THE DIVISION OF THE COUNTY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1884, 4 July 1888, Page 2

THE DIVISION OF THE COUNTY.

■^•A m^otioc; of racepayara m tho Upper shburlon Road Dhtrlot to consider the I Hdvis»b!eiPßs of dividing tho Ooanty, and . abolishing (he Road Boards was held at Tinwald youterday afternoon: The attendance was small, there being only light ratepayers present, five of whom V7era members of the Road Board. Mr D. McLean the Chairman of the B >ard presided and seated the object for which th* mooting had been called Bjq said that many ratepiyors were complaining of tho double system of taxation which prevailed, and were anxious for a change. INow that the question for abolishing tho Road Boards had been bronght forward they hud an opportunity of expressing their views. He oalled apon some oae to propose a motion. Mr Harpjr said that a% ona of the m mbero of the County Ooanoll perhapa it waa his dv y to explain tha etepa that led to the proposal being brought for* ward. Ho had expected sorm of tho other Councillors to ba preaenH at the meeting. Mr Holmai who had brought the m%t>er up had half promised to attend, and he had alio expaoted htt Mr Wright who wv« maoh Interested m (ha question would have been tbure, Ik had been brought forward m th<s Oounoll thst it would be advisable to divide tha Qoan'y Into two counties, the river to be the boundary, the reason given m favor of making the proposed change being that neari'y all tho Oorjoty worka were now complete. Moßt of the wpter races had now been completed and the rivers were mostly bridged. Of course there was a great deal of work to be done annually, but all the initial works, so to apeak, were oomplate. It was considered that If the Road Boards agreed to merge Into the County it would be advantigeous to the ratepayers generally. They all felt the double taxation heavily, and that taxation was likely to be heavier if the present system continued, bao&use the local bodies would reoelve no aubildies worth talkirjg about, and it was therefore m the interest of the ratepayers that they ahonld endeavor to effect economy where possible The Council considered that if the Road Boards agreed to inerg3 themselves ia the oounty a gr <at saving would be effect. The Council hud passed a refolut?«n accordingly, bat the matter n«w rested there as far as the Council was concerned, and the ratepayers had the power of giving off ct to the proposal entirely m their own hands. H>) was largely interested ia that road district and also m an adjoining one In the latter, affairs had come to such a Btage that the members of the Beard, of which he was the Chairman, had to do all the work, with the exception of collecting the rate*, because they could not off ird to pay an officer, and they, m the Upper Aohburton district, were drifting into the same state. Their affairs were not m a healthy condition, atd they could not live unless a much heavier rate wero imposed It would be inadvisable to abolish tho Coualy Council because of the many works of a general nature that that body had •arriod through ; m fact it would be impossible for the Road Boards to ta o up the Council's functions. Now if the Road Boards were abolished the county could be divided into two counties for the convenience of admiuietraiion of local affairs, and m eaoh, an officer properly paid would do all the work properly that tho maoy officers of the Road Boards now did m an inferior manner. Ha did not blame the officers of the Boards ; they were not paid as they ought to be, because the Boards could nit afford to pay them. In the Dppjr Ashburton dig trot the : r fiaancos were m such a low state that the Board that day had felt compelled to give notion to their clerk and overseer, becanso they could not eoe their way m the present stafcj of affairs to continue paying tho salary. Of courie the Road Boatds had large rating powers, but they did not wish to burden the ratepayers with heavy rate 3 m these deprerbod timas. He thought the time had come when sotno alteration should be made m tho system of local governing. The Council would do nothing til it had been seen how the Road Boards intended to act ; if these decided upon merging themselves m the cowuty, the Council would then take the necessary steps to get a special Act passed to give effect to tho alteration. If the Onunty were dlvidd they on the south side of the river would have a Council of nine members, and would thus hare nearly »s maoh local representation as they had on the Road Boards at the present time, and nine picked men of tho whole district ought to be able co transact the business better than all the members of the Road Boards oould now do. It was obvious that a great saving to the ratepayers oould be effected If there were only one body Instead of several. The collection of rates, whloh no* In the aggregate amounted to a large sum, would li done by one o fiber for one body cost not nearly bo muph. The money ■pent m advertising and m Returning Officers' feoa would be of course pr6r portlonately curtailed If there was only one body Instead of four or five, and there ! were many other, d'reotlons m which the expenditure might be reduoed. After speaking at considerable length Mr Harpar moved, "That the time has arrived for tho merging of the Road Boards Into the Oounty,''. but m doing so ho stated that unless the County wero divided lie would not support the abolition of the Road B ardo, Mr D. Oliver would have muoh pleasure In seconding (he motion, provided It was not Intended to Interfere with the Qjunty aa at present constituted. He favored the abol'tlon of *,he Road Boards, but he did not think it advisable to out the County np. Mr Stitt and Mr Campbell contended to support the motion meant agreeing to the division of tho oounty. The Cjunoil had decided that if the Road Boards were abolished, the oounty should be divided, and Mr Hirpsr a few minutes previously had said that he would oppose any interference with tho Road Boards unlccß tho oounty woro divided. The Council's letter po the Road J* ard askud the lattor'a opinion m regard to £he advlaablenoaa of dividing tho oounty. A.n Irrpgnjar disouaaipn of some length ensued on the point thus bronght fqtward. Mr Harper maintained that it did not follow that the county would be divided If the Road Boards were abolished. Tho Counoil had thought that if there wore a division local affairs oould be managed more advantageously, , but no doubt if It could be ehown that the convenience of administration would not be affected the county would not be j out Into two ; that was a matter for ; arrangement at some future time. Per- | snnally, be wai m favor of the o mnty being divide^, Aftir d6mo further remarks the discussion In regard' to whether the mooting were committing themselves tb * tho division of tho oounty by supporting the m £ion, dropped, ft tjelng understood thaj, a resolution dealing wifih tha mtttor would bo brought torward bt a Ittor'ojbsge. Mr Stilt had hoard a greet many people speak of the saving that would bo effected by abolishing the Road Boards, but none of then* gave any estimate of the amount which was to be saved. If a rate of Jd wa« to be imposed ho did not boo thivt there y/as any difforeucj whother the whole of jit was ley/a 1 by one Counoil, or i i by the Board, and £d by the present Council, Most of the would retnombpr a meo'tipg that was )ield m Ashburton sprno tinie at Tyhiolji it was almost unanimously decided that tifo Hoad Boards ehpuld not be abolished, and \t was fij'tbftr recojmuonded that the conatitution of tht> County Council should be altered, bo that it fihou'd be composed o{! the Chairmen of Road Boards. The only supporters Qi tbe propoead cljapge at that

