THE £100,000 LOAN. MEETING OF THORNDON RATEPAYERS.

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue 383, 1 April 1879, Page 2

THE £100,000 LOAN. MEETING OF THORNDON RATEPAYERS.

A meeting of the ratepayers of Thorndon was held at the Princess Hotel, Molesworthstreet, last evening. Mr. George Anderson was called to the chair. The Councillors of the ward were present by request. Councillor Allen said the proposal to borrow £100,000 for street formation would involve the imposition of a 7d rate at the lowest, for 50 years. He quoted figures to show that the contributions of the several wards to the city rates were as follows :— Thorndon, £1972; Lambton, £3133; Te Aro, £2220; Cook Ward, £2328. The expenditure in the wards last year was :— Thorndon, £4859; Lambton, £8713; Te Aro, £10,568; Cook, £12,307. The proposed apportionment of tlia £100,000 loan was: — Thorndon, £20,522; Lambton, £13,804; Te Aro, £24,134; Cools, £47,7«7. Councillor Allen then went through the schedule of works for Thorndon, saying that a large proportion was unnecessary. A great part of the estimate was tor kerbing and channelling, but tbis was conditional upon th« residents raising an equal amount. Before long there would be a drainage rate ot Is iv the £, and a further water rate, for an increased watar supply would be absolutely neces*ary if the drainage works were to ba of advantage to the town, as the pipes must be flushed. He opposed this £100,000 loan in the Council, and he should oppose it at the polling-booth. (Applause.) Councillor Fisher endorsed whtt had been said by Councillor Allen, and added that there would have to be another loan for the Te Aro reclamation. Tae work which was most urgently needed was the covering iv of the Tinakori stream aud the Kent Terrace drain, but neither of these was provided for iv the schedule, as the City Solicitor had ruled that thoy could not be paid for out of loan. Councillor Maoinniiy agreed with the opinions expressed by the other representatives of the Board, and added that when Thorndon wanted roads made the residents formed a separate Board of Works and rated themselves heavily. [Mr. Carpenter: Two shillings a foot frontage to the road], Newtown should do the same. (Applause.; Mr. Ca&pbntbr said that if this loan were raised, Thorndou and Lambton would simply ba robbed to enrich the laud sharks of Cook and Te Aro wards. That part of the city had had infinitely more than its fair share of the rates. This cry for the loan was originated (1) by those who had invested in swamp acres, aud wanted to sell them ; (2) by those who expected to get these acres into their hands, and cut them up, mailing imaginary streets; (3) by the contractors, who expected to get the job and (4) by a lot of follows who called themselves working men, but whose sole aim was to live entirely on the public. He would gladly pay fifty sovereigns to sink Newtown in the sea like Port Koyal. (Laughter.) It had been an ulcer, a plague, and a cancer upon the city. He cared no more for a Cook's Ward loafer than he did for a Fiji savage. (Renewed laughter.) He would see the councillors in the bottomless pit before he would pay half the cost of making the fooptaths. The whole project wts 'no earthly use to Thorndon. It was " a sham, a delusion, and a snare." (Laughter.) Cook ward was a dead-horse to Thorndon, and he would like to cut the tow-line and make it a separate district. In 1842 Captain FiUroy's Government proposed to put on a property and income tax, but tbe Thorndon people determined to resist it by force of arm*, and it never was levied, and it might come to the same thing with City Council rates (Laughter). Mr. Babkbtt spoke in favor of the loan, urging that Wellington should strive to make itself worthy of being tbe metropolitan city of the colony. Every £100,000 spent in the making of roads largely increased the rateable area The bene3t ol one ward was the benefit of the whole, for the city was united for gooJ or bad. He hoped it would not go forth Irom that meeting that they were opposed to borrowing money for tbe improvement of the city. Councillor Fisher pointed out that without this loan the city would in a few years be £650,000 in debt. Mr. Field moved, " That a petition be presented to the Council, asking it to take the question of the loan into re-consideration, and it possible to arrange so that the vote may be taken separately ia eacjt Ward, so that any Ward ia which tbe ratepayers are opposed to

the raising of the loxn may be exempt from paying the seven-penny rate as interest on the loan." Mr. O'Mallbt seconded the motion. Mr. Carter moved as an amendment, " That this meeting pledges itself to oppose the borrowing of the sum of £100,000 j>roposed for carrying out the works as set forth in tbe schedule." Mr. J. Cattbll seconded. After some further discussion the amendment was carried by a large majority, and after votes of thanks to the Councillors and the Chairman, the meeting adjourned.