Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1908-01-09

demands upon the time of members Of
the council II was difficult to get good
men To enter or remain In that body
Yet the corporation had fll.O00.0O0 In
vested I'm its undertakings. which mu"t
''be managed in some way or other.
good. bad or Indifferent"
! According to DR. Ingram. chairman
Of the finance committee of Woolwich.
| that borough reached the verge Of
Bankruptcy under the management OF
the NJ. o. party. which tried to show
| that the electric plant was profitable
| by the simple eXpedient of not paying
| bills The new administration was
| faced with floating Indebtedness of
| $4,000. which has to be provided for
| by taxation.
The Yorkshire Observer states that
| at a meeting of the Rotterdam Dor
| ough council Alderman GUNNER OBJ
| jected To the amount which the gas
| undertaking contributed to the rates
| on the ground that II had been made
| possible only by raising the price OF
| gas and thus making its consumers
bear an unfair proportion OF the raSes.
This bore especially upon the poor.
who use gas instead OF electricity.
| If a city is well governed munich
pal ownership is the most dangerous
thing imaginable and should he care
| fully avoided There is always the
| danger that the public utilities the city
is supposed TO own will become moth
ing more or less than the private prop.
erty of the people at the head of the
government. who will work To their
| Dwn advantage and the enhancement
| vi their private wealth. William +.
Stead. Editor Review of Reviews.
| At the fifth annual conference of the
| Municipal Tramways association G..
| W. IIclford. general manager of the
Stafford corporation tramways. stated
| hat the probable average life of rails
was twelve years. Commenting upon
| the fact that in many cities no depre-
| iation or renewals fund was being
set aside he earnestly warned the
Gentlemen responsible that serious re-
salts would follow in ten or twelve
ears time. when heavy calls would
! nave to he niasie upon the ratepayers
or thepurpost of renewals"
Four years ago London took over lis
| yaerworks with the result that wa
er rates have Increased rather than
| diminished Referring To the operat-
ny expenses Sir Mclvil Beachcroft,
| harman OF the water board. recently
aid:
| 80 far II must be admitted that no
saving has been effected. ! do not
| hink that ii was ever anticipated that
here would be any saving i'll the eX
lenses of administration. as the man
| tgenent OF trading concern by Il
municipal body must always involve
| expenditure quite outside that which
falls on IA private company"
| In my opinion. the root of the evil Is
10 lie found in the too great facilities
afforded by parliament for crazy nu-
| licipal traders 10 borrow money upon
ueriods of repayment out of all pro
portion 10 the lifetime of the work
upon which the money is expended
In lluddersfield we are wearing out
our third set of tram rails. and yet
| payment for the first set will not I've
com pleted until 1857 In our capital OF
| t4l4 900 for some thirty miles Oh tram
ways there is at least Cl00.00O for
which we cannot produce any asset
whatever."-T. III. Moore. Esq. Alder
man and Chairman. Iludderslield Cor
,oration Tramways.
An English correspondent writes:
The tram ears in Liverpool until
late years were owned by Il private
company, whereas now they are own
cd 10y the corporation In the time of
private ownership overcrowding was
unknown: now 1t is the rule. On in
| quirimg the reason of the change |
was told that IL was this: The regula-
| lions AZ to numbers remain the same
but they are never enforced. The po
| lice dnre not enforce IL because they
are servants of the corporations: the
corporation will not enforce ii because
it's enforcement would mean reduc
ton In the receipts. and the borough
bench So largely consists of Justices
either members of the corporation or
under lis influence that no conviction
IL sought for by a private person
would be obtained"
Keir Uardic. one OF the Socialist
members OF parliament voiced the sen
iiments OF English Socialists when be
,said at Bradford a year ago:
1T becomes increasingly evident that
Socialism In this country will come
through The municipallties-munic
trans. municipal water. munti pal gas
municipal electricity. municipal bread
municipal coal and municipal land
! These things are all putting the people