Ashburton

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30201, 5 August 1963, Page 3

Ashburton

Sir, —With all respect, I would like to say that I find the Ashburton Town Clerk’s explanation of the staggering increase in borough rates unconvincing. There already

have been several substantial increases in recent years, and although most ratepayers anticipated some increase this year, many must have been totally unprepared for the breath -taktog extent which is now revealed. Were the moneys thus collected spent effectively. no ratepayer would growl, but this is not always so Residents arc painfully aware of the high costs of reseating roads and footpaths, and how frequently such work is quickly followed by trench-digging or o'her forms of tearing up. lit is also sad but true that the air of inertia which surrounds many borough works makes, by comparison, a Mexican siesta hour look like a scene of feverish activity.—Yours, etc., SURCHARGE. August 2. 1963.