as to make their homes accessible. These reach the board, are considered and laid aside for future consideration. A. has bought a nice little piece of property in some out-of-the-way place, ,in front of which a street i$ wanted, nofc remembered by the public, but by himself. B. has also made a purchase, centrally situated, and being so, requires a well-formed street with footpaths complete ' on every side. C. goes hi with A., being interested in the same quarter, and D. goes in with B. for a like reason. E., though living in a corner of, the town probably never discovered by anybody bu£ himself, asserts his right to ,have a pluck at the goose also. ' 'JThe engineer is instructed to report upon -works necessary, and submit estimates as to probable cost, just as if by the greatest possible fluke the very streets required by A.T3.0.D. and E. respectively, are., the very ones reported upon as the most urgently in need of formation. :These are, therefore, approved, of and. at once pro-

ceeded with, Thus, it is, I suppose, while such streets as Grey, JBryce, Brewery, Alpha, and Queen-street Lave been formed, such public thoroughfares as Chapel-street, ana the streets on the east side of the Lake have been passed over, and the claims of people who have been paying rates for the past ten or fifteen years, entirely ignored.— l am, &c, Another Victim. Cambridge, April 18th, 1882.

(For remainder of news see foivrth