RIVER PROTECTION AT WAKANUI

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1936, 5 September 1888, Page 2

RIVER PROTECTION AT WAKANUI

i, I A meeting, of a rather stormy nature r ? I was held at the Wakanut Sohoolroom last 8 evening. It was convened by Mr Jame a Brown, the Chairman of the late River l 8 Board "to hear what the gentlemen who i prepared the petitions against the late ia River Board have to say m defence of d their actions, by which the ratepayers 3. have been saddled with the oosts of an |C election and the loss of valuable time, , r estimate £150 jto hear the members of „ the late Board In reply and In justification at what they have done ; to hear each I» °* ndi date for the honor of a seat on the . a River Board, expound hit views, each h ones turn to speak to be In alphabetical i. order, commencing at Z." There was a 3( large attendance. ,t Messrs D. Johnson and James Brown d. were proposed foe Chairman, and after t f some little disorder the former gentleman n was eleoted to the position, )r The Chairman read the advertisement a calling the meeting, and said that In ao- - 3f oordanoe with it, the first business was to n call on the gentlemen who proposed the rt petition against the late River Board and it hear what they had to say In defence of l_ their action. :0 Mr D. Wilson laid that aooordlng to r 6 the programme it appeared it fell to hit n lot to speak first, as his Initial was the k nearest to the letter Z. )r The Chairman said Mr Wilson was oonm fading the third part of the advertisement Id with the first. ,n Mr Wilson said that he had had noth--3e ing to do m regard to getting up the is petition. He did not know why the r S meeting hed been called, oe who gave Mr id Brown authority to oill It—0 . Mr Brown : Allow me to explain. at The Chairman : Order t Mr Wilson continued that no man had [c a right to take to himself authority to call on any ratepayer to give an aocount of his actions He had had nothing to do with the petition for the abolition of the Board and did not know of It till asked to sign* He did not see why the ratepayers should be called as to render an aooount ; if the ratepayers chose to abolish the district, or o*ll on the Board to resign, they had • perfect right to do so, and no man could to question that right. It was a patent faot to that deep dissatisfaction prevailed all over 3 _ the district at the action of the Board ; the 8 _ ratepayers exercised their right, and that lir right could not be questioned. He had a )Q resolution to propose, and he would say a it few words on It afterwards. aB Mr Brown rose to a point of #rder. lt . The Chairman ruled that Mr Wilson a8 was In order. lD Mr Wilson then proposed his motion as ,p follows :— " That this maetiog indignantly r d refuse to have any further discussion on Id the aubjeot matter aa to their oonduot with !g regardto the petitions referred to In the tj e advertisement, as what they did was In O l the exeroiae of % right which cannot be i 0 called m question, as there was cause for aB the aotion taken. We also refuse to hear ye any member of the late Board, as there Is ig no Board now In existence, besides 'we , r _ consider it injudicious and would tend to no good purpose, but likely engender b e strife, but shall now pass on and hear the views of the candidates." to. Mr Wilson was proceeding to speak to the motion when the Chairman ruled him l( j out of order. Mr Jas Brown rose to his feet and said o f that Mr Wilson was perfectly justified In j r saying jail that he desired, and he (Mr as Brown) had a right to reply. rg Mr Wilson resumed his remarks. Id Mr E. Thomas Interrupted, and Wai or ordered to sit down by the Chairman. le Mr Wilson had the loor. to Mr Wilson said that he had the floor, se and he meant to keep it some time jg (laughter.) He had signed one petition 10 and was therefore implicated In the. oharge l as much as the originators, and was with re them summoned to make his defence. t- What was the tribunal; who was thst iy judge— [A voioe : Tne>atepayersl— who y- had a right to oall them there, [A. volcfei of The ratepayers.] Mr Wllaan : Sllonoa, id sir, (Laughter.) Those who got up the to petition and those who signed it did so In st the exercise of a right no man oonld quesig tlon. He did not see why they should is. be called there by Mr James Brown to bo defend what they had a right to do. Mr i- Wilson went on to speak at some length ry as to the dissatisfaction m the district with Iy the Board, whloh culminated In the petlul tion There were several reason— the is first was the classification, the next was re the heavy rate, and there was another re reason that the Board had no respeob for i- the wishes of the ratepayers and would re not listen to them, and hid treated rate* f, payers m an insulting manner. He had a gone with a deputation to the Board who Ld treated them like a lot of larrikins off the iy street. He bad hardly oommenoed speak* I ing when the Chairman ordered him to '. withdraw. [Mr Brown: It is not true. T Mr Leddy: It Is not true.] He appeared 1, before the Board to lay some views before s. them m the hopen of stopping a petition p for the abolition of the Board. He did »- not appear to present a petition as had •- been reported, but In the hope* of getting n that petition squashed. When he went is In the Chairman said, as far as he could ie reoolleot: "We are not going to strike the »1 rate to-day, and we don't wish to discuss )f the matter with you so yon oan withdraw. " is He insisted on