THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 1933. MANAGING THE TOWN.

Wairarapa Age, 7 April 1933, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 1933. MANAGING THE TOWN.

An exceptionally interesting survey of some leading aspecte of Masterton's municipal progress during the last eight years was given by the Mayor* (Mr. T. Jordan) in his address to the Rotary Club yesterday. All who read the report of Mr. Jordan’s address may be expected to agree that the record he unfolded is highly creditable to himself as Mayor and to the councils with which he has worked. It should be recognised that citizens are under & very real debt of gratitude to those who, in freely giving time and effort to municipal service, have made such gratifying results possible. Nothing gives greater ground for satisfaction in a survey of Masterton’s municipal finance than the fact that a really enterprising and ambitious programme of street improvement has been carried to an advanced point without recourse to borrowing. So much has been accomplished in this way that it is plainly open to the town, short of some totally unforseen development, to continue its policy of street improvement out of revenue until even the remotest parts of the borough have been satisfactorily and adequately equipped. There is, or should be, no need in times like these to emphasise the tremendous advantages of keeping loan obligations within the narrowest possible limits. While much credit for what has been accomplished in this direction |s due to our elected representatives, any reference to the facts would bo seriously incomplete if it did not include a recognition that Masterton is getting excellent service from a particularly capable body of officials.

An important section of Mr. Jordan’s address related to the Borough Gas Department which, very properly, has been provided in recent years with the reserve and depreciation funds it did not formerly possess. Not everyone will agree with all that Mr. Jordan had to say about the rival systems of electrical and gas supply. It is undeniable, however, that there is a measure of wasteful overlapping and duplication in these services and that, the country to-day would have been immensely better off if a large part of the sum of upwards of thirty millions sterling spent on hydro-electric development had been saved. It is clea? that this huge expenditure, if it is ever to be justified at all, must be justified by far-reaching extensions of the use of electrical power in productive industry. Anything that hinders the extension and development of efficient and economical services by established gas undertakings, municipally or privately owned, certainly is not in the interests of the community. Tn. spite of the lengths to which electrical development has been carried, the question of doing what is possible to prevent the wasteful and costly overlapping of electrical and gas services is still of great practical importance and is entitled to much more attention than our State authorities appear meantime to be inclined to accord it.