PROPOSED DEVONPORT MUNICIPAL FERRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12856, 3 May 1905, Page 7

PROPOSED DEVONPORT MUNICIPAL FERRY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—For a long period Mr. F. M. King flooded your paper with the advocacy of what' all sensible people consider a silly, impracticable, and dishonest scheme of taxation,'., in which he (Mr. King) was everlastingly railing at and decrying the making of a profit by private individuals by selling sections of land ; but now, in your issue of April 27, he advocates the establishment of a "municipal ferry service," and as an inducement for the people of Devonport to support hint, says the owners of sections would make a "handsome profit" on their land if such a scheme were carried out. If this means he has given up the single tax crusade, then, as a citizen of this colony, I am satisfied' and pleased he has dropped from a colonial to a small local affair, in which I am thankful to say I should not be implicated; but were I a section owner in Devonport I should certainly look on a municipal ferry rate as a mortgage on the land, which would lower instead of raise the value of said land._ I suppose there are people who are deceived and" led away by Mr. Kings letters, which, however, must cause thoughtful people to smile by their simplicity, e.g., he places " ferry service" and roads on the same platform (figurative), and says. these are community wants, and for the benefit of the people as a whole. What litter nonsense! The sea or water is equivalent to the roads, and the boats (ferry service) are equivalent to omnibuses. A resident in Devonport can swim, or cross in a small row-boat, or pay for the convenient and expeditious conveyance by ferryboats, and a resident of Otahuhtt can go to Auckland on foot, or ride 0:1 horseback, or use and pay for conveyance in a coach. — am,'etc., East Tamaki. George Wii.ks.