The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1909. PAYING THE PIPER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2687, 17 December 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1909. PAYING THE PIPER.

It is just as well that the ratepayers, who are asked just now to listen to all sorts of optimistic statements, should not overlook the position which will exist financially if they sanction the proposed £175,000 loan. His Worship the Mayor is endeavoring to cloud the issue by asserting that the improvements asked for can be obtained without any additional expenditure being incurred by the community, but there are a few hard facts which .all the talking in the world will not dissolve. In the first place the ratepayers will render "themselves liable to P a V interest and sinking fund >on the loan. For convenience we will leave out the item of £IO,OOO, cost of sewerage connections as the interest on this will , he )paid by a section of the ratepayers. ■lnterest and sinking fund on ' the £165,000 will amount to £7425 annually, and it is more than likely that on top of.this*the Borough may have to pay a premium to get the money, for it would be exceedingly fortunate to obtain it at par even with 'the Government backing. At any rate the liability will not be a penny less than £7425, annually, and if any of the works proposed exceed the estimate the bill will be even bigger. On this 'point we may remark that, if Gisborne gets all its works carried out for the official estimates it will have a fortunate and most unusual experience. Now a charge. of £7425 annually means that every man woman and child s in the

Borough will be liable to pay about twenty shillings (per year to cover the interest charge. To put it anotherway, the average household will have to contribute from £5 to £6 per year. It ris at - this stage that those -ratepayers who have swallowed without question the sugar-coated pills administered by the Mayor will feel inclined to regret their credulity. But this is not the ay hole cost. The main seAverage loan Av.ill only carry the pipes to the boundaries of owner’s properties. The Avork of carrying ’these-underground to the backs, of houses, the erection of flush water closet appliances, sinks in sculleries, connecting (pipes, sumps aud so forth will still have to be done, and it will have to be paid for by the owner of the property. This Avill almost certainly cost from £l2 to £25 per house according to the distance of the house from the public footpath, the class of connections used, and the adaptability of the premises to the necessary altera? tions. In this connection the Borough loan of £175,000 allows for £IO,OOO being loaned for five years to those persons Avho cannot afford to pay cash for their sewerage connection. Not more than £l2 will be loaned to any one (person."- Those Avho take advantage of this provision will therefore pay in addition to the £5 already mentioned a matter of £2 10s for five years as well as any amount over and above the £.12 that is included in the plumber’s bill. Those Avho pay the plumber straight out will be lucky if their bill does not come to more than £l2, and this amount must be paid in addition to the interest on £165,000. Yet the Mayor 6ays these improvements can be made Avithout increasing the burden to the ratepayer. To Avhich one can but retort “rubbish.” The Avhole truth is still untold. When this money has been .spent and the ratepayers are paying the interest annuaUy, they Avill still be Avithout any means of disposing of the storm Avater that comes from the roofs and lies about in hollows and filthy pools. This superfluous moisture Avhich is at the root of most of tne ill-health in the district because it forms the breeding place for the malaria-carrying mosquitos, cannot go down the sewerage pipes or else it will destroy the. effectiveness of the septic system.' At last meeting of the Council Cr. Kirk moved: “That all householders he notified to take special precautions to see that all yards, cesspools, drains, etc., are kept clean during the summer months, and that the Inspector be instructed to have the streets and water channels kept as free from refuse as possible.”

How Councillor Kirk and the Council expect householders to effectively carry out this injunction Avhen they have no outlet for their surface water it is hard to say. And after the £175,000 has been spent by the Borough and the £l2 has been spent by each head of a household, —ere Avixl still be no provision for cai-yiug aAvay that surface Avate?. The Mayor has in season and out of season laid stress on the fact that numerous schemes should be carried cut together, because they were necessarily allied; surely the provision for draining off the surface water from the yards and sections of the Borough is an integral portion of any" sanitation system. Yet he and his Council majority have kept absolutely silent on this point and by their silence have permitted the public to assume that the. loan proposals provide for drainage as AA r ell as sewerage. Summing up the position, therefore, we find that by sanctioning the loan proposals a s they' are submitted at present the average houseowner in the Borough will be liable to pay £5 yearly as interest and sinking fund and in addition about £l2 to £ls for sewerage connection and will still have his land undrained.