SATURDAY, MAY 23, 1908. THE COUNTY LOAN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue LIII, 23 May 1908, Page 4

SATURDAY, MAY 23, 1908. THE COUNTY LOAN.

wera county fral that the success of their Council in. respect to tho road loans is a matter for congratulation. We need not again enter into the vary difficult question, which presented itself so acutely some time ago. Nobody would like to se-e a repetition o£ the'statei c& things which eoristed last winter when the mam arterial road of the county was so far iiupassable that at times only people with considerable courage and strong constitutions would attempt to- travel or. it, and many went mile* round to ttivoid it. Heavy borrowing was not a pleasant remedy, bur it was the least ovil, and in the circumstances the only course possible. But borrowing hairing beem authorised and the work of lepair undertaken, and the administrative action, of the Council became a. matter of importance, and it is highly satisfactory to know that tha road is now good and that the. money has boon raised for thisi and other works on particularly jrood terms. Fortunately the. Council has not been hampered by the. stringency of tho money market, it completed its arrangements jusit in time to get the money.en the most favorableconditions. Authorities wh-> are in no way associated . with the Council assure us that the Council was very fortunate in getting the money at "thei price pai<J — 4£ per cent — aud deserves credit for fon-sight in successfully .carrying, through a business transaction which might have been very difficult, perhaps impossible, to arrange so favorably if any delay had taken placei It is' perfectly certain that if the Council had had \o rely on bank money for tho next few months its works would have cost xnora than they are likely 'to "do under the financial 1 ' arian sgejnente!5 gejnente ! which v Have been made-. ' Tho tJcwin^' 'thecef^oro has quite earned the cbngraiEulations cn'ratepayera' for ~\t£ jauccessful negotiation of what was really a raiher sarious n'naacial difficulty. , , , ,

Local bodies soon hear of it if the)' make a mistake, but it is not so customary^ to give them credit vhen thejf do well. Perhaps, however, thi-j attitude on the part of many ratepayers is really a compliment It must have, forao basis, and infarcintiallv perhap* it rests on the assumption that a local body ought always to. do right, is expected always, to do right, and that the only occasion comment is necessary or desirable) is when, by souio strange lapse or perversity it doe* wrongf. That* 6f course, is a far mow complimentary and . encouraging, view to ' take l of a r local ., body But, neivoirthe'less whatever the 1 reason, the' fact remains- that criticism 'most; often spells cepfyrc We think j howferer, that ratepayers in the Har