making some remarks, and it Mr Olephkne spoke m bis favor. He 1 read a document containing the views of s others and himself, and he was ordered to 11 withdraw; In faot' the Chairman ordered f Mr Pooks to go for the polloe. Not a single Improper word was said by the deputation. He had not taken any aotion against the Board, but afterwards signed the petition for the Board to resign. It was quite dear, In faot everyone In the distriot knew that the Board as constituted was not farorab't to the ratepayers. They had also come to know that the Board did not agree, nor were they likely to do so, and there were no hopes of them I doing any good. One member of the i Board, even, had expressed himself In p favor of the River District being abolished , and said that if the petition came to him he would sign it and enoonrage ' others _ to do so. Another member had intended to move a resolution that the Board resign. In connection with the classification, two, if not three of the members, appeared at the Court against the rest of the Board. The ratepayers were quite justified m oalling on the Board to roßiga. Mr Brown, as Chairman, had aoted arbitrarily all through and unless he was the head and tail of a concern he was always obstinate Mr Wilson here announced bis intention of taking a little rest before going on to speak further. The Chairman thought there should ba some limit to the time allowed eaoh Bpeaker ; otherwise they would be there all night. Be thought ten minutes quite sufficient for anyone to express hi» views. Some argument took place between Mr drown and the Chairman. The former 88 id that he would claim as much time aa had been occupied by Mr Wilson The Chairman Baid that Mr Wilson bad spoken for a quarter of en hour. In accordance with the Chairman* time limit Mr Wilson had to forego speaking ; further. The Chairman aeked if there was any seconder to Mr Wilson's motion. For some time there was no response. Ulti«* mately, Mr Jas, Brown seconded the motion pro forma, bo that he could have the op* portunityof expressing his views; In the first place his authority calling the meet, ing had been oiUed m question. He read a^ letter from the Chairman of ther School Oommittee, granting the use of the rooM, and also a receipt for 2s 6d paid for the same. These constituted his authority. Mr Wilson : That's no authority. The Chairman said that Mr Wilson had,

called m question Mr Brown's tight, to call the publio together. Mr Brown continued that he was at liberty to put any advertisement m the public press that he thought fit, and if they did not like it, and he broke any law, they could take action against him Ihere appeared to be great dissatisfaction with the Board, as shown by the petitions But he knew how petitions were sometimes got up, and how people were led astray, signing without giving the mstter any consideration. It was to have the question of river protection discussed m all its bearings, and to ascertain the real views of the ratepayers that he had called the meeting. Those who objected to his authority to call the meeting needn't have come, but Finos they had come, he took it that they were willing to discuss the business as advertised. It was one thing to go round the district with a petition, but it was another to meet men face to face. He wanted the objectors, as honorable men, to state their charges against the Board. He knew there was dissatisfaction with the Board, and he wanted to know the reason of it. The Board had done aothlng, at the time the petition wai got up. Notice of motion to strike a rate was nothing ; a report on works did not commit them to anything. The only valid ground of objection to the Board could be the rate. True, it wan a heavy rate — the members of the Board knew this, and they felt it m common with the other ratepayers — but perhaps it would be a more cottons matter to have the rivet running over the Flat. It was a ohoioe of two evils. It was better m the Interests of the distriot that there should be a Biver Board, and what work there was to do be done properly; He be* lieved that the loss of time that had been occasioned would take a considerable amount of money out of their pookets, If they Intended to go on with the works. Io regard to the classification the Board did the best they could. They gave instructions to Fooks aDd Sons to olaseify the lands and that had done so. The ratepayers exercised their privilege fully, for eleven of them appealed against the classification, fought the matter out with the ■Id of learned counsel, and got defeated. They would never get people unanimous, but the classification having been settled by the Magistrate [a voice : he never saw the land] there was no reason why it should be brought up again. The duties of a member of the Board were unpleasant and he would rather be out of it, as far as his personal Inclinations were 000---eerned. But some one would have to do the work, and since he bad been m the district he bad never shirked his duty. They were not thoroughly alive to the state of their properties, because If the river came over many fine farms would be rendered valueless. Mr Thomas didn't like the classification ; he would give a few of that gentleman's views, because it might be reasonably supposed that a matt who objected to a soheme could give a better. He had put himself to the trouble of taking a note of Mr Thomas' objections. He claimed to have 133 •ores that shouldn't be m the first olaiB ; he went farther end says they ought to be In the