OUR LETTER BOX.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5486, 18 March 1910, Page 2

OUR LETTER BOX.

'.Wo are not responsible for opinions axpresscd by correspondents}. A REPLY TO MR. LOCHHKAD. (To the K<lit<r). Sir,— l am rather surprised at the tone, -of Wr Lccltficad's better in yoi.r issue of the 11th inst. Wr Lochhead knows, Cveryoitc knows, that the County Council receive a quid pro cjuo for the works he refers to. Mr Lochhead knows that he has not paid his rates and tjfat: i'ti is not a reasonable proposition to expect Ms byj-road put in order with other people's money. R.*r Lcchhead knows that it is the exception and 'not the rulei for his rates to be paid in time to earn the Government subsidy, and should know that the money thus lost to the oaunty fund is so much less available for expenditure on roads. Mr Lochhead knows that when tho 4 road in question was repaired by a "working bee" he was Conspicuous by his ab6en.ee.

I was not present at the last Council meeting, and no doubt the Council inten-ds to refer his •ommunication to the metnbet fot Te Puna Riding, namely, myself, and if you will kindly allow me Space I will \fy to make the position blear. Up to quite recently; all settlement in Tc Puna has been either upon the line of main county, fcoads, of the few outlying Settlers have provided theft own roads, am! no rate has been struck"' Tor making by or district r.^ads, as is done in all other riidings of the county^ except Maketu, either by road boards or separate rale. In consequence, however, of the advancing tide of settlement, the Council has been compelled to strike a rate for! uxpeudituro on bY-roads this yecr. As member for the riding 1 have given the subject a t-or.' sjdarable amount <of thought^ and camo ' the conclusion that th© ratepayers were not in a position to bear a large rate, and that the best policy would be to strike a small fate and devote the 'proceeds to the most pressing wnrk eachyeaji This view has been shown to be corr:ct by a retirn laid upon tfce Council table a month or two back. This return shows tihe Te Puna Rkling to be by far the heaviest as r«gards rates in arrear, and I think the explanation is that there is a large amount of ahsentee s?ctions in the riding upon which rates cannot be collected, also it-hat the ratepayers' burden is cS much rS they can carry. The retirn further shows the c rious fi.ct that ithe f itspaycf ? whj are loudest in Complaints ii-i thes. who have not paid their ratts. and are very indignant at tie non-ex-penditure of rates, which are a debt due by them to the Council/

Wittd regard "to set.t-ing up a committee for the management of Te Puna '-by-roads, I took up tfrV c » perhaps rather egotistical position: For.more years than T can remember the ratepayers have done mo the honour ! of returning me unopposed as their member,, and T was under the mv prsssion that I had the, confidence and respect of them .all, and felt myself fully able to manage the allocation of this separate rate, upon the by-roads, at all events Icr thi" year, it being so .evident that connection with Whakam&ranra was the pressing work. A representative committee would have to come fronv Aongatete, Onvokoroa, Whakamsarama, vKaimai, ami this portion of the rid■rjtg, say five men to waste a day, and to wrangle about roads they had no funds to makfc. Under these circumstances, I may perhaps be excused fcr imagining I was the JAM of Te Puna.— l am, etc. J. A.M. DAVIDSON. Te Puna, March 14, 1910.