time said that ihere wore too many s.oal bodies, bat Hiese pentlenvn had B ! nce been instfumentalin inoraasiog the camber of Bmall bodies ; their actions were iuconsietent with Iheir declarations. Mr Harper : Who are they ? Mr Sti t : You are one, and Mr Wright is the othwr. Mr Stitt funher said that he did not see where any ben fit would come m if the proposals were carried^ If tho gentlemoo agitating for ihe ohan^o got two Councils, m a short time they wouH probably want four, and perhaps a slill further sub division, so that it was possible things would refurn to their pr-cant poaition, though instead of there being Road Boards there would be a number of bodies calling thornselves County Councils. The whole affiir Beemed to be the " fad " of two or three, who if theyould not carry their point one way, wanted to do it m another. As regarded the expense of administration he pointed out that the proposed new Council reckoned on getting a good officer, who would exp^ot to be pvd £300 or £400 a year. AH the Road Bjard oflnlals on that side of the river did not coat more ths.n that, so there oould be no saving m th a direction. If he oould be shown that there would be a saving he would support the suggested ohaoge, but he thought that instead of a saving it would result In the ratepayers being saddled with additional expense. He moved as an amendment " That the Road Board remain as at present constituted " Mr Campbell said that the promoter of the question, Mr Holmes, had brought it forward as one of pounds, shillings and penoe, and had argued that a saving of something Hire £1500 a year oould be effected. In the present olrcamstanoes It vi as desirable that they should save all they could, and the ratepayers would be glad to learn how the estimate of £1603 was made up. In the county there were nine road boards ; allowing five members to etch, the ratepayers had thus got the eervioes of 45 men who took a large share of overlooking works In progress. If they decided on merging into the county the ratepayers muat make op their minds to pay a staff of officers to do the work whloh wbb now done by the members of the Road Boards for no payment whatever. He would aak whether it was cheaper to pay a staff of officers, or to allow the Rosd Boards to remain as at present, with a Oonnfcy Oounoll o imposed of Road Board ohairmen, to attend to works of a general nature. The question was, whioh of the two bodiej *as the more useful, and till some light was thrown on this matter he must support the amend* ment. Mr Harper m speaking to the amendment replied to some of the remarks made by Mr Stitfc. It must beobvioui to everyone that it was cheaper to collect one rate thin two, and here an economy would be effected. la regard lo Mr Stltt's wish for more d»t», Mr Holmes did not give anything beyond a rough estimate. That gentleman did mention £1500, but he did not know bow this amount was arrived at. He thought It was obvious that there would be a great advantage gained by doing away with one of the Beta of local bodies-. They oould then afford to pay a competent man, instead of having the Road Board membera doiog the work In an amateur kind of way. Of course the question whether the oounty should be divided or not was one for after consideration, but personally he favored a division. So far as regarded the statement that he had been concerned m the cooatitutton of new Road Districts, he would like to say that he had taken no active interest m the formation of any of them. He had signed the petition for constituting Anam* a separate district, but there were eioeptional circumstances la connection with It. Ansma formerly belonged to Mount &omors but had no interest m oommon with that district and it was separated from Mount Someri with si view to taoking it on to Upper Ashburton or Rangltata. The division had been made, but aa yet no steps had been taken to add the district to one of those he had mentioned. So far from favoring the formation of small districts, he had always held that these were a great mistake. Mr Stltt's amendment was lost by four to three and Mr Harper's motion was carried, the figures being the same. Mr Harper as a matter of form moved * that It is desirable ta divide the Oounty into two counties." Mr I. Sargent seoonded. Without any further disousslon, tha motion was put to the meeting and loat, only the mover and seconder voting for it. For the purpose of comparison the following nbatraot of the decisions arrived at by the ratepayers' meetings that have been already held, may be interesting, Newlanda— That it is inadvisable to abolish the road boards, but that the constitution of the Oounty Council should be altered, and that body be oomposed of the chairmen of road boards. Wakanui.-— That road boards be abolished. / Upper ' Ashburton— Tint the road boards be abolished, but that the County be uot divided. '