MOUNT ALBERT LOAN.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 203, 27 August 1910, Page 9

MOUNT ALBERT LOAN.

I . __— , ,- . _ (To the Editor.). | Sir,—-In Wednesday's issue of "the "Star" "Ratepayer" disagrees -with mc in my opinion on the proposal to'borrow £30,000 for improvement ,tp" the Mount Albert streets and an up-to-date water supply. I am rather surprised at the attitude of one .who is presumably a ratepayer in condemning a proposal such as thi3. If the proposal had been for some other fancy object, such as the laying out of a beautiful park or. the like, then I would say the time.is not ripe for spending the money.-on sam.; but when one sees a district" going ahead by leaps and bounds—take the. chairman of the Board's own words:. "Building permits have been issued at the rate of one for every working day of the year"—it surely does not seem feasible that the progress, of the district should be retarded by refusing to sanction the loan. iWe are told by the chairman.of the Mt, Albert Road Board that in five years the number of houses in.the'district has risen, from otio to 1,372, with the increase of a building for. each working day still going on. Surely it cannot be called lavish or reckless expenditure when a hoard proposes . to keep pace with the times by providing a fast-increasing population with an absolutely necessary water supply, together with a respectable means, of ingress to, and egress from, its properties.. It -is not a case of looking for slumps, but a matter of making a district habitable for the populace. We know the city and some of the surrounding suburbs are in a fearfully congested state, so that, if. -he.9e_ttler,.wishes' to ...be out in a healthy suburb with plenty of breathing space,-'we can spend'some oi our money for his benefit, especially when we know it is for our. own ultimate benefit.—l am, etc.,. ... ADVANCE, -MOUNT ALBERT-