thirdMr E. Thomas : Excuse ma. I never ••IdThe Ohairman ruled Mr Thomas oat of order and declined to allow him to pro oeed. Mr Brown: I say it is m black and white at thn Board's effioe. Now the third class m which Mr Thomas wanted his land included was that portion of Mr Bt range's property across the river [Mr Thomas, emphatically : I say no. That was Mr Purnell's suggestion. It wasn't mine at all ] The Ohairman to Mr Brown : Your ten minutes are up. Mr Brown : Ton hare no right to dictate to me The Chairman iieollned to allow Mr Brown to proceed. Mr Brown : lam quite willing to appeal to the meeting. — The Chairman reiterated his deter* mlnation to enforce his ruling. He had decided that ten minutes should be allowed to each speaker ; if each spoke M long as he chose they wjuld never get away. Mr Brown: You allowed Mr Wilson half an hour; Why not allow me same. The Chairman ordered Air Brown to ■It down. Mr Brown, excitedly : Thank God you cant interfere with the press. lam glad they are here. The Ohairman : I wont allow — Mr Brown : You wont allow j you wont allow— A scene of great disorder followed, whioh for some time the Ohairman was powerless to check, yells m a stentorian voice of " Jim Brown," " The second JMUt" "boll up, Mr James" "Heigh! sit down ! heigh !" and others of a like nature quite drowning the other voices*. When at last something like order was restored, the Ohairman said : I have .asked yon to sit down, Mr Brown. Mr Brown : lam In order. Mr Thomas: You come to rule Wakanui— The Chairman: Will yon sic down Mr Thomas. Mr Wilson got up, but was not allowed to proceed. The Chairman said that he had settled that ten minutes should be allowed to each speaker. If he allowed them to go on as they liked there would be no end to the discussion. Mr Brown : Would Ibe m order to move that I be allowed to be heard. The Ohairman said that if eaoh man had ten minutes he could easily express . his opinions. They wanted to hear sensible views, but if Mr Brown and the other gentlemen got their " monkey up " they would not hear sensible views. After a few farther remarks the Chairman allowed Mr Brown to proceed. Mr Brown continued that it was on record that Mr Thomas wanted 133 acres pat In the third class [Mr Thomas : I say that you are a liar], and also said that other land was not fairly olassified, and should be m the first class Mr Thomas, excitedly : I say that you are a liar. Mr Brown : Thank you sir. Mr Thomas : I asked Mr Purnell.--The Ohairman : Order ! Mr Thomas— to apply for the second class.— Tne Chairman : Sit down ! Mr Thomas : Give me the privilege. The Ohairman : Sit down ! Mr Brown continued that if any gentleman doubted his word he could search the Board's reoords, and would sea Mr Thomas' letter with the name attached. He concluded by saying that as there waa do chance of a fair argument there he would sit down. The Ohairman asked why he said that, and a brief passage at arms between Mr Brown and the Chairman ensued. Mr Thomas : Didn't I say I didn't care what class my land was In as long as it was classed fair. It was not my instructions to Mr Purnell, but Mr Purn ell's Instructions to me that the land Bhou'd be placed m the third class. I said that I did not care what class the land was m so long as it was classed fair Mr Brown rose to a point of order. The motion was not seconded. A farther argument ensued between Mr Brown and the Ohairman . Mr Bror n said the latter was unfit for his position. The Chairman : It is a strange thing you are not here. You are the man who who should be m the chair and it is atrange the meeting did not put you here. After a desultory dificussion Mr Meredith Wilson proposed an amendment as follows: — "That if any gentleman is present who got up the petition let him pome forward 19 a ptan aod state bin JBMOW) ?l _

In speak/ng to his amendment Mr Wilson eaid that the promoters of the petitions m taking them round had made representation?, which he did not say wore true or false He wanted them to come forward as men and slate their obj ctiona and it would be for the ratepayers to judge if they were reasonable. "It was absurd to say the Board had no right to reply. The meeting had acknowledged the right by coming there. As a member of th.3 late Board he was not ashamed of what he had done, and it was now for the proinotera of the petition to stand up like men and give their reasons. Mr Jas Brown seconded the amendment. The Ohairman : Do you claim another ten minutes. Mr Brown ; Yes Another ten minuteß. Mr Brown Baid that he wished to reply io Mi" Wilson's remarks aB to the treatment of the deputation. There appeard to have been two parties m the Board's office, but they all came m together. Mr Jamieson handed m a petition and the Board thought that all present were concerned He stated pretty well what Mr Wilson had Bald, that it would not be advisable to diecuss the matter then, Mr Wilson went on addressing the meeting and made personal and insulting remarks, [Mr Wileon : It Is not true] and asked the Board to pledge themselves to do bo and bo. He (Mr Brown) said they would take time to oonslder It and gave six days Mr Wilson was not satisfied and made personal and offensive remarks, saying "Who are you/ and telling the Board to " stand up for their rights." He wanted to appeal to the meeting aa if he was Chairman [Air Wilson here rose, but the Chairman would not allow the interruption] and he (Mr Brown) as Ohairman would not stand it, and if he were on the Board again be would