THE PROPOSED LOAN OF £75,000.

Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 110, 10 May 1889, Page 2

THE PROPOSED LOAN OF £75,000.

TO THE EDITOE. Sir,— Your loading article of la3t night a, without the least mistake, the loan, the vhole loan, and nothing- but the loan. What k comfort it is for those who, like mylelf, do not believe in adding unnecessarily to the burdens of this already leavily afflioted city, to remember that rou have on former occasions failed to ;auge correctly the public opinion, and that rou may be equally mistaken on this question. It appears that my persistent criticism )f the Munioipal Council ia an offence, and ;hat you have not yet forgiven my action in rilling Mr. Samuel Brown's "little Bill" ;o manipulate the reclaimed land leases, Hid thus deprive the city of a valuible estate. Ton will remember there was a public meeting of citizens on ;hat question, and, notwithstanding your itrongly expressed views to the contrary, ;hat meeting tore the Bill metaphorically nto fragments, and made the then Council irish they had never seen it. I did not shrink on that oocasion from calling atten;ion to what I deemed a great public wrong, lotwithstanding my action exposed me to a jreat deal of personal enmity and malice. Equallyso in the present instance. It wouldbe rery much more pleasant for me to agree to the proposals of the City Counoil. i want to see the city adorned with, a Town Hall. [ long for beautiful recreation grounds and sharining esplanades, and I feel inclined to indulge in strong language when I look at the utter want of condition of our streets. [ should receive possibly as largo an amount 3f both pleasure and pecuniary benefit from ill these things being properly carried out is any other person in the city. Then why ilo I oppose them. Simply for these reasons.- — That wo are told the finances of the city are in a most satisfactory condition, co much so that a new chargoof J33500 for interest upon a, loan of .£75,000 can be borne without the ratepayers having to pay an extra rate. This being so, the revenue of the city is amply sufficient, if rightly expended, to grapple with all absolutely necessary works except drainago. That Town Halls, Recreation Grounds, and Esplanades are not absolute necessities, and can and ought to be postponed till a complete, thorough, and satisfactory system of drainage is in existence over every portion of ihe city. That the necessity for such a systom of drainage is immediate and pressing, and IS in no sense met hy the proposal to spend £15,000 in addbg to the present apology for a system. That the City Council themselves are divided upon the question, the Finance Committee's report being only adopted by a majority of one, the Mayor himaelt voting for Councillor Brandon's amendment regarding drainage. It may well be argued that to force a loan proposal down the throats of the citizens in this fashion under suoh circumstances is highly improper, and that any stop of that kind should only be taken when the Council itself is practically unanimous. I need not discuss with you the details of the proposals on this occasion. Tho public meeting of the citizens will afford a special opportunity to deal with those in an exhaustive fashion. I can only regret to find yon appealing to the people to support this borrowing of money because it means a certain amount of work and probable inflation of local business. I had thought our experience of that policy with the colony's borrowed millions had cured us for ever of that insanity. If we cannot progress without that Bource of assistance, I pity the energy and ability of our people. I have, however, far too much faith in the calm, good sense of my fellowcitizens to believe they will be led away by suoh reasoning. As for myself, it is a matter of absolnte indifference to me whether my views are endorsed by the newspaper press or not. I am satisfied that the great body of the ratepayers gladly welcome the frank and honest expression of opinions which they know are not the ontcome of bitterness, bat of a simple desire on my part to promote the publio good. lam, 4c, T. Kennbdt Macdonald. 10th May, 1889.