MUNICIPAL EXPANSION.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 1542, 21 September 1905, Page 5

MUNICIPAL EXPANSION.

| EAST WARD LOAN PROPOSALS. | A meeting of ratepayers to held at the East Gore school last evening to discuss the proposal to raise a loan jof £2300 (£I2OO for drainage and ;£ttoo for footpaths) for East Ward. ; The Mayor presided, and a dozen ■ ratepayers were in attendance. ! The Chairman said for soma little : time it had been felt by East Ward ' ratepayers lhat they "were under a ; disadvantage, in not having had an equal share with North and South i W'ards in the expenditure of loan rnon- , cy on that side of the river, and yet i they were contributing equally with North and South Ward ratepayers in . the payment of interest on loans. A ' general poll had been taken some ! time ago, and that fixed the interest : upon the whole rateable property of , the Borough. The matter of works : for East Ward had been discussed by I the Council and referred to the ward : members, who recommended that steps lie taken to raise such an amount of money for East Ward as would place j i! 11 parts of the Borough on an equal j footing. Of general loans X 15030 had i been raised specially for works in j North and South Wards, and from which East Ward obtained no benefit. The amount to place East Ward on ] i'.n e-jiual footing would lie £2:100, and I that was now proposed to lie raised. | 'l'he rateable value of North Ward was ' £37,W3, of South Ward £*s,S!>l, and of East Ward .CI2.SIS. The East Ward members had recommended a scheme, and this the Council had . adopted. The whole Council was striving only for the good of the Borough in general, and if the loan now \ suggested was carried, all parts of ; the town would be on an equal footing, and then, perhaps, it would be , seen to be in the interest of all to ! abolish wards and make a united | Horotitrh. It was to the interest of East Ward to carry the loan without d'ky. If they went back a period of seven or ten years thev would find that East Ward had then one-fifth of the whole rateable value of the town. Since then, owing to the expansion of j business on the other side of the rivI er and the erection of costly buildings ! i'.s proport : on had receded to one- ; seventh. Values on the other side . were likely to increase more rapidly .as time went on. and East Ward would continue to lose in regard to jits relative rateable value. As a : matter of fact, when the valuation for . the. present year came out lit woukbbe ; seen that East Ward's proportion of ; value was only one-ninth. Therefore, | the proportion of loan money it j was entitled to raise to bring it to a level footing with North and South Wards was greater now than it would be in the near future, which showed the wisdom of carrying the poll without delav. Mr J. 1). Hunter asked if a schedule of works was available, showing how the money was proposed to be spent. Councillor Spcden said no schedule was necessary in the meantime. All that was required was to state the specific amounts for the several purposes, and a schedule could be prepared afterwards. The Borough inspector of Works (Mr McLuuchlan) had prcnared an estimate of the cost, and a list of the drains and footpaths proposed to be carried out. In reply to Mr Simpson, the Chairman said the amounts raised would'be securely earmarked for their specific purposes. If there was a surplus, the amount could be diverted by special order to any other work, but not while there was a footpath or a drain uncompleted. That meant, of course, that the money could not be spent on anything else save footpaths and drainage. Mr Hunter said a schedule had been prepared in the case of North and South Wards before the poll was taken. The Chairman said only a report of the engineer as to what he thought a reasonable scheme was prepared before tha, first poll. At the second poll, nearly two years later, they had specifications. Mr A. Burrows pointed out that a snecification of the East Ward proposals had been before the Council and was approved. The Chairman said the allocation of the money had been left in the hands of the East Ward members, and as they had proposed to drain practically the whole, of that portion of the town, and to form, and asphalt footpaths in nearly every street that should be sufficiently comprehensive. Mr Hunter wished to know if the work would be done by contract or by day labor. The Chairman said proper specifications would be prepared, but he could not say whether the Council would decide for contract or for day labor. In regard to the drainage work in North and South Wards, the Council had supplied all material, and had carried out the work at £7OO less than the (•mount of the lowest bona fide, tender.

Mr Hunter said some of the footpaths done by day labor were not satisfactory. He ' liked to see the work done well, and with concrete kerbs if possible. Mr .Tas Brown moved that the, proposals be affirmed and that the Mavor be asked to cause a poll to be taken. Tn seconding the motion, Mr Alex. Simpson said he was sure the Council would see that a good job was made of the work, and thev could safely leave it to decide whether it should be done by contract or bv day labor. Councillor Burrows said if the loan was carried, the Council would do its best to see the money spent properly, and to carrv out the work in the most economical fashion. He hoped the East Ward ratepayers would support the loan as it was for their benefit.— The motion was carried unanimously. The Chairman said the poll wouid probably be held in East Gore in a fortnight from the following dav. The proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding.