I WISH I could find the courage to support the brave Mr Schofield (Bolton Evening News, Monday) in his Community Charge protest and stand by him in the dock, if he is hauled before the magistrates to explain why he has declared his intention to pay only a 2.6pc rise on the grounds that this represents the annual increase in his state pension.

He also claims, quite rightly, that to have to pay the full 8.5pc rise would penalise him cruelly and others whose income is limited. Perhaps if substantial numbers were of a like mind, and there being strength in numbers, I might feel more comfortable in joining his cause.

But he does have a valid point to make and the fact that, like him, those of us who pay (27,000 households pay little or nothing) are yet again being asked to "dig deep" for a staggeringly unbelievable 36pc increase on the 1998 Community Charge level.

This, surely, is something that the town's leaders should at least recognise by way of an apology on behalf of those who don't pay and who we are supporting without so much as word of gratitude from any of them.

We never see any letters stating how grateful they are to those of us fortunate enough to be able to pay and do so unstintingly on their behalf -- paying for their children's education, social welfare, the roads they use, the bins and the emergency services we afford them.

Perhaps this is yet another sickening example of the greedy attitude of those sections of the community who feel that society owes them a living, and, incidentally, the same attitude which engenders resentment among those who are left to "pick up" the tab on their behalf.

Could it be that these are the same people this Labour council is seeking to encourage to vote in the May elections by introducing the lazy man's vote, by postal ballot? And why shouldn't they vote for a system that offers them everything for nothing in return.

Well, I can tell you that I will be the first of many possible casualties of this new voting system. Having religiously turned out in all weathers, at every election in the last 44 years, I'm damned if I'm going to be subjected to a system that requires me to sign my ballot paper! Whatever happened to the "secret ballot?"

So whether this new system will produce less or more voters remains to be seen, but either way I shall not be holding my breath in expectation of anything remotely like a vote of thanks to those of us who keep the whole profligate machine rolling along.

Anthony J Boddy

Hulton Lane

Bolton