Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 1911. LOOKING FORWARD.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXI, Issue 8444, 11 August 1911, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 1911. LOOKING FORWARD.

A temporary lull lias taken place in the discussion regarding the, movement to subdivide the County of Ashburton, and advantage may be taken of it to oft'ev a few thoughts on the subject oi' the extension of the Borough. THis extension is bound to come, sooner or later, and there can be no harm in familiarising people's minds with the idea and with the reasons underlying it. It niay seem presumptuous for a town with less than 3000 inhabitants to talk of a Greater Ashburton ; but when' .contiguity and .community of interest are considered, there is more to be said in 'favour of Ashburton. taking in its surrounding suburbs than was advanced for the absorption of suburban areas by, some of the large cities. Within a radius of three miles ■ from the centre of Ashburton; there is a suburban population ■ more than equal to that of. the | Borough. To be precise, while the inhabitants of the Borough number 2671, those of the suburbs number 8138. The three-mile rpdius includes : " Tinwald Town District, 530 ; Hamp'stead v Town District, 1490 ; Allenton, from the West Belt ■to the river (North branch) and from Racecourse Road to Digby's bridge, 1109, If these districts were included in the Borough- we should have a population 6i 5809, which would make Ashburton appear in statistics as a place of considerable importance. ]N To doubt, the threemile radius' upon which these calculations are based is an arbitrary boundary, and it would probably be : :.;fq^nd advisable in practice to leave put Tinwald and part of the /northern district; but, supposing that only those areas were included that" naturally form part' of Ashburton, there would still be i population of 5000. The advantages to be gained by such amalgamation are many. Ashburton would then take its proper place as undoubtedly a large country town. It would be shown to contain more than one-third of the entire population of the County. Its civic life would be! enlarged, and a true public spirit would.^ be engendered among its people. Good roads, footpaths, drainage, arid other improvements would-be enjoyed by thousands of residents who are now for half of the year hemmed in by mud. The idea of a Greater Ashburton may be a, dream, but it. is one of those dreams that will come true.. There, are, ..of course, at present many people who are stuck in the mud intellectually as well as literally, who will only deride the suggestion and set it down as a vain conceit or a device :'to "rope in" the suburban dwellers for the payment of higher rates. So be it. But the time will come when, these suburbanites will be found petitioning for admission to , the Borough, \ n order to abolish the cost of maintaining a multiplicity of governing bodies, and in order.to get the advantage of the better organisation and the more efficient skilled staff which, a. large borough would provide. • -... '-•■.