BOROUGH LOAN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume III, Issue 233, 10 April 1882, Page 2

BOROUGH LOAN.

Another stage of the proceedings in oounection with the Borough loan will be reached to-morrow evening, when the burgesses will have an opportunity of assembling in public meeting and discussing the proposals of the Council. The provision of the Act which makes such a meeting necessary is a valuable one. Hitherto, the Council has had all the talk to itself, and if there be any well-grounded opposition to the borrowing, it is right that the people may be able to adduce their arguments ; or, if there be any doubt or misconception, it is very convenient that the Mayor and Council may be called upon to explain matters and give reasons for the faith that is in them. We do not believe, however, that there is any serious opposition to the loan, aud if any one had been promoting opposition, the present muddy, slushy, impassable state of some of the main streets and thoroughfares would have furnished the progressive party with very telling arguments. A two -days' rain has produced a result which recalls to mind the inconvenience of last winter, and also gives a foretaste of what may be expected for a period of three or four months, a short time hence, unless borrowing powers be given to the Council. There is no half-measure possible. We should have been glad to see temporary arrangements made, until the winter had passed over; but the facts and figures given at the Council meetings, which will, no doubfc, be reproduced to-morrow, show clearly enough that the Council must either borrow, or relinquish any attempt to improve the streets. The issue is simply " A Loan v. Mud," and we believe the " muddites " are a very small minority. So much for street making. As to that part of the loan which it is proposed to use for the purpose of obtaining a water supply, we apprehend that everyone will regard such an er*

penditure (of course, assuming that the money is ■wisely expended) as reproductive in tie best cense of the term. A letter from a well-known professional gentleman, which appears in another column, is opportune. It shows that in the opinion of one who has evidently given considerable thought to the matter, a fairly efficient water supply is quite •within roach at a moderate cost. As for the drainage part of the Council's public works scheme, while admitting that great necessity for such a work has made itself felt, we do not believe that anything can be done for the money set apart ; and we would suggest that if a water supply could be secured, wells abolished, and the earth closet system vigorously enforced, much of the present pressing need for drainage would have passed away. There is one other point in connection with the loan which might engage immediate attention. We have previously pointed out that by the Act the burgess roll must be made up from the valuation roll as it stands on 31st March, but there was no such valuation roll in force on the 31st March, the time for making it up under the Bating Act having been extended by the Governor. Therefore, unless there be some loop-hole of escape, the burgess list, i.e., the list of persons entitled to vote, must remain until 3lßt March next, as it was under the Town Board last year. Notoriously that roll does not . contain one half of the ratepayers' names, and it is a gross injustice, that a large number of people Bhould be rendered liable to rates and their properties mortgaged for a loan without their having any voice in the matter. The Mayor, at the request of the Council, wrote to the Colonial Secretary on the subject, but in accordance with the official rule, he declined to give legal advice. But the Council certainly should not stop short at attempting to get a legal opinion free. The point is of so much importance that that a legal opinion should be obtained even if a guinea has to be expended in procuring it. It seoms to us only common sense that as the time for making up the valuation roll was extended by the Governor, the time for making up the burgeas list from that roll must a priori have been also extended, and at any rate it may be that common law or the canons of interpretation may meet the case. It is quite worth while consulting a lawyer on the Bubject.