The Examiner. FRIDAY, JULY 3. Topics of Everyday Interest.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXI, Issue 3573, 3 July 1903, Page 2

The Examiner. FRIDAY, JULY 3. Topics of Everyday Interest.

We hope we may be pardoned for the rudeness of the redelling mark, but we cannot a n h ath help saying to-day that blow in sheer stupidity and addle - patedneas the Borough Council that at present controls the affairs of this town has absolutely outdone itself. At its meeting last night Messrs Taylor and Brook, two gentlemen who are interesting themselves very greatly in the welfare of this town and of its rising veneration, waited on the Council and asked for assistance towards the proposed technical classes. They pointed out that every pound voted by a local body would be subsidised with another pound, and that it was necessary to have some £7O on which to start. They asked a small grant or guarantee of a grant to enable them to commence the classes. In discuseing the matter after the deputation had withdrawn; first one councillor and then another began to Larp on the old string “ We can’t afford it.'* The - Mayor moved, “ That if classes are started in Woodville this Council undertakes to guarantee £2O towards the same.” Here was no reckless committal of the Council to expenditure which they could not afford. The motion distinctly stated that the money would only be granted if the classes were started. Yet with that crass stupidity which so often characterises the actions of certain people, five out of the nine councillors which compose that august body dealt out a deathblow to .one of the best proposals which has ever been made in Woodville. And these are the men —the city fathers—who are sup I posed to safeguard the interests ol the town, to foster its prosperity and to promote its progress! Not one sound opinion was expressed against the Mayor's motion-; the whole weight—if weight it might he pulled of the argument against the proposal being that it was too late to start classes this year. Was the Council asked to di«Juss the advisability of starting not give those gentlemen who had studied the matter closely credit for any cninmousense at ;iU ? Cf coun e not. The Council, or rathe;; a majority of the Council—like the three tailors of Tooley Street, “ we, the

I people of Woodville, do not think it advisable to start classes this year ” —decide to crush the movement at its inception. There should have been no question of the desirability or undesirability of the classes raised at all. Those Councillors who voted with the Mayor were Crs Horne, Shaw, and Lawrence. The “ slayers ” were the other Svt: present. We shall have more to on this matter anon.

Under the conditions of the proposal made to the Jockey a question Club, £2500 id to be of borrowed at 3f per percentage, cent., and to be repaid in 12 years in monthly instalments of £25. Thus at the rate of £3OO per year the Club will actually pay back the sum of £3500, for which £2500 must be principal and the remaining £llOO interest, it the conditions were normal, and the interest were paid on the actual loan money in band, it stands to reason that as the amount of the debt was decreased, the amount of the interest to be paid annually would also be decreased. Suppose the £2500 to have been borrowed at 3f per cent, to be repaid in 12 years, then the principal would be .reduced by £2OB 6s 8d each year, and the interest for the successive years would be as follows :—£93 15s, £BS 18a 9d, £7B 2s 6d, £7O Gs 3d, £62 10s, £54 13s 9d, £46 17s 6d, £39 Is 3d, £3l ss, £23 8s 9d, £ls 12s 6d, and £7 16s 3d, or a total of £609 7s 6d as against £llOO paid in the previous case. This means that the borrowers lose £490 6 12s 6d. Nor does this complete their loss for having paid out this extra money in instalments, it follows that the borrowers have lost the use of each instalment for periods varying from 11 years to one year. The total interest thus lost calculated at 3£ per cent, would amount in 12 years to £B3 15s. Again, the peculiarity of the condition necessitating monthly payments instead of the ordinary yearly payment, would lead to a still further loss of interest on money paid before it is actually due of £6l 17s 6d. Thus the total amount paid (actual lostO in interest is £llOO plus £B3 16s and £6l 179 6d, totalling £1244 12s 6d. From t}jis deduct the interest when calculated under uorpial conditions, £309 7s 6d, and you have an actual loss to the Club of £636 ss. And if £609 7s 6d represents a percentage of per cent, on the actual hum money in haul, tjaen £J.2|5 12a Od must represent £7l3s per ceni. on the same principal.

Mr A. E. Guinness, who has been elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, was born in Calcutta, in jK4fs,.and arrived in ’i.y,tleton in 1852. He nttPivi-1 :.u- Christcburcb College and ui'niuiua: School and commenced to study law in Ohristcburcb. At the age of 21 be was admitted a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court. He then entered into practice Greymontb. In 1872, Air Guinness entered politics as a member of tbe Provincial Council of Westland, and be held a seat until the abolition ol provinces in 1876. Having in tbe interim acted on several local boaies lie was in 1884 elected to represent Grey in the House of Representatives, and he has represented it ever since. In 1893 be was appointed Chairman of Committees in succession to Mr W.L. Rees, "mi be b.-.s h. Id that position contmuoin J ■ sioee then. Mr Guinness m .» uu motr oi -everai friendly societies.

THE NEW SWSAKETt,