CORRESPONDENCE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6126, 12 March 1898, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE ST ALBANS LOAN SCHEME. \ TO THK EDITOR. 1 Sib,— A correspondent in Thursday's issue accuses opponents of the loan with ] using- false figures. Our present rates, calculated on each .2100 of capital value, 1 are— General, $ d in the £ - Cs 3d ; Wai- _ makariri, -fed = 4±-£d ; drainage, -Jd = 6s • 3d ; nightsoil, -&d = Is 6j?d ; hospital and charitable aid; vXd = Is 2tVd; total on ( each .£IOO value, 15s 7_d ; %%d for loan rate ] adds 3s 9-f.d; total, with loan, 19s 44$ d. j On .£l2B capital value we pay exactly 20s, i and the §°d for loan will add exactly 4s i lOd to that sum. The dirty ditches re- 1 ferred to should have been done in the i samo way as the North Belt ditch, and are 1 fairly chargeable to the whole and not i part of tho borough. The vital question is < that of drainage. Side channels will not < cure the matter, and those who let their 1 slops run into them will simply be living in a fool's paradise. Clause 240 of the Muni- j cipal Corporations Act, 1886, provides a \ penalty of not more than d£2o and costs for , every such offence. Our present rates are £ fully as heavy as those of the city, our ] £d of the capital value being equal to their ( ls on the rental, and if, in addition, we add ] a perpetual load of nearly 25 per cent, to i be wasted on Packe's Boad, asphalt paths i and side channels, where there are no i buildings, I fail to see how we are to bear the additional cost necessary to drain the < borough in a a civilised manner, — I am &c, A SINCERE WELL-WISHER. '