RE TRAMWAY POLL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11857, 22 May 1909, Page 2

RE TRAMWAY POLL.

(To the Editor of tho Herald.) Sir, — I will thank you to kindly publish the grounds for objection to the County tramway loan extracted from a letter which 'is being forwarded by post to the ratepayers m the -special rating area.— Yours faithfully, , WM, F. CRAWFORD. 1. Tho line has not- been laid out on the best route to suit the supplying of metal m the best positions for the main County and. Borough roads. This has been admitted by the County advocates of the sheine, but they have publicly stilted that they are taking tho line via- Awapuni, not because it is the best route, but owing to the railway authorities refusing permission, for the tramway to cross the rails at Makaraka without an expensive overhead railway bridge, (a) The Hon: R. McKenzio on his recent visit to Gisborne was approached by our League m order to solve this point, when he stated, i" his capacity as Minister for PublicWorks : That he saw, no objection to. the tram line crossing the railway, as it is frequently done m many parts. 'of the Dominion. (b) This being so, the supposed objection . to ' crossing the ; rn/lln line not being a real objectionjndicajtes that the present scheme is imperfect lind should not be-gone on '-with. . ''. 2. For. such an important undertaking as this, the quarry should belong to those that construct the line, whereas m the present instance/ part of the County haVe to construct the line whilst the 'Patutahi Road Board own the quarry. In the meantime, the-., County Council have control m accordance with art agreement with the, Road Board, the terms of which have not yet been made public. 3. There appears to Be grave, reasons for the conclusion that the proposal if carried out will not be a financial success and will ultimately become a heavy burden on the ratepayers m the special rating area, as well 1 aB : hampering the rpading of the Borough, (a) The principal source of revenue the Council depend on is to be derived from the carriage of metal fof the t Borough of Gisborne. (b). So far there has been no final contract made between the County and Borough, to assure this source of reventiey (c) It is • plainly apparent that it js extremely doubtful if such' a coritra'cbwill rbo-riia.de with the Borough, especially ~so as ,tiie Borough Council has recently acquired an extensive plant and gravef --pit at Kaitaratahi ; l which offers acopious supply of gravel to the IJorough at a very lojv cost, and materially lessens the, urgent and pressirig requireriierits for Patutahi metal, especially when it is reiriembered that ■ this gravel can *be used m conjunction with Waihirere • metal preparatory >to their being asphalted , and tarred. (d) The "Borough jiave re'ceriUy acquired quarries at. Gentle Anriie arid* Waihirere, making it only reasonable to assume that they intend to make ; v use of them; it being well known that the Waihirere stone has* had va thorough test on the .Wae-t'enga-a-hika-Ormond road, when 'it was |aid down about 30 years ago. (c) With those Borough facilities m sight tho League concludes that it is bad financing for tho -County, to depend on the Bo rough for a"", coritiriued revenue ; and from -a financial point of view.it would bo. /i bad investment for £30,000 of .the ratepayers' money, v ;-Y ' 4. The League fails^ to appreciate why the Te Arai sofctlem frhoukl' be., forced lb draw their supply /From Patutahi when it is well known that there is a «rood quarry at Papain m their midst, and tbe same applies to Ormond « and Makaiiri settlers where they have a good quarry at Waihirero and a first-class gravel bed m tho WAipnoa riyer, which ha.s .given them excellbnt roads when properly used. 5. From the facts, we. have taken the trouble to investigate m the, public interests, tho Progressive League feels justified iri suggesting that '■tbo , ratepayers will be --well advised 4o attend the poll on the. 25th inst., arid record their votes against the proposals, as they are crude, founded on n wrong v financial basis, and riinst end iri a heavy "loss to the ratepayers. ; *-Y-'--,'