BOROUGH OF PAPATOETOE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18090, 15 May 1922, Page 5

BOROUGH OF PAPATOETOE.

Sir, —In his letter of Wednesday, Mr. S. Hodge would lead your readere to suppose that the Papatoetoe Town Board lias each year collected £2.550 as general I rates. As' a matter of fact, prior to the I last financial year (1921-22) the highest | amount collected in a single year was ! £118?,. One would infer from Mr. j Hodge's remarks, that the town district iis on the. verge of bankruptcy. As chair- ' man of the board 1 would like, to state j that beyond an overdraft of under £900, i the Town Board has no public debti whatever. As the total area, suggested | for the proposed borough is Tinder six i and a-half square miles, your eorresi pondent's statement that we wish to I brine iii an extra five or seven miles in ; addition to -the two square miles in the ; present area, is decided, y misleading. CerI tainly a large part pf tbe land we sug- : gest should come in with Papato€'toe is ;at present used. for farming purposes, but Mr. Hodge neglects to state the value of some of the fairly jiarge blocks of land outside the present town district. I wonder how many of the owners of these properties would care' to sell out at anything like farming values? Mr. Hodge, like a good many others, irai mediately outside the town district, would j like to receive the increased value of his | propertv due to its proximity to the ! closely "settled parts without paying one j penny toward the upkeep of the roads, j Your correspondent mentions that the j roads are at present maintained by the i County Council on a three farthing rateThe Papatoetoei Riding of the Oouinty Council last year collected a general rata of three farthings in the £, a:!so a special rate of one-twelfth of a penny, but I defy anyone to say that the roads have been maintained. Perhaps Mr. Hodge has not lately travelled over the portions of the Great South Road under the control of the Manukau County Council between Otahuhu and Papakura. In. to the sanitary service, Mr. Hodge mentions that the formation of a borough would ! not help us in any way. An ho knows perfectly well, most of the trouble in the j past has been catiscd 'through the fact ! that in our present restricted area t" er ® |is no site suitable for a dump. Altlioagh i the greater part of the proposed area I will soon be suitable lor subdivision, still there are parts that will not.be ; thickly populated for some years. {.V,! 5 ' being the case there should be no difiiculty in buying a few acres suitable for the purpose. In view of the fact that Mr. Hodge attended the meeting of last Wednesday evening and he&id certain correspondence read, his assertion that the County Council "is alwayi; willing to assist consistent with public safety ' is rather extraordinary. Mr. Hodge offers some fatherly advice to th© Town Board j he suggests that we should either increase our rates or else merge into the county. May I state that the Town Board has no intention of raising the rates and would only ad vis? borrowing | for absolutely necessary purposes. lit regard to his suggestion that we should merge into the county I do not think the people of Papatoetoe would take hi 3 advice very seriously. In my opinion the Manukau County is too large and unwieldy a district to be economically worked, and I do not think the County Council would like to add Papatoetoe to its present large territory. Space will not allow or T would point; out many advantages to be gained by changing into a borough, both from the point of view of the present town district- and also the portion that we propose to bring in- No doubt before long a commission will decide as to the suitability or otherwise of the proposal, and in the meantime no good purpose can be served by going further into the question. Prior to the taking of a poll all interested will have an opportunity of meeting and further discussing the matter. A. W. Ham>Chairinan, Papatoetoe Borouprh Committee, Papatoetoe, May 11, 1922.