MOUNT SOMERS TRAMWAY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1511, 19 March 1887, Page 4

MOUNT SOMERS TRAMWAY.

As will be seen m the report appearing m another column ot the special meeting of the County Council held yesterday, a difficulty has arisen m connection with the proposal of the ratepayers of the Mount Somers district to avail themselves, through the County Council, of the provisions of the Government Loans to Local Bodies Act of last session, to secure a loan of £3000 for the purpose of constructing a tramway to open up the coal deposits and stone quarries at Mount Somers. Under the provisions of section 21 of the Local Eodies Loans Act the signatures of a sufficient number of ratepayers m favor of the loan were obtained, the approval of the County Council was asked and given, and the loan was on the point of being granted when the law officers of the Crown raised a difficulty, those legal luminaries contending that the terms of section 21 do not apply to portions of a district, the word district as employed m the section referred to being construed to mean m this case the County of Ashburton, of which, of course, the Mount Somers district is only a portion. Let us here give the terms of the section (21) under discussion. This reads :— " Where the ratepayers of any district do not exceed one hundred m number, the local body may raise and levy a special rate under this Act without giving any notice or taking any poll, as hereinafter provided, if the consent of at least three-fourth 6of such ratepay t»s, the rateable values of whose properties as appearing on the valuation roll of such district, are collectively greater than such rateable values of those ratepayers who do not so consent to the levying of such special rate,, be testified by their signatures m writing m such manner as the Governor m Council shall direct." Now, the ratepayers of the Mount Somers district are less than one hundred m number, and a threefourths majority holding properties of a greater total value than those of nonaignatories, signed a memorial m due form, and hence if the word " district" ■could be held to apply to that portion of the county, then the section was obviously fully complied with. But on turning to the interpretation clause of the Act (section 2) it is at once seen that the word district means oaly a borough, county, road district, town district, drainage district, or river district, and it is held by the law officers that m this case it means the county, and the county only. Hence, of course, it is contended that section 21 does not apply. We should be inclined to argue the point that the fact that a " road district" is included under the term " district" m the interpretation clause, as well as the word county, shows that the Legislature intended clause 2 1 to apply to a road district, although forming part ©f a county, but it seems to us that it is not necessary to do so, specific provision having been made m another clause, seiting out that the same steps can be taken as regards part of a district as with regard to an undivided district. This will be found m sections 1 1 and 12, which are as follows :--"( 11) Where any public work or undertaking is constructed or undertaken for the benefit of a part of a district (whether called by any distinctive name or not), and the votes to be taken as hereinafter provided authorise the levying of a special nte for all or any of such purposes within such part of a district, then the annual or other charges shall be paid out of the revenues received or derived from such work, and so much of the special rate so authorised to be levied as may be necessary for that purpose. (12) All the provisions of tins Act applicable to the raising of a loan m a district, and the security to be given m respect thereof by a speciat rate, and generally all other provisions of this Act, shall t " mutatis mutandis, apply m respect of such part of a district" This, it seems to us, conclusively settles the question, such a case as that of the Mount Somers application having thus, we hold, been specifically provided for by the Legislature, and that m the plainest terms. Surely the Crown law advisers have only looked at section 21, and not at sections 11 and 12, or they could not have tendered the advice which they have gtven v To the ordinary lay mind the terms "of the Act are as clear as daylight.