Municipal Thading. 391 



wliuli WtuHlstuck, Mowbray, llondeboscli and Claremont niv jointly 

 and severally liable. T would liere point out that this sliows as a debt 

 per head of the population at approximately : 



Capetown ... 

 East London 

 Kiml^erley. .. 

 Port Elizabeth 



Woodstock, giA'ing it only its own pro- 

 portion of the water debt ... 

 Mowbray 

 \\ vnberg 

 Kingwillianistown 

 Green and Sea Point .. 

 Grahamstown 

 Claremont ... 



If these figures are compared with the indebtedness uf English 

 and Welsh municipalities per head of the population, it will be found 

 that our colonial municipal borrowing lias been exceeding!}' Iiigh, as in 

 England the total local loans in 1904 only averaged i/10, 10s. per head 

 of the pt)pulation. The loan of Kimberley above mentioned will appear 

 as small, but that is owing to the fact that in Kimberley neither the 

 water supply nor the tramway's are the property of the nuuiicipality, 

 and it is interesting in this connection to note the Hon. H. P. Porter's 

 comments on the working of niunicipal tramways in America ; he says, 

 " Tn the United States tramways owned and worked by private com- 

 panies contribute more to the rates and yet carry passengers at cheaper 

 fares than any of our municipal tramways." This is an important 

 statement, as in Capetown at any rate there is a strong feeling that 

 the public would be better served if the tramways were the property 

 of the corporation instead of being owned by a private company. This, 

 I think, is doubtful, in view of American experience, to say nothing of 

 the fact that an enormous amount would have been added to the Cape- 

 town municipal debt if the corporation had had to raise tlie money to 

 pay for its present elaborate system of trams. 



I have stated previously that municipal trading is the death of 

 private enterprise ; a public authority can always raise money more 

 readily and cheaply than a private company can, since it has the 

 security of the rates to offer, and therefore a municipality enters the 

 money market on terms that no private company can possibly compete 

 with ; and the result is that the municipality raises the money, wliere 

 under other circumstances a company would do it and spend the money, 

 without the municipality having the expense of incurring the debt or 

 having to make arrangements to meet the interest. Tliere is alsf) the 

 greatest ditHculty of a municipality connected with trade holding the 

 balance evenly between the ratepayer as a proprietor of whatever 

 form of triide it ma)' be and the ratepayer as a consumer. Further^ 



