AKAROA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 103, 13 July 1877, Page 2

AKAROA COUNTY COUNCIL.

A special meeting of the members of the Akaroa County Council, was held on Monday, at G-arwood's House, on the Hill Top. Present—E. C. Latter, Barker, J. Hay, J. Dalglish, J. Gebbie, E. B. Bradley, E. Fleming, T. S. Baker. Mr. Latter stated that as this was not a regular meeting of the County Council, the iirst business of the meeting would be to elect a Chairman. On the motion of Mr. Fleming, the chair was taken by Mr. Latter. The Chairman said they were no doubt surprised to find, that at a meeting held in Christchurch on the 22nd June, the representatives of some County Councils passed certain resolutions, one of which, if carried out, would have the effect of expunging Akaroa from the list of counties, merging the Peninsula into the large county which it was proposed to form from the Hurunui to the Bangitata. He thought the course | taken by these representatives was much to be regretted, and that it could not bo justified. That such resolutions should have been passed so hurriedly, and as far as he was aware, without any .notice having been given of an intention to represent to the Government the advisability of swal lowing up the county of Akaroa in a larger proposed county. The reason the Akaroa Council was not represented was, that he .had no intimation whatever of the proposed meeting until five days before the date fixed for the meeting at Christchurch, so that it would have been impossible for him to have called the Council together to confer with him. He had no idea such questions were to be brought forward, still he had telegraphed to the chairman or! the Selwvn Council, that if any important measures were to be brought forward, he was ready to attend at any inconvenience, not he would observe as the representative of the Akaroa Council, but simply as a member of that Council to protest against the passing of any resolutions affecting the existence of counties, without those counties have timely notice of such resolutions. Mr. T. S. Baker moved, and Mr. Gebbie seconded—"That the meeting go into committee to consider the resolutions passed at-the conference in Christchurch." Mr. Fleming would like in the first instance, to remark that sufficient notice had not been given to the chairman of the Akaroa County Council to enable him to provide for sending representatives to the conference in Christcliunh. He would make a few general remarks on the resolutions he strongly objected to, the three first resolutions, the others did not appear to him to be objectionable. His reasons for objecting , to merging Akaioa into the proposed northern county, were, that the interests of the Peninsula were altogether different from the interests oii the plains, and that the monies that would be available to construct their roads wonld probably be diverted to carrying out works on the plains. The Chairman read the first resolution which had been passed at the conference, which is as follows : 1. That it is desirable that the district between the Eangitata and the Hurunui be one county ; and also the district between the Eangitata and the "VVaitaki. Provided always that a certain fixed percentage of the land fund be returned to the road district, in which it is raised, and that proper precautions be taken to enable districts of certain area to separate. He said that this resolution appeared to him unnecessary, as the Act contained powers to enable any county to merge itself into another at anj- time. He wished a decided cxpresssian of--opinion upon this proposal to do away with'/ the county of Akaroa. The meeting unanimously expressed their condemnation of the resolution. The Chairman then read the second resolution, which was : 2. That, with a view to secure harmonious action between the Eoad Board and .County Councils, if is desirable, that the County Councils be elected by the Eoad "Board. •■This resolution was also unanimously condemned. i'.Tlie Chairman said that, although on the whole the next resolution appeared to him a wise- one, yet he thought there was some ambiguity about the mode in which it was expressed ; for instance, he laflti Pft r t nf tbe resolution

should have come first; for what would be the use of a County Council meeting to allocate funds which were not in its hands. He thought the meeting had not sufficient time to go into the resolutions seriatum, they required a great deal of thought, and his own opinion was, that the first two clauses were those they should particularly direct their attention to ; as for the others they were not in a position to judge of their advisability at present, nor were they called on to express any opinion on them. Mr. Fleming thought it best to let the other counties do as they liked, but as for Akaroa county, be would maintain it its integrity. Mr. Dalgush remarked, that if the Akaroa county were merged into the proposed northern county, they should be worse oi? than under the Provincial system, then they had four representatives, but if. they allowed themselves to be amalgamated with the Selwyn and Ashley counties, they would have but one representative, which would be their proportion according to their population. Mr. Baker said his own feeling was, that the third resolution was a most desirable one; $tn w ould enable a Council to. meet to aUcwjfe'uiids if any works cropped , up which rSquwed votes to be made. He hoped that some expression of approbation of the third resolution would be passed by the meeting. The Chairman pointed out that, though this resolution would give the power of meeting to distribute funds, yet they would have to" wait six months before they had any money to allocate. Mr. Dalqlish thought that the Akaroa Council had followed too much in the wako of Selwyn. He certainly was of Opinion they should confine themselves to the consideration of the first and second resolutions. The following resolution was then readp 3. That should the permissive portion: of the Act be maintained, power should be "■iven to the County Councils to meet from I Time to time for a more frequent distribution of funds than is now for, so as to meet requirements as they arise, and for attaching conditions to these appropriations, ensuring their application to i specific purposes, when necessary, instead I of, as is now the case, only determining the proportion in which the funds should be paid by Government to the Road Boards. And further, that the monies so dealt with by the Counties should be paid over in each case to the County account, and be distributed by the County Council to the Road Boards within the County. Moved by Mr. R. R. Bradley, and seconded by Mr. Baker— , ' That the members of the Akaroa County Council have heard with surprise, that resolutions have been passed at a meeting, held in Christchurch, on the 22nd June, by which a recommendation was made to the Government that the Akaroa county should cease and be merged in one large county, to extend from the Hurunui to the Rangitata. That this meeting remonstrates most strongly against such resolution taking effect, and is also of opinion that the election of County Councillors should be still left in the hands of the ratepayers." Carried unanimously. The Chairman was requested to send a copy of the resolution to the Government, and also to their representative,' and to append a letter, explaining fully the reasons the Akaroa County Council had for passing this resolution. A vote of thanks to the chairman, concluded a most unanimous meeting.