LOAN PROPOSALS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 61, 17 March 1913, Page 8

LOAN PROPOSALS.

(To the Editor “Stratford Post.”)

Sir, —The opening paragraph of Mr Kirkwood’s letter is worthy of more than passing consideration. He

says: “A decision negativing raising any loan must necessarily have a prejudicial effect on the progress of our town.” Truly, a strange doctrine, and surely a fallacy, for it is tantamount to saying that a refusal to get into debt is a bar to progress. ■ The wisdom of sanctioning a Joan rests primarily on the capacity of the borrower to bear die burden of it. Previous correspondence has clearly shown that Stratford is the most heavily rated borough in Taranaki, and it behoves ratepayers to ponder well on this fact before voting on the loan proposals. Our rates are well known to be high, and/if they are increased 50 per cent, prospective settlers in Stratford will be apt to shy off, and thus the loan instead of being a holj> may prove a hindrance to progress. Those ratepayers who remember the last loan Avill also remember the subsequent slump, and there is no reason to anticipate any otner result wit'o the proposed loans. Sound progress may be attained by tiie business people of Stratford extending the sphere of their operations, and by so conducting their businesses that they may be recognised as the loading commercial spirits of the province, but the raising of burdensome loans can at best prove only a fleeting stimulant with the subsequent headache, —I am. etc., J. 13. RICHARDS. Stratford. 17+b March