The Trams.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXI, Issue 12292, 9 October 1907, Page 7

The Trams.

TO THB CDITOn. Sir, — I do not propose to follow the Mayor through the many inaccuracies contained in his last letter. Allow me to deal with the major inaccuracy. Mr Mackay states that his Council 'has to find the ''whole of the three thousand pounds (£3000) and over out of rates to pay interest on the Okehu water loan." This statement has no foundation in fact. I am sure the Mayor would not make a misstatcinent deliberately. He does not know — he has not grasped the position of the Borough finances. Permit me to state the position. When my Council placed before the ratepayers the proposal to municipalise the Gasworks, a new water supply, then imperative, was part of the policy. We pointed out that instead of the large dividends then goincf out to shareholders of the old Gas Company every year (hardly any of whom lived in Wanganui), that they should go into the Borough treasury to provide, interest on a waterworks loan, thus preventing any increase in rates. You remember this, Mr Editor — it is on record in the Press and on the Council's books of that time. Did this policy materialise? Yes, certainly. .£2OOO from gas profits go into the Borough coffers to provide interest on the Okehu loan. Water Bold by meter and to shipping— over .£9OO — also went into the same public purse for the same purpose. How can the Mayor make such misstatements. It prejudices everything he may write in the future. For every loan raised during my Mayoralty the Council created, by business foresight and grasp, a fund to provide the interest, so as not to increase the rates. Let me repeat, WE LOWERED THE RATES FROM 2s 3d TO Is lOd IN THE £. The Mayor takes some exception to my writing tne achievements of my Council in capital letters. I stated I was proud to do so. May we hope that Mr Mackay will yet be able to write his achievements and those of his Council in even larger capitals. He will not do so if he persists in bis electric tramway folly. Allow me to again assure the Mayor that my hostility to his tramway proposals is not actuated by any personal o* spiteful feeling, as has been suggested. Kis absurd. Difference of opinion amongst men is good. It is the foundation of all good administration. It makes for progress — for betterment. It removes unflerstandin*. Mr Mackay's constant reiteration that the present serious state of affairs is due to his predecessors in office is not true in fact. It is not good taste. It is bad policy. He must Took ril&rer home. The Mayor's tramway ptop<Uals »re commercially unsound. Be no^nows it. Why does he not drop them, and thus by his action raise himself in the townspeople's estimation. The best of men are those who are not too proud to retrace their steps when they know that they are on bad lines. Let us hope that HrMackay's better sense will yet assert itself.— l am, etc., A. HATRICK. Wanganui, October 9th, 1907.

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