PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15033, 2 September 1922, Page 6

PUBLIC OPINION

As expressed by correspondents, whose letters are welcome, but for whose viesvs we have no responsibility. BOROUGH WORK AND RATES. (To the Editor.) Sir, —The correspondence which has appeared in your columns during the past week or two indicates considerable dissatisfaction with the manner in which the administrative work of the borough lias been carried out- That there is some ground for such dissatisfaction few will deny, and it is evident that instead of the dog wagging the tail it has been a case of the tail wagging the dog. It would, perhaps, be unjust to blame the councillors for the present state of affairs, for they, are all busy men and have their own businesses to attend to; but most certainly they should have kept a tighter rein on the municipal servants and insisted upon more efficiency and less extravagance. The valuations in the borough have been substantially increased in recent years, and the levy on the individual ratepayers has been correspondingly heavy, despite the fact that in the majority of oases the enhanced value" has been but a book entry. A man who 20 years ago acquired a home in the borough at say £SOO now finds his property assessed at £IOOO. He reaps no benefit from the higher value so long as he retains it as a home, save the privilege of paying the rates thereon, and should he desire to let it he finds that the value of 1914 rules the situation. While he has to pay rales on the current value, he is hounded as a profiteer if he endeavours to obtain a rent based upon the assessments on which he is rated. Such being the case propertyholders can scarcely be blamed, should they determine to keep rales down, and not unnaturally they will be doubly chary of authorising further loans when they see how those already raised have been frittered away and wasted- There is a very strong conviction that the clamant need at the present time is the conservation of what we already possess rather than the-launch-ing of" a further extensive programme. —I am, etc. SOLOMON.