ASHBURTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1510, 18 March 1887, Page 3

ASHBURTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

A special meeting of the Ashburton County Council wis hold at the Oounoil'e Chamber* this morning. Present— Meuiri W. 0. Walker (Chairman), BJ. G. Wright, 0. J. Harper, D. MoLean, E. S. Cotter and G. W. Leadley. MOUNT 80MBBB TRAMWAY. ] One of the subjects which the meeting WM called t j consider wbs the question ' of aooeptiog tenders for the neoessary ' work In connection with the proposed Mount Someri Tramway. On the matter coming forward, the Chairman said that ho was sorry to have to report that a hitoh h*d ooourred m eonneetion with the obtaining of a loan nnder the provisions of the Looal B >dies Loans Act. The law officers of the Crown had expressed the opinion th«t clause 21 of that Aot wai not applicable to portions of a district, such as that interested m the Mount Bomers application. The mattet was still under diiaussion and, therefore, he aould s»y no more about it at present. He had just rtoalved a let'er from Mr Tripp, urging that an outside legal opinion should ba obtained on the matter, and offering to contribnte towards the cost. Be (the Chairman) did not think It would be any good to follow out Mr Tripp's suggestion because the matter was one for the Government to consider and they would not hi influenced by any outside legal opinion the Council might obtain. In reply to Mr MoLean, the Chairman ■aid that no deoision had yet been arrived at with regard to the point raised by the law < ffiaers of the Crown. The matter then dropped. REPRESENTATION. Aa provided by the Oounios Aot 1884 V the Council considered tha question of adjusting the representation en the Ofttmoil of the various ridings comprised within the county. A return, which had been prepared, showed the rateable value ani number of ratepayers at the present time to be as follows : —

The Aihburton Biding Is represented by two members, the others by one, but by a special order paseod by the Ooaaoll, at lta last meeting, the Asbburton Biding fab been divided Into two portions, each to be repreeonted by ooe member, viz, Wekacut and Ashborton,Jr«B wotlrAy. The ratable valne of the Wdkanul riding, which includes the Hampitead Town Diatrlot. is m rouud numbers £381,800, and that of tbe Ashbnrtoa riding, wh'oh comprises Longbeaoh And OolcUtream Road DUtric'i and Tinwald Town District, £599,000 In tbe two ridings there are Orown lands act down at £13,000. The Oouuoil went into Committee on the question, and after a long consideration resnmed, when it was repotted that the followlng'resolutlon had been carried : (1) That taking Into consideration the nneqrjai representation of the county up-m the bails of rateable value, it Is expedient to inorease tbe number of Councilors by one or more. (2) "That the bumbo of members bo increased by two: That •n additional member be given to the Mount Hutt Biding and an additional member to the new Aehbur ton riding. It wai resolved to lnstruofc the Council's solicitor to draft the special order to Rive effeot to resolution oarried. The County then adjourned till 2 p.m. MOT7HT BOMEKS TBAMWAY. The Chairman said that there was one matter m connection with the Mount Semers Tramway, wh'ch it had been omitted to deal with when the subject previously oame before the Council, Presuming the difficulty which bad arisen were got over ; and ho had no doubt it would be, so got over, it would be neoeesary to \aw a special crder In reference to atifking a recirring rate. He. therefore, proposed tbe following motion, which was carried : — "That a speoial meeting be called to adopt a special order to strike a recurring rate m the Mount Soraera Tramway Distriot, to be held after next ordinary meeting." IRRIGATION. The Council went into Committee on thequeatlon, and on resuming adjourned.

• Biding, Rateable No. of 4B Value. Ratepayers _ Ashburton ... 983,901 .76 Upper Ashburton 515,303 563 Mount Somers ... 282,829 248 Mount Hutt ... 632,619 171 Fouth Rakaia ... 482,266 272 Kangitata ... 256,550 111 £3,153,458 2141