THE DRAINAGE EXPENDITURE.

Evening Post, Volume XLVIII, Issue 66, 15 September 1894, Page 2

THE DRAINAGE EXPENDITURE.

♦ TO THK EDITOR. Sir— A roport is boing industrionely oiiv culated by persona who surely must be ignorant of the facts of the ease, that much of the money being spent ont of tho Drainage Loan is going in salaries for clerical and similar work. To any thinking person tbiß is of course absurd. To anyone possessed of any knowledgo in the matter— and this knowledge is obtainable at the Corporation Offices on application being mado by any ratepayer- it is simply a misrepresentation of tho grossest character, and should brand its disseminators fit 01100 aa most advanced students of tergivorsation. Tho accounts are taken from the Counoil's statement to the 31st March last, the details of which show that less than .£lBO was spent for the year on clerical work. It does not take an accountant to go through the financial report to ascertain the different works done and what their ooßt has been, nor does it demand the seryioes of an expert to find that the surveying, levelling, and contouring chargos, the cost of laying out a definite line of sower, and many other expenses mot with, cannot rocur, as they are fof work yot to be performed. Without a complete and thorough survey no system of drainage could be carried out. Councillor Fraser very aensibly plaoed tho affair in a nutshell at his meeting a few nights ago, and his experience a3 a Councillor should weigh a hundredfold over any faddy notions or results of eithor ignorance or wilful misrepresentation. I am, &c, Go Stuaigut.