Untitled

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 59, 10 March 1915, Page 7

(To the Editor.) Sir, —There are so many gross mis'-" etatements in Mr. Davis' address-to-tHe ratepayers at Friday's meeting- that' I deem it my duty'to contradict them! It is true that the- Mayor has answetedl these statements, and' shown l the trueposition at a meeting at which Mr. Davis was present, but he still continues to make them afresh, and thus may" mislead many ratepayers who are not better informed. ■ I 1. It has been clearly stated that the j nfortey is to be borrowed aft? * ratio not' ei«*ding 5 per cent (not- SJ: per cent".,, as stated by Mr. Davis), and only in such! sums as the progress of tbe work from'! time to time may demand, j

2. The reasons for taking authority to borrow the. amount neceseary to drain ithe w,hole borough, and not merely for £35,000 (which is the amount "estimated as necessary for the clay area alone), were stated at the meeting, and may be repeated.

Aβ it is proposed to rate the whole of the borough, and not the clay are* alone, for the work first to be completed, it is only reasonable that the dwellers' in the volcanic portion of the district should be assured that w.hen tlm pressing need of the drainage of the clay area has been effected the turn of their district to adequate drainage has been provided for. and will in due course come: If authority was now taken to drain the clay area alone on a rate spreadover ttie whole borough, when that work was completed another poll would have been necessary to authorise the drainage of the volcanic area, and this might be rejected by the votes of those whb had already secured drainage and' were averse to an increase of ra'tee. It lias been explained that a special rate over the clay area to provide the £35,000 is quite out of the question; it would run into at least 1/0 in the £.

Mr. Davis fails to understand the large sum paid on the last loans ac discount. The Mayor spent et>me time in explaining this at his meeting.. The loans, referred to were issued at 41 per cent, and owing to the state of the money markets all over the world before the war (for which Mr. Davis surely does not hold the Council responsible), it was necessary to accept euch a price ac, would secure the investors 5 per cent' interest. It was therefore necessary' to place the debentures at £91' 10/ pert, £100, -which secures that rate. In other words, the borough , had to pay 5 per cent, for tiieir" loan instead of; 4$ per cent. The present proposed loan, issued at 5 per cent, and taken- at par, will be ok a parity, and-we have the J remarkable position' that money can , now be Had' at the same rate as that existing prior to the War. One fact which Mr.' Davis does not press ie the remarkable depreciation in values in this borough, which was caused by the rejection of the drainage proposals, and which probably runs intp some hundreds of thousands of pounds. It is to remove this depreciation for which Mr. Davis .the opponents of drainage are responsible 'that fresh proposals are to be submitted, and I trust all our ratepayers will realise, the seripusness of the position, and not be ..deterred from voting in favour of. drainage, and thus restore the fair name of our district. —I am, etc., Mt. Eden, March 6. C. HUDSON.