DEVONPORT FINANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13355, 8 December 1906, Page 4

DEVONPORT FINANCE.

Sir,—l have headed this letter "Devonport Finance " because the financial method? hitherto adopted in this borough axe so peculiar and so unbusinesslike • that in no place in the world would such "a system of finance Ik> tolerated. The borough needs money to procure a supplementary water supply, the present mains being too small for the needs of the district and insufficient in case of fire. There is no doubt about that. The question is, How is it to be financed? It had been* rightly decided by the Borough Council and duly advertised that the proposal was _to borrow £7000 for water supply and drainage, and to levy a halfpenny rate to pay off the principal and interest. But at the public meeting a motion, engineered by the land speculating dement of the borough, was sprung upon the ratepayers, and by a narrow majority it was| decided to borrow the money without mak-; ing provision for a sinking fund,! The 7 financial position of the borough hi regard" to its loans is most deplorable. We havp borrowed £43.750 without any provision for sinking fund, and now it is proposed to borrow another £7000 in the same unprincipled way, so that the borough ."will owe about £50,000, which must all be paid by posterityThe waterworks and drainage* system g>C Devonport will be obsolete in at mostfp years, but the people of Devonport will still owe -the £50,000 and the interest, and thus as time goes on it will become ever more and more difficult to deal with the finances of the borough. Under sound management it would not have been necessary to increase the rates to provide the additional £7000 required. A proper provision of sinking funds for all loans would ere now have reduced the borough's indebtedness' and consequentinterest charge to an extent that would have met the cost of the additional loan without increasing the rate-. The fact is the- borough is: in the hands of the land speculating element, who borrow this? money to increase the value of their land flud sell the vacant sections to the new-comer? at an enormously increased price, but take care not to mention that they are liable for a share of the loans, which must sooner or later be '"aid. The same element in ' the borough. "to spite of the horrible*, example of Auckland, is preparing to giveaway our tramway rights for a mess of pottage. This will further increase their unearned increment, bring the future residents of Devonport under tribute to the tramway syndicate, and give the increased land value to the land speculators. During the last six years the landowners of Devonport have netted an unearned increment hi £92,136: yet at a meeting of ratepayers held last Friday eleven of them decided to make posterity pay £7000 for their benefit so that the land speculators may have'the profit of the improvement and posterity the loss! The present, ratepayers are morally responsible foi the interest on the loans they borrow, and also their share of the principal, which should be paid off before the improvements for which it was borrowed become obsolete. F. M. Kl.so, Devonport, December 4. | Ratepayer.

THE PENNY RECEIPT STAMP.

Sir, Sir Joseph Ward has already clone a groat deal for commerce in cheapening postago and telegraphic rates. Wo have no doubt obtained those benefits by reason of his commercial education and his long career in merchandise. I think lie would confer a still greater blessing if he wont, ono step further and did away with the use of the penny receipt stamp. To the creditor itis not so much the value of the stamp, but it is the time lost in finding, affixing, and deleting the stamp, and there is the danger and vexation that follows in its wake. A solicitor came into my office a few days ago, and said. "If your client issues a summons for his claim against my client my client will hand over to the proper officer an unstamped receipt giver),.by your client some weeks ago for a sum greater than £2.. it appears my client had signed the butt of the debtor's cheque without affixing a stamp thereto. This is a 'sample of the receipt stamp terrors that arc far too common in our midst. Head the police court records, and see the frequent prosecutions. Indeed, it would fill a big book to write Hie worries and vexations that this small matter has caused to our primitive colonisation. Not that the receiver of money wishes to escape the duty, but in a young country, where communication is bad, he may just then have no stamp, and may even find difficulty in getting one. I suppose the revenue from this stamp is not more than £20,000 per annum. Surely that amount of revenue could be obtained in some manner less vexatious. This part of the Stamp Act is copied from the laws of England, and I have always thought it unsuitable to the circumstances of.our colony. It may suit a great, commercial country like England, with its every adjunct for intercourse and doing business. To an isolated people in a roadless colony with disjointed railways it is tinsuitable. On my recent trip through the United States of America I was pleased to see those 90 . millions of English-speaking people do their commerce without stamp duty. There the creditor receives money to any amount without being called upon to place a stamp on the receipt. I told an American merchant that in our colony we had to delete a penny stamp upon a. receipt where the sum received was over 10 dollars. He was astonished to hear,: that any commercial people should clog their commerce with such a law. I told him many a man in this connection was charged with defrauding! the' revenue when he had no such intent; and the fines and penalties were extremely harsh. If Sir Joseph Ward could sec his way to do away with the penny receipt stamp his name would bo revered throughout this colony. He would confer a great benefit upon the people; many would be relieved from worry, fear, and trembling, a Benefit indeed out of all proportion to the revenue obtained.

I'ETEn OttPHANT.

VOLUNTEER GAMPS IN THE | DOMAIN.

Sir, With reference, to j'Ojir report of my letter to the City Council re volunteer camps on the Domini, 1 wish to say that the first two paragraphs in my letter were as follows :—-- ''I hive the honour to bring to your notice the practice of allowing the. Auckland Domain to Iks used for volunteer camps." " In vetoing so, I wish it 10 bo distinctly understood that I have no complaint whatever to make of the men forming these eamp&j as their conduct is all that could be desired." I shall be glad if you give this publicity to prevent misunderstanding. | . A. Yor.vc.

SALVATION ARMY HOMES AS | PRISONS. Sir;- paragraph in to-day's Herald speak.- in appreciative terms of the work ol the pa!vatioii Army at Wellington. Kmphase is laid upon the usefulness of their homfs in connection with Police Court business! May 1 \ent;tre to criticise a little this practice of sending people to the " honi"." In the case of a young person who ha.-, yielded to sudden temptation, or has just commenced an immoral life, it. may bo a very .prober and humane courso for the magistrate to take. She is tent, to the horns, whore the had to work hard; practically she pars for heij keep, and she. is saved from the gaol, at »ny rate on that occasion. But what good purpose can be served by sending old offenders there who have been convicted 20, 50/ 100 times? A few days ago a woman was sent to the home for six months who has served many sentences in gaol (others are there of the same stamp). In some respects this is a harder sentence than committal to Mount Eden. In the latter case tie time served is reduced to five months aid one week, and on discharge a small sum of money is given. When sent to the home the prisoner (for, she is a prisoner) must s|ay six months, and on discharge she receives nothing But a still more important aspect of the question is this Is it a wise Or a right thing to send to the san>e house Irst offenders who may be comparatively in- ! nocent, hardened criminals, little children. ; »nd old women? Nowadays, even in prison, | they try to keep the different classes separate, so that the old shall not contaminate the young, and probably this is attempted in the Armv home. But it must be extremely difficult where all are living under the same roof. Of late the magistrates have been sentencing men and women of the immoral •and vagrant class to long terms of imprison mnent, and with certain persons this is a merciful course to take. The now Habitual Offenders Act will give still greater power in .this direction. For obvious reasons I en[close my card. D.P.A.S.