HAWERA DRAINAGE POLL.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1935, Page 6

HAWERA DRAINAGE POLL.

To-day the ratepayers of Hawera will be asked to authorise the expenditure of £4900 loan money for the purpose of repairing defects in and general improvement of the borough sewerage system. The details of the proposed work have been placed before the ratepayers by the Mayor, Mr. J. E. Campbell, and his recommendation that the ratepayers approve the work has been supported by expert advice from health and engineering authorities. All the preliminaries in regard to the raising of the loan have been completed, including the approval of the Local Government Loans Board, and if the ratepayers’ approval is accorded to-day, commencement of the work will not be long delayed. For obvious reasons it is desirable that such work should be carried out during dry weather, and it is in order to prevent any delay in commencing the work that the poll is being held during the busy days that precede the Christmas holidays. In regard to such matters as drainage and water supply it is obvious that no progressive community such as that at Hawera can afford to be content with anything less than thoroughly adequate services. In spite of the interruption to ordinary avocations at a busy period of the trading year it is to be hoped that ratepayers will give a decided vote in favour of the loan proposals and thus enable the borough council to proceed with the programme already explained to them. Such expenditure has to be faced in any centre where progress brings a larger population and therefore an increased strain upon public services thought at the time of their establishment to be fully adequate for the needs of the district. But the “penalties” of progress are so outweighed by the advantages as to make any go-ahead community regard improvement to public services not as expenditure to be avoided, but as an investment that will bring good returns. That attitude is likely to be taken by Hawera ratepayers to-day, but they must see to it that there is no individual neglect to vote.