BE TRAMWAYS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 113, 27 April 1912, Page 5

BE TRAMWAYS.

TO THE EDITOR

Sir, —At the meeting of ratepayers at Port Ahuriri on 15th inst. Cr. Crowley is reported by you to have said —(i) That while member of the council I was in favour of the electric lighting and tramway scheme, but that about a fortnight before .the closing of tenders my attitude changed ; (2) That I instigated the “Herald’s” opposition to the proposal ; (3) That out of the forty “frothy agitators” who attended the meeting in the Borough Council Chambers 30 owned motor cars.

In reply I wish to say:—l (a) That I was always in favour of electric lighting; (b) That I was always opposed to the electric tramways; (c) That I voted against the proposal as presented to the ratepayers; (d) That the poll being carried my opposition naturally ceased ; (e) That when it became obvious that there would have to be another poll, and equally obvious that there had been a great change in public opinion, I published a criticism of the proposal in the hope of assisting to form opinion on the question—that was the extent of my opposition. 2— That «o far from my prompting the “Herald,” it was the appearance of an editorial in their columns which encouraged me to follow it up with the criticism mentioned in the foregoing. 3—That if the forty “frothy agitators” are the same “frothy agitators” whose forty names appear on the hostile circular which was circulated the day before the poll, then only some thirteen or fourteen of them —not thirty—own motor cars. That is to say, two out of three of them did NOT own motor cars.

This habit of exaggerating is a very bad one, particularly on the part of town councillors. We can understand now how it is that all the borough loans have become so grossly exaggerated. By the way, I notice that in the tramway estimates published last night the engineer’s fees are put down at £3OOO. When the terms of Mr. Black’s appoinment were being settled I strongly urged that a lump sum be agreed upon, such sum to be equal to 5 per cent, on the estimate — £35,000. Had this course been followed the engineer’s fees would have amounted to £1750 instead of £3OOO, and we should then have had the satisfaction of knowing that we were not paying Mr. Black 1'- in every £1 he thought it necessary to expend. The gentlemen mainly responsible for making Mr. Black a present of £1250 for nothing were His Worship the Mayor and Cr. Crowlev. —I am, etc., GEO. NELSON.

P.S. —I have been away out of the district, or should have drawn attention to Cr. Crowley’s inaccuracy before.

Napier. April 26, 1912.