FURTHER SUPPORT

Evening Post, Issue 36, 12 February 1935, Page 10

FURTHER SUPPORT

UNSIGNED PROPAGANDA

PRACTICE CONDEMNED

There was another unanimous decision to vote in favour of the new proposals in connection with the Paremata Bridge and mile of road into Plimmerton at a meeting of ratepayers of Taupo' Riding held in Wellington yesterday afternoon. Mr. H. G. Mayer, chairman of the Paremata Bridge Association,- was in the chair, and the speakers included Mr. R. L. Button, representative of the Taupo Riding on the Hutt County Council, and Mr. W. H. Bennett, Deputy Mayor of "Wellington. About 35 ratepayers were present. The following resolution, moved by Mr. G. M. Henderson, president of the Pukerua Bay Ratepayers' Association, and seconded by Mr. W. Bourke (Khandallah), was carried unanimously:— That this meeting of ratepayers of the Taupo Riding utterly condemns the anonymous, propaganda issued by a small section of ratepayers to influence ratepayers to vote against the bridge, and therefore this public meeting of ratepayers unanimously endorses the loan proposals for the construction of a main highway bridge and road into Plimmerton, and recommends all ratepayers to vote for the bridge at. the forthcoming poll. Reference to the activities of a certain section of the ratepayers to gain an adverse vote at the poll on Wednesday was made by Mr. Mayer, who said that it- was easy for a few people to issue anonymous propaganda in opposition to the proposal. The opposing body consisted of one or two, or perhaps three, people who had a personal grievance against the councillor for the riding. None of the propaganda .used.in,opposition, tothe present bridge proposals had been signed, he said, and it was a poor man with an opinion of his. own who could not'back up that opinion by signing his . name. The Automobile Association was behind the Paremata Bridge Association and the Taupo Riding- in the construction of the bridge and the road. ORIGINAL TENDERS. Mr. Button said' that originally, when it was proposed to erect a toll' bridge, it was hoped to get the road into Plimmerton constructed by relief labour. Owing to altered economic conditions, however, this idea was not possible. Recently lie had. been asked to give the tenders received for the original proposal. The bridge and road under contract were to cost £8998 and £4573 respectively. Those figures did not include tollkeeper's cottage, tollgate, or preliminary expenses, which amounted to £1515. The total* contracts with expenses, therefore, amounted to £15,086, and as a result of the poll the council had authority to use only £11,000. Mr. Button outlined the proposals in connection with the present project? and pointed . out that although rates would be increased by a fraction in the £, the value of property in Plimmerton and the surrounding district! would be greatly enhanced if | the new bridge proposals were . carried out. The only . reason a toll bridge was suggested in the first place was because the Hutt County. Council could not obtain a subsidy to carry but the work. . . ; . ; .■.-.;■ He regretted tne anonymous-corres-pondence in opposition to the proposal. He did not mind anonymous-letters being published in the newspapers, but the practice of some people, who j were either afraid or.ashamed;to sign' their' names, of . sending reprints of these letters through the post was to be condemned. The suggestion of the opposition that if the proposal was! turned down on Wednesday the bridge and road would materialise as a national project was entirely misleading. If such was the case the Hutt j County, Council would be guilty of doing the ratepayers a great wrong. There was no truth' in such a statement. If the ratepayers did not vote for the bridge on Wednesday they would have to wait 20 years for shortened access to the district. Mr. Bennett paid a tribute to the manner in which Mr. Button had worked in connection with the proposal. The opponents of the scheme had complained that'there was top much mystery and too much' hole-in-the-corner work so far as' Mr. Button and the tenders received were concerned, but,'added Mr. Bennett, no councillor desired to disclose tenders before the matter was settled. Mr. Button had kept his own counsel until there was something definite to put before the ratepapers. In conclusion, Mr. Bennett said that if Plimmerton was to progress the bridge must be erected. ,