PROGRESSIVE BOROUGH PROPOSALS

Waikato Independent, Volume XLV, Issue 6236, 9 May 1949, Page 4

PROGRESSIVE BOROUGH PROPOSALS

THE EDITOR’S COMMENT.

RATEPAYERS of the Borough and all interested are reminded of the public meeting to be held in the Town Hall next Thursday evening. Called by his worship the Mayor, Mr K. L. Wilkinson, the meeting is being held to enable the people to express their views upon progressive proposals for this Borough of Cambridge.

While a vote will not be taken, for the ratepayers will have this opportunity later, they can indicate their approval or otherwise of the schemes for the improvement of the water service, sewerage and streets. In association with these issues the Council is seeking approval for a loan of £36,960, plus an additional £II,OOO for housing.

In connection with the water scheme the Borough Engineer, Mr Neville Sanderson, has prepared a scheme plan of the springs at the headworks of the Borough’s gravitation water supply. This will be used bn Thursday night to give the people present a clearer picture of the Council’s water extension proposals.

We have previously reported that it i 3 proposed to instal a pumping plant at the Karapiro Lake and at a point below Mr Phil. Suckling’s property. The Mayor emphasises that this pumping plant is purely for emergeheies, so far as the actual use of Karapiro Lake water is concerned. Its primary purpose is to act as a booster. The present position is stated to be that it is impossible to force more water into the pipe-line at the headworks and therefore the water available from the No 2 spring cannot be used. With the employment of a booster pump, however, the rate of flow to the reservoir can be speeded up. This will cause such a demand upon the supply from No. 1 spring that it will not be able to keep the pipe-line full and therefore the waters from No. 2 spring will be induced into the pipe-line. It is not necessary for us to dwell at length on the proposed sewerage extensions and we feel sure the ratepayers.-'will support the Council in its contention that tlie improved water supply and the sewerage extension is essential.

Then the Council needs capital for the development of Commerce street and other street improvements. This is an indication of progress and like many other boroughs in the country Cambridge is developing.

The proposal for the works mentioned, apart from housing, involves a loan of £36,900 and the average ratepayer will, of course, first want to know what it is going to cost in rates. In Cambridge £20,000 means approximately a one penny rate, and for the £36,900 a special rate of 27-32 d would need to be levied. Then there is the proposal for housing and a suggested loan of £II,OOO. The Mayor proposes to commence the housing scheme with a two unit dwelling at a cost of about £3,000 and he reckons on the rentals closely approaching the outgoings. Just whether his worship would be required to take up the whole £II,OOO at once, whether he intended to use it immediately or not, remains to be seen. It would seem likely that he would have to take the whole £II,OOO. So if the Council was required to raise the whole total of £48,000, and on the basis ot* a Id rate for every £20,000, one can get, approximately, the additional special rates the ratepayers would have to meet. \ But as we have already stated Cambridge cannot stand still and it is a good sign to see the progress about the Borough and district. The proposals do not suggest an impossible load of indebtedness. The last big loan for sewerage of £21,000 was raised in 1931 Avhen the total indebtendness of the the Borough was £123,150. Since then the only other loan was the small one of £1,925 for the abattoirs. By that year, 1944, the. total indebtedness has been reduced to £90,861. This month the total loan indebtedness will be reduced another £2,800 and the total indebtedness at the moment is £68,153. If one adds to this last-mentioned total £48,000 then there is a grand total of £116,153, which, it should be noted, is less than the Borough’s indebtedness in 1931 of £123,150. The ratepayers should be able to form an opinion of the ability of the. average ratepayer to pay rates today as compared with 1931. We would further remind the people that opportunity will also be presented at Thursday’s meeting to consider the application of the Fire Board for permission to erect a fire station and two residences on the site at the corner of Kirkwood and Lake Streets. This matter has been much ventilated over the past two years and it is recognised there is a diversity of opinion as to the utilisation of the site mentioned in preference to the Council’s site in Duke Street. The Mayor and some members of the Council hold the.opinion that the section in Kirkwood street should be held for future civic purposes and not for a fire station.

It must surely be appreciated that the foregoing are matters of outstanding importance as associated Avith the future progress of this town and borough. It is most satisfactory that the Mayor has arranged such a public meeting so that the ratepayers can have a full discussion and voice their opinions. This is truly democratic. The opportunity on Thursday night should be largely availed of and it might be expected that the town Hall will be well filled