TOO MANY BOROUGHS

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 July 1912, Page 8

TOO MANY BOROUGHS

•-'■’-‘dtfKniaM* [to the editor.]

Sir, —Mr de Berry, before the Education Commission, declared that there were too many Education Boards in the Dominion. We might also declare there are too many Borough Councils in the country. What good arc they or what good have they evei done? Why, some-of us know them from their very inception, and know that the more of them we had the more rates and taxes we would have to pay. • Besides, they keep on operating or over-drafting all the time. The money spent on borough engineers or clerks in offices would go a good way in opening up the buckblocks with roads and bridges, and make them accessible for those people who wish to settle on the land. One reason why there are so manV Borough Councils in existence is this: Nearly every “one-horse place” has verandah orators in it, and these puny individuals seen); to reckon when they get to a; Council table to air their eloquence that they are something different to other people. Runanga, for instance. This is a par from Grey Star the other day; ‘The Mayor of Runanga was.in town today.” Why, the people of the West Coast should wipe out o fexistence at once Brunner, Runanga, Kumura, and Ross Borough Councils, because they are neither useful nor ornamental, and.;establish -the one county, one borough . system, and quite enough, too. Our Grey County Council can get through all its.business in one day very often, and suppose these Borough Councils were wiped out, and suppose it took two pi: three days to do the business of the Council, would not this be ever so much bettey -thnn the present rate of things? There are many electorates throughout the Dominion situated something similar to Grey and Westland. Sir, this is a subject master I would like to see .you deal more jGdly with in your editorial than you have dono.-—I am, &c., RATEPAYER.