DAY BY DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 90, Issue 14026, 1 April 1919, Page 4

DAY BY DAY.

Every winter there is a chorus of wails from ratepayers i. Ratepayers throughout the several and counties as ; to the conl , Lassitude. dition of the roads, and ; loud and deep arc hurled at the devoted heads of CounciMois generally-because of the absence of passable highways. It is commonly admitted that it is impossible to make good roads out of rates: that the only course is to borrow to form and metal, leaving the annual levy chiefly for maintenance. If settlers want good roads, therefore, they must he prepared to go on the money market. The interest and sinking fund on such expenditure are a mere bagatelle compared with the benefits which accrue, and settlers who refuse to rate themselves are not generally regarded as provident. On Thursday last the Waipa County Council submitted two borrowing proposals to the ratepayers—£3ooo for the Hamilton riding and £2OOO for the Pukekura riding. The first-men-tioned proposal was carried by 53 votes to 10 —quite a respectable majority; though the poll was by no means a large one. The Pukekura ratepayers turned their proposal down by 10 votes to 7. We understand that there are about 500 ratepayers in the Pukekura riding, and it does not betoken much interest on their part that 26 voters Were permitted to decide the issue. It is a poor compliment to the work of their representative that the vast majority of tiie ratepayers are so callous and indifferent that they refuse to register their votes upon a question which so closely affects them. r fhe poll was,dot sufficiently large to serve even as an indication of the feeling in the riding, for in tne circumstances it can scarcely be taken as representative o’ 500. We incline to the view that the 19 represented almost the full strength of the opposition, and that the remainder of the 500 were so satisfied that others would roll up in sufficiently large numbers to carry the poll that they felt safe in refraining from the inconvenience and trouble of voting. If our conplusion is correct, then there are some ,4,74 ratepayers in the Pukekura riding at the moment industriously blaming the other fellow for failure in Ihe discharge of his duty to the community., They will have ample time to consider the matter in all its bearings, and incidentally their own personal relation to it, when ploughing through the mud during the coming winter. They must recognise that they have placed themselves out of court and arc debarred the satisfaction of endeavouring to lay the blame for their disabilities upon the shoulders of their long-suffering councillor, for he will be able to retort: “I would have helped you, but you would not help yourselves.”