The Daily Times. The oldest Manawatu journal: Established 1875. MONDAY, NOV. 19, 1883. A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

Manawatu Times, Volume IX, Issue 1115, 19 November 1883, Page 2

The Daily Times. The oldest Manawatu journal: Established 1875. MONDAY, NOV. 19, 1883. A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

Fob some time past there has been a growing feeling among the bur--gesses oi Palmerston that the interests of ; the .Borough would he promoted by its division into Wards, and we learn that a petition,; praying the Governor to take the necessary steps to secure this object, is now iv course of circulations It is argued, with considerable force, that while the division will entail no additional expense upon the Borough, it will enable th* burgesses to fix responsibility upon their representatives, will cause greater attention to. be paid to the wants of particular localities, and secure the expen*. diture of rates m the Ward m which they are raised. If a judicious division, with due regard to popular tion and area, is effected, there is little doubt that a . beneficial effect will be felt. An undivided Borough is always exposed to the risk that at some time or other all its Councillors may bo residents of one particular portion, m fyb.ich event it is but natural to assume that their chief attention would be devoted to that spot'; while m any case, when a councillor is elected for an undivided Borough, be is supposed to repre* sent the whole Borough, and the very magnitude of his ;work is sufli*< cient tp prevent it being- performed satisfactorily. In this connection we may remark that there are few Boiroughs of the size and importance of" Palmerston which have not been divided long ago, and have reaped benefit thereby. . Division into Wards is advantageous ito;thei»tepay«:s m gi\ring them greater "secunty that thei* rates;/ will be spent with partiality! and bettelr for the Connr cillors themselves, .as limiting the area specially under theii care, The present, indeed, seems an opportune time to move m this direction. A proposal has been formulated by the Qounoil to raise a large loan, and if the proper and just expenditure of that loan can be secured by' division into wards, or by any other means, it is but right that the ratepayers should move m that direction. We

i are aware that considerable dissatisfaction exists m regard to the manner m which the last loan was expended, aad we believe that a deal •? this would have been obviated had the Borough been divided before the loan was raised. There is no doubt that at the present time aloai would prove highly beneficial. It i: jiot necessary just now to discu.*' the question of whether the Connc has hit upon tho right sum t borrow, or whether the proposed di; tribution of it is the best that con! be devised, — and, moreover, the d< tails have not yet been worked out. The main question at present i.% whether the Borough requires a loan, and we believe we are but expressing the general feeling of the ratepayers when we affirm that it does, and that they will readily consent to it, if first assured that it willbe expended ac cording tpa carofully- prepared sched ule. We believe we are safe m saying that with the single exception of Christchurch Palmerston is the largest inland town m the Colony. It is destined to b.e the commercial een tre of a very large district, and with railways running into it from nearly every direction, iff must progress. Tb enable it to 1 [fulfil [requirements there are many works which must be carried out and, as was plainly shown by the figures recently pub** lished, these works cannot be performed by means of the rates raised, which are not at present sufficient tb meet ordinary expenses. For the present. progress must be made with borrowed money. , It cannot be denied that the expenditure of the last loan resulted m a certain amount of benefit, though two mistakes were made m regard to it, one of which, at least, must have proved disastrous jif nonfatal,? to the progress of any town with less stability and recu* perative power. These mistakes however are not likely to occur again. The fiist was that before raising the loan, no schedule of ex* penditure'was distinctly agreed upon, If the Council on this occasion issues a schedule as the basis upon which the ratepayers are asked to vote, and if the Borough is divided into wards, every security possible will be afforded m this respect. The second error was one over which neither Councillors or ratepayers had control, and consisted of the fact that the loan was only raised m driblets, and partly by the popu« lation themselves. Money, which would otherwise m all probability have been expended privately on other improvements m the town, wasjthus diverted from its proper or more profitable use, while the fact that it was only obtained by spasmodic efforts, as it were, prevented the effects of its expenditure being felt so much as would otherwise have been the case. Foreign capital is what is required, and if this is not obtained the inhabitants might just as well tax themselves by special rates to carry out the works required. The latter course would m fact; be preferable. Had the ;S10;000 loan been raised m a foreign market, we venture to say that its burden wouldjhayejppessed less heavily upon the ratepayers at the present day, and the funds of the Council would have . been m. a far more healthy state. The whole of the amount subscribed privately and probably More — since expenditure m this direction is contagious — would no doubt have been spent on individual ratepayer's town improvements, enhancing the value of property, and thus creating additional revenue for the Corporation. Fortunately the Borough will, on this occasion, go into the money market under much more favorable conditions. In the first place its loan will be larger and therefore worth taking up ; its security -will also be better ; and last, but by no means least, it has a very powerful aid m the fact that a large amount of English capital has just been invested m a railway leading into it, the reproductive power *of which railway will be intimately connected iwith the prosperity of its terminus n the centre of the agricultural diss trict it taps, The fact that the loan for the Wellington^Manawatu Railway Company has been readily raised m the London market, affords gbod ground for the belief that if the Palmerston Borough Loan is se!nt through the same channels it will be easily obtained. We believe there are -few ratepayers who .will not admit the advisability of borrowing at the present juncture and under such promising circumstances, and m that belief we join. But before the ratepayers consent to a loan they are justified ih asking that the Council shall lay before them a caref ully-de-v Ised and comprehensive schedule of expenditure, and that m order to give the best possible security that the money will be expended with strict impartiality, and to the best advantage, the Borough shall be divided into wards. While we do not expect to see the Councillors takiDg the lead m this matter of division, *we may oertainly presume! <&a>t they will give the movement their cordial support.