certainly under Buch circumstances oall a constable. County Councils and Road Boards were open to the ratepayers, but at a Biver Board no one had a right to be present without the sanotlon of the members. He moved that the deputation be asked to withdraw and the motion waa carried. Mr WUaon said that he wouldnt withdraw, and he (Mr Brown) then said ha would call a constable. Mr Brown then referred to Mr Wilson's propositions to the Board as contained m a letter purporting to be the vlewa of Mr Wilson and others and conditionally on these being acceded to it wbb promised that the petition would be withdrawn. The proposal as to a rate was exactly the same as the plan adopted by the Board, who had resolved to only call m half at first, Tben as to the proposal that no clerical or professional assistance should be employed, that was what the Board had been doing, Messrs Fooks and Son having done the clerical work free of cost. The next proposal was that no work should be undertaken to protect private property, but to protect the district at large from the overflow, and here again was exactly irhat the Board had been going to do, and if they had been allowed to continue the district would have been saved much loss Another proposal w&b that if works of magnitude were necesßary the ratepayers should be polled as to a loan. This also was part of the Board's programme, as he had given notice of motion to raise a loan of £600 They had been acting according to Mr Wilson's views throughout, but prejudice blinded the man. Some discussion took place. Mr Jas. Jamieson said that they had got on very well with their petition to abolish the district, having got the sign a tures of about two-tbirds of the people, till Mr D. Wilson got up a counter petition and * 'cooked" theirs. They had given the ' petition up now, so they could form the j district the best way they could. < Mr D. Wilson asked if Mr Brown ; would allow him the document he had ] been referring to. • Mr Brown would not. Mr Wilson complained that Mr Brown h&d not treated him fairly or honestly- ' He did not read the heading of the document. Mr Brown read the heading, which was, " Conditions, on which, if agreed to, the < petition will be withdrawn." Mr Leatham came m and denied that the petition would be withdrawn, therefore it was proved that the statement was an untruth. ' Mr Wilson : It is a lie, Mr Brown : It is a fact. ! Mr Wilson, very excitedly : You are ( a liar. Another scene of disorder followed, and the Chairman had to stand between Mr Wilson and Mr Brown before he could enforce order. Mr Wilson continued : 1 went to that ' meeting. I had nothing to d& with the ' petition. I went for the purpose of ' knocking it on the head. I talked to Mr < Leatham and Mr Thomas at the saleyarda, and it was said that if the views I had expressed were agreed to the petition would be withdrawn. Mr Wilson appealed to Mr Leatham and Mr Thomas to bear out his statement. Mr Leatham said that what he stated at the saleyards was that personally he was m favor of the Board, but that he could not withdraw the petition. Mr Thomas said that there seemed to have been a misunderstanding between Mr Leatham and Mr Wilson. At the paleyards Mr Leathern said that he was m favor of the Board himself, and said nothing else then, but at the Koad Board office said that he could not withdraw the petition. Aftei some further discussion the amendment wai put to the meeting and carried, six voting for it and about four •gainst. A lengthy disousslon arose as to the next businesa, and it was ultimately deolded to aot m accordance- with the amendment and bear those who signed the petition. Mr D. Wilson stated his reasons at some length. The Board as constituted had lost the confidence of the ratepayers, and it was the duty of the latter to call on them to resign, Mr Smith's objection was that his signature to the petition for the constitution of the district; had been obtained under false representations, Mr James Brown having led him to believe that he would be liable to a much smaller rate than wbb the case. MrG. Oole had signed both petitions. He didn't think the classification fair ; the Board|dldn't leem to agree, and the rate was too high. Mr Maxwell did not think the classification fair. Mr E. Thomas said that he was sorry for the remarks he had made to Mr Brown abont thel classification and he would apologise for them. He was agreeable to his land being m any class if the rest had been treated the same as his. It was Mr Parnell'o suggestion that It should be placed m the third class. His objeotlon was to the boundary. Mr Brown m reply said that the Board did not make the boundaries which were fixed by the classifier, and confirmed by the Magistrate. With regard to what Mr Smith had said, he waa very sorry if any gentleman had been led astray by anything he had stated. If he had said ; anything wrong, i twas unintentional, and what he thought. In regard to the rate the total amount it would bring m was only £280, of which the Board had proposed to call m one half, or £140 It was for those who knew the river to say ' if this was out of the way. If anybody had been led astray by anything he had said he wonld assist them m getting the district abolished. 1 Mr M. Wilson defended the action of 1 the Board. The next business waa to hear the 1 oandidateß for seats on the Board. These 1 gentlemen were given five minutes each 1 m whioh to express their views. 1 A vote of thanks was passed to the > Ohairman and the meeting doled at