THE LOAN POLL.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 206, 30 August 1921, Page 4

THE LOAN POLL.

City ratepayers should have no difficulty in making up their minds how to vote on the loan proposals to -be submitted to them to-morrow. There are three issues, drainage, paving of the Great South Road, and development of the Old Markets site, and for each of the three there is a strong case. The drainage work that will 'be done with the £72,500 that it is proposed to borrow, has been declared to be necessary, and that should he sufficient. Those who refuse to sanction such work assume a heavy responsibility. The need for paving the Great South Koad will be clear to anyone who knows this thoroughfare, one of tbf main arteries leading out of Auckland. There is growing recognition of the unwisdom of tinkering with such roads. It is expected that the saving in maintenance will be sufficient to meet interest costs. The third and largest of the issues is the sanctioning of a loan for the remodelling of the Old Markets area at a cost of £120,000. including the erection of a block to house the municipal departments. The condition of the site, in the heart of the city, is now no credit to Auckland, and the Council has done well to look ahead and make plans for the time when the leases will fall in, and thus take advantage of this splendid opportunity for town-planning. It is proposed to pull down old buildings, release ground, set back Queen Street, and build municipal oflices. Ratepayers should understand that not only will this plan involve a marked improvement in the centre of the city, and provide ollites for the now overcrowded municipal staffs, but on the calculations of the Council, which has given a great deal of thought to this matter, no increase in rates will be entailed. Interest'on the loan will be covered by ground and departmental rentals. At present the staffs of two departments are housed at. considerable cost away from the Town Hall, which is too small for the other departments. It is strange that the municipal staffs should have outgrown a ■building erected only a few years ago, and we hope that when the "new block is erected a long view will be taken. Details of this, however, including the design of the building, may be discussed when the time comes; the need at present is to get the authorisation for the scheme of w-hich thie block is a part. There is no intention on the part of the council to raise this money at once, a consideration to be set against the argument that the work is not urgent. It will be borrowed when it is needed, and with an eye to the market, which by then may be substantially more favourable to the borrower than it is now. Ratepayers then, are asked to sanction an improvement that will ultimately be necessary, if it is not to-day, about which they have official assurance that it will not involve an addition to the rates. We hope to sco all three proposals carried.