The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1909. RATEPAYERS’ MEETING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2682, 11 December 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1909. RATEPAYERS’ MEETING.

On the whole we can congratulate t His Worship the Mayor on the manner ]; in which he presented the loan pro- a posals to last night’s public meeting. i : He spoke forcibly and well, and spared ], no pains to explain matters as fully and clearly as possible. We do not 0 agree with his figures, bat readily ad- a mit that from his point of view he f made out an excellent case for the ad- t option of the whole of the' lean pro- j posals. But he said not a word to -\ justify his refusal to give those who t do not agree with him a free and v unfettered opportunity to express that r opinion at the poll by voting for the } : schemes they favor, and against those j to which they object. On this point j ; we have repeatedly urged the injus- s tice of making the popular sewerage j scheme carry the balance on its shoul- j dens, and the objection has not been t answered. Even so-keen a thinker as v Mr. W. L. Rees, in supporting the f Mayor, fell into obvious error when , he essayed the task. He excused the method on the ground that it was not expedient to arouse local jealousies by giving oue section of the community an opportunity' to cgipose something it, for 1 "'or 1 ./'reasons, objected to. All id vote from the point of view of c wlmt would benefit the community as i a whole. This is all very well as a c matter of poitical education. It is ] proper argument in addressing rate- * payers as to the manner in which they ] should vote. - Once it comes to the y actual poll, however, it is not for Mr. c Rees or anyone else to endeavor to c enforce his own particular views. If i a ratepayer, after all arguments have been brought to bear, chooses to vote ] in a parochial manner, the right can- } not legitimately be taken from him. j After all bis point of view may be the £ correct one. The man who wants to < - vote for sewerage and waterworks * alone may have a better grip of the j situation than those who would have him vote for all the proposals; at any 7 rate, Tie should be permitted to give effect to his opinion. In this connee- t tion it was refreshing to hear the democratic sound of Air, Rees’ declama- j tion: “You are the people; you are j called upon to govern yourselves.” c We are likewise pleased at the j cheery optimism of the Alayor’s speech, j No one has higher hopes of the future ] of the town than we have. But the g utmost optimism does not warrant ex- j aggerated statements.. When His W r or,sh i(p says the trams will show a j profit of £930 a year he says something j concerning which he cannot be positive. AA'c are in favor of trams foi Gisborne on the grounds of public con- i venieuce, but we assert tliat the probability of tlieir showing a profit for ( many years to come is very remote. i His AVorslip’s official statement assum- < es that the County Council will pay • half the cost of the AVaimata bridge. All the 'probabilities are that the County Council will refuse to contribute, a penny piece towards the proposed structure. His Worship says there will be no extra rate, but be does not say there will he no increase of existing valuations, which would have tlie same effect. Almqst the whole of His Worship’s financial policy is embodied in the enormous saving that will be £ effected on the maintenance of roads It is this saving which is to pay for g the other schemes. 111 this matter he relies on the estimate of the borough overseer, who allows only £2500 a year for shingle for patching and “general maintenance” during the next five years. In our opinion this amount is ] greatly underestimated, and the road { figures generally will not bear in vest i- j gation. On these and other matters Councillor Darton threw considerable ( light in the admirable speech he de- j livered at the close of the Mayor’s ad- t dress. Councillor Pettie was quite' justified in introducing his remarks by £ claiming that there was not a single . Councillor who was not working with a -j single aim for the welfare of the community. There has been a tendency ] prevalent lately to decry all who can- j not see their way to' swallow the loan . proposals whole as being necessarily -( retrogressive and unpatriotic. It is , £ only necessary in passing to remark ] tliat a false move forward is really retrogression, and the cautious man of to-day will probably be further ahead ] in twelve montlis than his more reck- -j less and sanguine fellow who is pre- 3 pared to blindly agree to anything -j that can bo painted in glowing colors. , In this connection, we can scarcely i condone Cr.' Pettie’s attitude in sup- j porting the whole of the proposals •] while still dissatisfied with one of ( them, and that a very important one. . His view seems to be that as he has j failed in his endeavor to have the £ schemes put separately, he will now ] vote for all. To us the contention -j seems weak. If there were no other < alternative the view might be justifiable. But Councillor Pettie must ] know the ratepayers have an alterna- j tive; namely, to reject the combined < schemes and insist upon them being £ re-submitted separately. As we have 1 already pointed out, this would not necessitate any delay in the construe- .< tion of works, and the expense of a 1 second poll would be as nothing com- t pared to the loss in adopting a faulty . scheme. AVe are sorry to hear Cr. e Kirk’s threat of resignation. His con- \ tention was that having carefully con- < sidcred all the schemes they became { the Council’s policy, and if the rate- ; £ payers were not prepared, to accept the. < lot then the Councillors would resign. c Much more satisfactory were the v re- t marks, of Councillor Smith, who, after e

justifying the “silence of the majority,” added:. ’ ' l ' '

If you ratepayers do hot approve of the way we have put these proposals before you; reject them. AVe won’t complain; we won’t resign; but will go into them again and put them before you in the way you want them. , ,

Mr. T. Ei Toneycliffe lent some interest to the discussion, and in supporting the Council’s programme, he adversely criticised Cr. Darton for having, as lie said, “appealed to the lowest principle of all —the pocket.” Yet, after all, the question of cost is one that cannot be properly ignored, as the speaker himself recognised a few minutes later when he reminded the workers that the money expended in works would be kept in -the town. AVe recognise, as Air. Toneycliffe does, that the time has long since arrived when Gisborne should .be possessed of many conveniences at present lacking, but that is no reason why the ratepayers should not inquire into the real position, and should not get twenty shillings’ value for every pound expended. As a successful business man, Mr. Toneycliffe will easily appreciate this point. On the whole the .meeting was a ver} 7 successful one, and we should imagine those who attended must have been well repaid for the interest they thus displayed.