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v fee georgetown herald wednesday dec i4tfafl949 the georgetown j aarvlna the cotmnttnlues of jkukuiwuwn oijkm wtluami fiokval bobmbt 8tkwabttown abhokovk bauunata jr tkkkaootta nbs rui 380 a year single cople 6e each advertising rates quoted on application walter bikhn publisher atmhulfatt mary h blehn associate editor garfield lmeguvray btajt leslie m ctark corey herrlngton jrr dous caldwell vha herald u printed each wednesday afternoon in tea office on main georgetown authorized as second class nnuvpost oulee dept ottawa members of the canadian weekly newspapers associations and the ontarioquebec division of the cwma weekly c dtvls the tutors corner high and low taxes so as not to be accused of politicking we held back on this editorial last week we have read wilh interest letters received for publication in the herald and campaign letters sent out by candidates and we have come to the conclusion that the municipal board should give more guidance to towns as to what is con sidered a fair tax rate fn proportion to the assessment otherwise none sf us know what we are talking about a municipality can be likened to an individual take mr x who owns a home and who has a certain yearly income he can do one of three things spend a certain share of his income on providing comforts for tiia home go overboard and get himself so far into debt that he can never get out from under it or spend as lit tle as possible and not have any of these comforts the majority of people are in thr first category they choose what they want most and buy it often in in stalments which they are relatively sure of being able tcrtneet for it is better to enjoy our comforts as we pay for them rather than wait until we have saved the money only to find that we are too old to enjoy them an automatic ironer is a good case ii point the time a woman needs it is when her children are small and sne has a lot of ironing to do it is of little use after the children are grown up and the household reduced to two members mr x is able to budget his buying closely because he knows what his income is and what committments he can afford to make a municipality is the same it can provide reas onable comforts for the citizens with a medium tax rate or it can go overboard and buv too manv major improvements which its taxpayers cannot afford or spend practically nothing and have nothing except a low tax rate the difficulty wth a municipality is that none of us are quite capable of deciding just where the proper middle course is its a problem for an econo mist to figure out what part of a mans income should be spent on taxes and this information could be provi ded by the municipal board we have heard that a man should spend no more than one weeks salary on tent if this is correct it means that a man who earns 40 a week could live in a 480 a year house and if this is the case a man in similar circumstances should be able to pay in taxes this amount less adjustments for the cost of upkeep which a landlord includes in the rent when an economist works out this figure and arrives at 200 250 300 or whatever it may be and providing we have a complete accurate basis of assess ment which we will have under the new system com ing into force we should know exactly how high our taxes can go before there is danger of getting over our heads in public expenditures to put the above argument as simply as possible jet us assume that mr x earns 40 a week and pays 40 monthly rent at the end of a vear it has coat him exactly 480 for living quarters mr y also earns 40 a week but owns his own home on which he must pay insurance ana upkeep deduct these costs from 480 and you have the maximum tax which he can afford to pay and which cannot be exceeded it is councils responsibility then to see that this maximum is not exceeded and to provide first services which axe neces sary for health and welfare water sewerage police and fire protection education and second if council feels that the people so desire things which are not ab solutely important such as better public buildings bet ter roads educational frills or anything which makes a better town but which is not essential jor public health then md only then when these economic facts are determined in advance can w argue about high and low taxes and about what we can afford if we do not determine what is sound economy then we do not know if we have overspent intil it is too late or we never know if we have deprived ourselves of more of die comforts of community life at the cost either of having more private comforts or of leaving behind more cash in the bank which might better have been used while we were living pay for councillors mr w f bradley in a letter in the last herald criticizes pay for councillors and suggests that this is a form of service similar to lodges service clubs church es or any of the dozens of other local organizations we do not disagree with paying membertof the town council for we believe their duties are more onerous than any other public position particularly so- because it puts members in a public position where everyone can and does criticize them we do however think that payment should be nominal and on a flat rate rath er ami so much per meeting fifty dollars would well cover die outofpocket expenses of a member during a year and there is no particular need for payments tp be triple this amount especially in view of the great increase in necessary public services and rising costs of services which are now enjoyed speaking of criticism we admire anyone who seeks a public office in these days of municipal pro gress for at times the criticism comes hot and heavy whether justified or not perhaps the perfect system would be to have a criticism fee for councillors and pay them 1 00 for minor abuse and 200 for heavy blasts such as we heard directed at one