RIVER BOARD CLASSIFICATION.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 12752, 26 March 1914, Page 7

RIVER BOARD CLASSIFICATION.

THE VERDICt. J NIQUITOUS ANOMALIES. To the Editor. Sir. —When ratepayers in the Palj merston North-Kairanga River Dis- [ trict digest the judgment delivered iby Mr Poynton they will see that with the exception of Hokowhitu those ratepayers who objected have been put in Class D, which is exempt from rates altogether, while those who did not object remain in the classes in which they were put and remain liable to the rates, which on the face of it will have to be increased to compensate for those who have escaped. To quote a few anomalies: Watson Bros.' premises are exempt; Millar and Giorgi pay %d in the £. Hansen pays; Turner is exempt, Club Hotel exempt. Durward pays; Whalley exempt; l'egden pays; Porteous pays; Occidental Hotel exempt. Dr. Martin pays; Wollerman exempt. Grand Hotel exempt; Times Office pays. Woodfield's stables exempt; Harvester Coy. pays; and so on all over the town. Apart from the iniquities resulting from the classification and the appeals thereon the ratepayers should wake up and look into what is being done. The evidence adduced by Messrs Baldwin, Mason and Innes at the herfring shows that the Board proposes to spend the sum of £12,000 in the hope of training the channel of the Manawatu River in such a*way that it will go just wherever Mr Fisher dictates. The evidence of some of the most level-headed men in our community, some of whom have had a life-long experience on the Manawatu River, all tended to show that' there was much less chance of the works doing what was wished than of the river effecting her own course in obedience to the fixed and immutable laws of nature. Mr Poynton pointed out that it was outside his province to decide whether or not the works were likely to be successful. I would invite all ratepayers of ordinary' common-sense to go down on to the river beach at the foot of Scandia street, adjoining the Golf Links, where they will observe the pegs put in by Mr Fisher to indicate where he proposes to put the channel of the river and let them judge for themselves what the effect of the work may be. Apologising for length. —I am, etc.,

H. C. MELLSOP. Palmerston, March 25. (We have omitted part of the concluding part of the letter.—Ed.)