The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1909. THE “HERALD” AND THE LOAN PROPOSALS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2670, 27 November 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1909. THE “HERALD” AND THE LOAN PROPOSALS.

i ' In yesierdav’s issue our evening ■contemporary continues its advocacy of the bludgeon methods adopted by the Council over the loan, proposals. Incidentally it states: Those .who are objecting to the submission of the municipal loan proposals in a consolidated form must be unaware of the experience at Napier, where loan issues on several schemes for municipal improvement were recently put before the ratepayers. A poll was taken and the ratepayers were required, as it is suggested should be done here, to vote separately 7 upon each proposed item of expenditure. The various polls were carried, but when the Napier Borough Council proceeded to raise the money requisite for carrying out the works, it was advised by the borough solicitors that the money could not he secured in one sum unless authority was given by the ratepayers to consolidate the loans. Hence it ■'became necessary to take a second poll, and the proceedings had to be commenced de novo, the loans consolidated, and submitted to the ratepayers in one issue. All that this proves is the existence of a fault in the present law whereby the formality of the second poll had to be gone through. We have yet to learn that the Napier people had any cause to regret having been given the opportunity to vote directly on each separate issue. Our contemporary continues: — Apart from the legal aspect, consolidation is necessary to secure the most favorable terms from the money market. Letters which the Gisborne Borough Council base received from financial people in London, offering tb negotiate loans, indicate that they can procure money in sunis of £IOO,OOO and over on the most favorable terms. For smaller loans higher prices have to he paid. To secure advantage of the Government’s State-guaranteed advances, the Counil will have to make application for a sum of net less than £IOO,OOO, and if that is done the money can be obtained at 31 per cent. If the, loans were split up and a lesser amount applied for the Council could not take advantage of the cheap money scheme, and probably would not he able to get the money for less than 41 per cent. This is a legitimate argument for consolidating works, but it does not justify in the least degree the “Herald’s” main contention that all the issues should he submitted at the poll as one. The proper course is for the Council to submit the various proposals separately 7 on the same day to the ratepayers, who will then be given a proper opportunity to accept or reject any or all of the schemes submitted. Anything less than this is entirely contrary to the spirit of a municipal referendum. Then the amounts of those works which have been sanctioned "will be added together and arrangements made to borrow in a lump sum the total amount required. If legal technicalities compel a second poll to be taken in order to effect this financial consolidation, then a second poll must take place, although it is quite on the cards that this legal anomaly may he abolished during the present session. In any case, it would, as was the case in Napier, be purely a formal matter, creating little inconvenience to anyone. We agree entirely with our contemporary as to the advantages of having the chief works now under consideration constructed, if possible, simultaneously, but that is no justification for the inclusion of any one proposal that is'financially unsound. Nor is it any justification for endeavoring to practically disfranchise those who do not wish to support any other scheme than that of sewerage.