The Waipa Post. Printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1926. THE FORTHCOMING POLLS.

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1928, 30 October 1926, Page 4

The Waipa Post. Printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1926. THE FORTHCOMING POLLS.

PUBLIC interest is being well sustained in the prospects of the success or otherwise of the dual poll to he taken next Wednesday of the ratepayers of the Borough of Te Awamutu upon the questions of the introduction of the unimproved values of rating in the borough and the establishment of a Fire Board, but just whether the ratepayers qualified to vote will record their opinions in large numbers remains to be seen. The chief interest is, not unnaturally, centred in the unimproved values poll, and the public have been afforded opportunity of hearing the Hon. George Fowlds, of Auckland, state the main arguments in favour of this system. The other side of the question will be stated bn Monday evening next by Mr J. W. Shackleford, also of Auckland, and Mr Shackleford is a gentP-Uiari perhaps as well-known in the Queeri City’s public life as Mr Fowlds, though he has not the latter gentleman’s record of having occupied the Mayoral chair. However, he has held high public office, and he is accepted as one who knows what he is talking about and does not indulge in flambuoyant utterances. No doubt his address in Te Awamutu on Monday evehing-will 1 be listened to attentively, and' comparison of the arguments for and against the proposal will be carefully weighed. It would, in view of the circumstances, be premature to deal here with the subject beyond calling attention to the opportunity presented

to ratepayers to hear both sides of the | important question. Regarding the establishment of a Fire Board, or rather the creation of a Fire Board Dist.rict, there does not appear to be so much divergence of opinion, and those who have carefully gone into the matter are probably justified in the prediction that the result of the poll on Wednesday next will be decidedly favourable to the new departure. The Chamber of Commerce and the Bor- . ough Council are both avowedly in favour of a Fire Board being established here. They have amassed a good deal of information on the subject, mainly gained as a result of a questionnaire to about sixty local bodies in various parts of the Dominion. The replies certainly indicate that the system* is appreciated in most places. Our representative has- gone carefully through the list, and while there were not the full sixty who declare in favour of the proposal there is certainly a big preponderance in favour. It should be remembered that, through some misunderstanding, the question-, naire was sent to several local authorities operating as town district boards, and negligible replies came therefrom, for the reason that the Fire Boards Act requires that only places with a population exceeding one thousand inhabitants can be constituted as a Fire District. A desire has been expressed—indeed it was manifest in the questions asked at the public meeting of a few evenings ago—for opinions from boroughs elsewhere in the Dominion about the same size as T e Awamutu, and we give a brief resume of these replies elsewhere in to-day’s issue.