THE PROPOSED NEW COUNTY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 656, 5 November 1909, Page 3

THE PROPOSED NEW COUNTY.

L S l r 'rs r l to . my-';'letter, , stated that lio took the trouble,* to get; an- old balance-sheet •to asccrtain» our- overdraft*; four years'ago; and compnro it - with my statement , about reducing- the overdraft from:-.£7ooo'•<. to 1 c£7oo ia four t years' time. i Now»,'sir, Mr. "Whit ing knows-perfectly well that at each of the meetings I addressed I distinctly statfed that ; it *vras/at the 8 time, of our > election four years ago that our. overdraft was;nearly .£7OOO, andthat at the • end of oar' last financial year .it was only >£700. : , 'Mr. Whiting asks, "Where ■ does the kudos.come in, seeing' thSt our Yahi'ii-; , turn' lias gone up, and-wo still'keep the Id. rato oil?"' Let mo*tell Mr.'Whiting'this: even if. our valuation •; has. increased, _ so, has our. : expense, seeing that every year IVO ■ have new roads,-soiie of them miles :in;-length, . to: main- . tain; and he. also gets away from the fact that:in the' adjustment' of liccounts with other local • bodies'we have paid away during the four years no. less a .'stun than. .£1773 - 17s; (id. Surely, sir; we deserve some credit'for the satisfactory fmaucial position 'of -the conhfy, :as shown.by our last balauce-sheot; but some people: are never satisfied, whatever you do for them. - ' ■ .-". . .- . ' .. ■■■ ■ /Mr. Whiting, in! another letter, takes except; tion to a' resolution passed at the last meeting of, the Hutt County Council.. That resolution,' sir,; in my opinion, is one' which the Government should insist on,, in all cases, where a portion of a county separates, itself from the main body, because. the expense of •commissions;," as wo all know,? is very., great. Therefore, hundreds of pounds of ratepayers' money 'ale simply thrown: away, lawyers as a rule being the principal gainers. There are; in my •opinion, far. too local 'bodies at- the-present time; and it' is time the Govornnieut took a stand in the direction of:putting.a stop to the formation of new local bodies, when a local body already exists in a district. ;, It is all very well , for agitators for separation to giro figures stating what the expenditure, etc:,'is going to be,' but; wait till your new couiity, or whatever it may be, is> formed. Th(>n it:is that ratepayers generally find they have gone; from the fryingpan into the fire. As I-have stated on a previous occasion, I shall be sorry to see Whareroa go from the Ilutt Countv, but if it does go, let us do it in a straightforward manner, leaving, all personal fooling out of, the question. Unfortunately too many personalities have cropped up in connection with-this matter already. Hoping you can filid spaco.for this letter.—l am, etc., M. W. WELCH. October 25. • ■ •