EVERYTHING COSTS

Many Waihekeans think we cannot do without Auckland's money, by which they mean whatever it may chose to pump in over and above what it extorts from us in rates. But they are forgetting that wise old saying: 'There's no such thing as a free lunch.'

Sooner or later Auckland's seeming largesse comes out of our pockets, partly because the more it citifies the island the faster property values rise, and with them our rates, and partly because it can always be depended on to find some way of getting 'its' money back.

They are also overlooking (1) the fact that $15.1 million, $1964 per head, is quite enough to run this island well, and (2) the $2.44m taken off Waiheke last year for the bureaucracy over in Auckland and the $614,000 taken off us for Auckland's roading and transport. With Thames-Coromandel we would contribute only our fair share of the administration costs in common (133 staff, not Auckland's 1767) and nothing at all to its roading and transport. We would have at least an extra million, every year, to spend where it should be spent. Here.