The Waipa Post. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1912. TO BE OR NOT TO BE.

Waipa Post, Volume III, Issue 136, 13 August 1912, Page 2

The Waipa Post. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1912. TO BE OR NOT TO BE.

FOR upwards of two years the question of the inception of municipal works has been agitating our town. The pros and cons of the matter have been well thrashed out, and we think we are justified in saying that the desire for progress is very general amongst us. The role of prophet is always a doubtful one, but if the voting is in accordance with the expressed views of the townsfolk, the loan proposals should be carried by a handsome majority. The position in brief is this. The Town Board wants to know whether ratepayers are willing to pay the interest on loans amounting in the aggregate to £28,000. To obtain this interest a rate of in the £ must be struck on a town valua-

tion of £91,000. By the time this rate actually comes to be collected —that is in the year 1914--the valuation cannot be much less than £150,000. On this valuation a rate of in the £ will be sufficient to produce the required amount of interest. Of the total amount to be borrowed £26,000 is for investment in direct revenue producing concerns, namely, water and gas supplies. The Government approval has been set to the expenditure of £lß,ooo for water supply and £2OOO for road-making' and if the vote is in favor of these works the amount will be advanced. If, however, ratepayers decide not to take advantage of the Government's offer on this occasian, fresh applications will have to be made, and it may be that considerably greater difficulty will be experienced in obtaining the money. There is' no truer saying than that " the world takes us at our own valuation," and this is just as applicable to a town as it is to an individual. By refusing to grant the necessary authority for raising this money, we prove conclusively to the world at large that we are too poor to do so, and should we at some later period desire to borrow money for similar purposes, it will be a matter of great difficulty to convince the lender that our security really is a good one. Every vote recorded against these proposals goes directly to depreciate the value of the town, and for this reason we want to see ratepayers voting solid on the question By so doing we demonstrate throughontthe length and breadth of New Zealand that we, the people most concerned, have every faith in the future prosperity of our town. There are 200 ratepayers on the roll, and we hope to see every one of them vote. The exercise of the municipal franchise is a privilege we rightly enjoy, and a duty we owe to the State. A failure to do so implies a contempt for such privilege, and is a neglect that would be justly followed by a lapse of the right. We trust that by to - morrow evening the time for talking will have passed, and the time for action be at hand. Once started on the ladder of progress Te Awamutu, with its unique situation and great natural advantages, must rise until it occupies its rightful position, as one of the finest and most prosperous inland towns in New Zealand, a source of pride to its inhabitants and to the Dominion at large.