AMALGAMATION OF THAMES BOROUGH AND COUNTY.

Thames Star, Volume XXX, Issue 9111, 4 July 1898, Page 2

AMALGAMATION OF THAMES BOROUGH AND COUNTY.

At the last meeting of the Borough Council Cr. Davey " urged that as the hand-bridge over the Tararu Creek was now put out of repairs by the recent flood, it should be replaced by a traffic bridge. Our readers will further have learned from the report of the proceedings that in the course of the discussion "it was suggested that the County Council should be asked to contribute to the cost of such a bridge, on the ground that it was almost exclusively County residents who used the road for traffic purposes." If this is the only reason that can be advanced in favour of soliciting assistance from the County Council, then we venture to assert that there is not the remotest chance of the Borough obtaining any aid from that body. The bridge is well within the Borongh limits, the boundary of the two bodies being as far distant as Rocky Point, and there is no more valid reason why the County Council should assist in the erection of the Tararu bridge, than in that at the Karaka Creek. We are strongly of opinion that a traffic bridge should be erected at Tararu with as little delay as possible, and we are convinced that public opinion greatly favours such a course, the present crossing of vehicles through the creek being exceedingly inconvenient.

But the object of this article is not so much to advocate the erection of a traffic bridge over the Tararu Creek —necessary though the work is,—as to once more point out the desirability of an amalgamation being effected between the Borough and County of Tfctm.fi, l\ }B now some years iiDce

this proposal was first advocated in these columns, but with that unaccountable apathy which is so characteristic of our leading citizens, no practical steps have been taken m the direction indicated. It is .true that from time to time—more particularly on the eve of elections—candidates for honors within the gif: of the people have expressed their sympathy with the proposal, and have pledged themselves to do their utmost in the way of giving effect to it. But after the elections it has been quietly shelved, until to-day the matter stanch in the same position as it did | when first suggested several years ago. The arguments in favor of the I amalgamation of the two bodies are' so numerous and unanswerable, and have been so often pointed out in our columns and from the public platform, that they scarcely need recapitulation. Reasons in favor of such an amalgamation were unintentionally advanced by several Councillors at the last meeting of the Borough Council, when it was urged that the County Council should "assist in the erection of a traffic bridge at Tararu," and also when the necessity was referred to of " the Government taking in hand the vari ous creeks which periodically deluge the Borough with County debris." Were the amalgamation carried out, the vexed question of wattr supply would be settled once and for ever, there would be no more bickerings about the County Council not financially assisting in the maintenance of the Public Library, and we would not have the spectacle of the County Council consenting to a horse allowance of 5s a week to the Inspector of Meat and Dairies, and the proposal being nullified because of the Borough Council declining to vote a similar sum. Those, and many otber matters too numerous to allude to, could be much more satisfactorily settled were the Borough and County amalgamated, and it is really surprising that not one of our public men seems disposed to come forward and take a lead in this matter. Perhaps, however, now that we have once more brought the subject undet public notice, it will result in action being taken, and the accomplishment of the amalgamation of the two bodies*