CORRESPONDENCE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12879, 27 September 1912, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

BOROUGH. ELECTION. (To the Editor ol the Herald.) Sir.— The ratepayers of Gisborne have at last •woke up to the fact that the administration of the Borough affairs has been proceeding on •wrong lines. Many correspondents have tried to point the matter out, and have had no actual way of showing their distrust with the way loan moneys and rates have been and are being spent. The dramatic manner m which Cr. Collins handed m his resignation to my mind infers that from a public standpoint Cr. Collins had voted on "certain matters, under the true belief that information before the Council w»s to be relied on, and was, fr>ra circumstances afterwards apparently found out by Cr. Collins, to be misleading, and involving a waste of the ratepayers' loan moneys. Whether people mpy think, or have thought, that Cr. Collins action was simple gallery play, the remainder of the councillors must now be convinced, from the way public opinion has voiced the doctor' 9 action at the polls yesterday, that they believe what he did is for the ratepayers' and residents' benefit,, and that he is worthy of support, because he has to his credit the' courage of his convictions. Again, is not Dr. Collins re-election an ultimatum to the remaining "councillors to go ahunting hares.", The Council was against him when he sent m his resignation, and the public have endorsed his action. I submit that Cr. Collins, through his backbone, is now on the right track, which opens the door to several serious questions . being pub to the, present Council by him, and should be known by the unfortunate ratepayers, who are being bled to pay interest m expended loans for works h»U complete'!, and also to keep up an unnecessary staff of officers, as was bo often pointed out by ex-Cr. Darto'n. The questions are: 1. When the original loan of £175,000 was put before the ratepayers, was it not known then, that instead of the amount mentioned, "the sum of £250,000 would be nearer the mark, and even more," but that tho administration then m power were afraid to go to the ratepayers for fear of being defeated at the polls if they asked for such a large amount to start with V The result being that it will require nearly £100,000 more to complete what is now m hand. Can the Council, through Dr. Collins, the accredited representative of the people on the Council, supply the correct position of affairs to the ratepayers, or will it be , suppressed for policy sake? 2. Tho people at yesterday's poll have demanded by their vote, fthat the true state of affairs should be known. Some time ngo Dr, Collins, the only representative now of the people of Gisborne, asked the Engineer (Mr Paterson) how long it would be before the sewer connections on the Whataupoko would be completed, Mr Paterson replied three years. Now, Mr Editor, • I ask as a ratepayer, what does Mr Paterson "s answefr imply? Is it an evasive answer ? Is it true that there are insufficient funds to carry out tho work, and that tho Council will eventually say that another loan will bo required? Who is nt fault m tho estimate of cost, etc. ? Cr. Collitiß is now by tho vote of the people of yesterday to demand for the ratepayers the state of affairs, and tell the people what the ratepayers paid fdr Mr Marchants' report, which was not used. 3. Would the last loan have been carried had the public had more information before it? I venture to say emphatically no! There are so many matters that call for enquiry, that I will be content if the queries I have placed before you are answered. Lastly,' the cost of the election is fully warranted, because the spending of £50 on (ho poll may be the meanß of saving thousands to the ratepayers, and I sincerely hope that Dr. Collins will let us know, 4. Did tho Government auditor make any reference to the Btato of the loans, whether there was sufficient money m hand to complete the sewerage, or wob it his duty to let the ratepayers know m his audit report? 5. The unfortunate position of the whole matter is that councillors, though elected by the people, will not devote their time to tho true state of affairs. They don't seem to bo acquainted with the affairs of tho town aB they should be, and attend each -meeting automatically, instead of demanding proper information as to tho loan moneys. I contend that if some Government department supervised tho spending of loan moneys m regard to Borough Councils we would get value for same, instead of the awful waste that seems to g( on. The method usually adopted m Gisborne

is to pay outside engineers large fees for valuable reports and then take the advico of laymen who do not know «nd act upon it. — I am, etc., "DELIGHTED."