THE BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3583, 24 July 1912, Page 9

THE BOROUGH COUNCIL.

(to the editor.) Sir. —The time lias arrived when the ratepayers of Gisborne should insist on a change being made in the personnel of the present Borough Council. The present disgraceful state of our roads, especially those on the Kaiti side of the town, is ample proof of this, and drivers of carts who daily traverse these thoroughfares will readily bear me out in my contention. These roads are undoubtedly a disgrace to a town which proudly boasts cf its progress and the bright- future before it, and they are a sorry reflection on the administration of .our muni; ipal affairs, which are now in a state of “muddledom.” The- Council has been lavish in its waste of public money everywhere. One illustration will serve to show. In the country districts good roads are the first consideration, but our “Cit-v Fathers” think otherwise, as they are spending a considerable sum of money in veiling and channelling and leit .some roads entirely neglected. Herns Street, Tyudal, deLautour and Huxley roads are splendid examples of municipal mismanagement, and serve as “good advertisements” —save the mark!—for Gisborne. I need not mention that the money spent on electric light and tramways, which, by the way. were not wanted for the next ten years, is well known to also show great waste of expenditure, and our drainage scheme also sheds a lurid light on extravagance displayed in ladleing out public moneys. Had this extravagance not been indulged in, tbe money thus saved could have been devoted to the making of our roads good, and Gisborne would have been saved from being the laughing stock of every visitor to our shores'. Surely, sir, I have said enough to show the ratepayers that they should awaken to their interests; if they do not, they will find their town go hack and its population rapidly diminish, as high rates and high cost of living will most assuredly drive and keep people away from what ought to have-been long ago one of tlie most prominent and progressive towns in the Dominion. Our present Council evidently wants Gisborne to sink into oblivion ; let us put men on it who, like Cr. Collins, speaks straight out from the shoulder and who will act in the interests of economical local government and progress, I am, etc., ISAAC FISHER. Aberdeen Road, July 23.