council member by a citizen after a recent meeting this of course might end up in bankrupting the town unless we in turn set a flat fee on certain critics who would throw the budget away out of balance potpourri visiting friends in town while he was east for the rough ridersalouettes football game was mayor don sweet ofponoka alberta district chickens get around corey herrington who operates sunset poul try farm at stewarttown got an enquiry for prices the other day from narong sons importers and expor ters of bangkok thailand corey tells us that in 1930 he shipped poultry to the pope in italy and in 1 940 a shipment went to georgetown british guiana the only time he has ever shown outside north america was at the world poultry congress at the crystal pal ace in london england in 1929 main street is cer tainly looking christmasy these days as more and more merchants put up their gay seasonal decorations a new idea is that of the retail merchants association in placing small trees down both sides of main street and many merchants have gone farther and decorated these relaxation of window lighting restrictions during the christmas season will also add colour to the street in case anyone thnks there is a dark horse in the municipal field we can explain that the firm which made the stereo for mcclujsfcs advertisement last week mistakenly indicated hafawp as the mayor in place of jack armstrong we shouldnt talk be cause this is our busiest time of year and there are no spare minutes for attending hockey games but it is disappointing to hear of such small crowds at the hock ey games after the last few bumper seasons to en courage attendance the hockey club last friday gave free tickets to all the public school children for use if accompanied by an adult we dont agree with a resolution passed by halton presbytery of the united church calling on their church people to stop buying lucky draw tickets attending bingo games etc etc we are heartily against such gambling games as crown and anchor which encourage individuals to lose more than they can afford or more than they intend to but can see no harm in harmless gambling which appeals to the spirit of chance which we all possess bingo is no more harmful than going to show or attending a concert now that the election is oer what will the herald do for news i hose letters in the mail bag sun- helped out our copy worries surely there must be mat ters of interest which people would like to discuss dur ing the year keep them coming after writing of so many turkey dinners we finally got invited to one and sat in with the provincial quarter century club at hilltop lodge erin on sunday the dinner was delightful and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening which honoured these faithful employees of george towns oldest industry a new sports reporter on the job this week who prefers to remain anonymous or a time or two at this late date we would like pub licly to thank wheldon emmerson who provided so much interest with his along the boards last winter and round the bend during the summer when he bought the restaurant we could see the handwriting on the wall for its a fulltime job and allows no time for hockey or writing pae 6 directory ti 2x m j mmtta mm xray dental burobom georgetown phone so dr clifford rod phone 410 open evenings main street georgetown elmer q wsurxnc service fir auto windstorm c p railway and allied steamship summer excursions phone hbw or j georgetown leroy dale kg m sybil bennett kc mill street barristers and solicitors ceorgeto vn phone ib nielsen the mut year of lady attendant teea vwl 4 ims it sad m sua georgetown phone tssw m lever and hoskbf charier aeeeaaeajias suedsssors tp w and ijuidj 1808 aaetropoutstsudc 44 victoria street el v langdon and aybwortk barristers and solicitors notaries public kenneth m langdon georgetown k1rst mortgage money to loan offices roxy theatre bldg mill st phpne b8w georgetown consult j a willooghby a setss for complete real estate 8 kb vice head office toronto 106 yonge st ad mm city and ceantrr beasea industrial and properties tomhewson is your local rep phone ww 0 frank petch licensed auctioneer prompt service phone 301 georgetown p o box 413 t radio repairing we specialize in this work 16 years experience i j sanfordson monuments j domestic and reretro j granite best sandblast equipment for cemetery lettering orancevllle monument works orongevllle ont dr c w sayers dvm veterinarian quelph street opposite armstrongs garage pbone 11 phone georgetown 34w j monuments pollock campbell i 62 water st north j g a l t designs on request 1 phone 2048 j inspect o work in a greenwooa cemetery ballinafad the local hockey team plaed the first game of their schedule frida night in hiusburgh the score was 53 m favour oi the opposing north erin team pupils of blue mountain school are busy preparing for thpir annuall christmas concert which will be held monday evening in the hall at balunafa the three churches in this charge have planned to hold a christmas carol service in the church here next sunda evening there will alsobe lnntiigji slides shown of the christmas story the wms evening auxiliary and mission circle held their christmas meeting togetner at the manse fridav night after the separate business periods were completed all united in the lovely candlelight service as outlined in the ulssftotv- ary monthly jt wai decided to make the december meeting an annual gettogether of the three groups p0twcirociswkiroit pwcmmmwmnicmitmm imn or mother s for dad l from if for children for men flight boots goodrich and alaska 1345 t 1096 for ladies goodrich muffets black and brown 875 luther flight boots black and brown 1195 175 to 425 135 to 550 65c to 185 for boys goodrich rockets 596 for girls rubber flight boots 750 misses figure skates sizes 11 to 3 1250 h llriam ross thompson for quality shs at fc mswrti ulia