OKAIN'S BAY ROAD BOARD.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 160, 29 January 1878, Page 2

OKAIN'S BAY ROAD BOARD.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE AKAROA MAIL. Sir, —I have read an article in your paper of last Tuesday, about our Boad Board here, and as a verj' old hand I must beg to differ with you in many of your arguments. I know all about the working of the Road Board, at least as much as the party who gave you the report of the meeting. I t'nnk it came with a very bad grace from one of the defeated candidates, at any rate, he should not have lost command of his temper at the meeting, and called the chairman and clerk liars ; and then to be. called to order was bad.

I think we are to understand from your article, that if the Road Board is dragged into a law suit, then the chairman and members are to pa}' their own expenses to Christchurch, to the Supreme Court, and very possibly to the Court of Appeal in Wellington. That wil\ be bad for the members of the Board I must say.

I see that the County Council members are to be paid for attending the meetings, and all other public bodies are the same, why make an exception of the Okain's or any Bond Board..? I heard Mr Dalglish say the other >day that he would riot go in for the Reclamation Trust, as there was no pay, but I see he is in again. This looks as if that-body.means to be paid too. . . I rather like your burst of indignation re the curruption of public bodies, and so forth, when the fact is, you are only speaking from hearsay, and that not of a very reliable kind, about the ratepayers' meeting of the sth inst. I can point out a small School Committee in this district, where the chairman has paid himself more

for travelling charges than the Okain's Road Board has paid for the last two years for that purpose. I have looked over the Road Board books, last Saturday, and must say your information, (well, I will let you down easy and say) is incorrect.—l am, &c, VERITAS. , P.S.—I hear that Mr Webb has resigned, here is another' chance for your reporter, but only as a member, not as chairman, as was intended at the last election.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE AKAROA MAIL. Sir. —I did not see your paper of Tuesday, 22nd inst., until this morning, and I observe that you devote a leader to an account of part of what was said at the general meeting of the ratepayers held in Okain's Bay on the sth inst. In that article you state that Mr Barker is reported to have said certain things, some of which he- did say and some he did not. But your reporter, or rather informant, whoever he may be. is /evidently very economical with the truth, and has given you a very garbled and disjointed statement of what was actually said, and as I wrote down what, took place at the time, I will endeavour to give you the exact words made use of. In reply to quite a pertinent .question put by Mr Dalglish, the Chairman answered that all the time he had been on the Board, both as a member and chairman, he had never been paid one penny for all his journeys either to attend the Board meeting iti Okain's or to any other ! portion of the district whatever. But when he had to go outside of the district on special business connected with the Board, then he charged £1 Is to the Board" and paid all his expenses himself. The ratepayers present were mostly of the opinion that this was quite proper and as it shonld be, and many, of them have said so to-day. Mr Barker made a mistake in saying that all such claims would be charged to the contingency fund, but as the whole business was carried on in a conversational manner, we need not be much surprised at that; I will show you what the difference is, and what has been the custom with this Board for some time back. At the last meeting of the Board . three weeks ago I advised the members to • place £2000 of the funds as a fixed deposit in the bank in Akaroa, as we would thereby gain a higher rate of interest. This the Board agreed to, and requested - the Chairman to go to Akaroa on the Monday following, and transfer that amount. To this he father objected, as it was his busy season, but at last consented to go. -Now, that was two days, viz.. Saturday and. Monday; however, he went, and by that transaction alone the ratepayers will gam over £18 before the money is required. 'Now, will any man say honestly that Mr. Barker is not entitled to £1 Is for himself and horse, more especially as the journey was forced upon him.. I. opine, not. Now; as the whole of the three sub-districts will participate in the benefit, this will (I mean the £1 Is) be charged to the contingency fund, viz., 7s to each of the sub-districts.

Again, some time ago I was instructed by the Board to- suw a ratepayer in Le Bon's Bay, under tlie Public Works Act; this I did, but found I'could not carry the case without the Chairman's evidence...l therefore subpoenaed him, and he attended the Resident Magistrate's Court. W»hen the case was settled, the B. .M. allowed the only other witness (Mr Chalmers) £1 Is, but in Mr Barker's case 'he allowed him the honor<vt\beingithe,: chairman. However, the Board avowed him. £1. This, as being aLβ -BoriS Bay oase, was charged to account; had it been from Okain's, it vyould have been charged to that Bay, of course.* " Now, Mr Editor, you are very anxious to see how payments of this nature have been amounted for in the annual returns of the Okain's Bay lload Board. I answer very simply—by calling a spade a spade, if the chairman' or any other member receives £1 or 5s for any, special service rendered to the Board, lam ordered to pay it; Ido so, -make out the cheque, mention on the face of itj and also on the butt, what and who it is for, take his receipt, enter the same in- .the proper account, whether it id for one of the subdistricts or otherwise, and that is alii You are welcome to a look at the books any time you like—they are always open for inspection.

. I have now giveti'yon as much information as you will lie.able to spare room for in the Mail. May lin my turn ask yon for some in regard to an assertion you make in your article, that is as follows :—"Possiblyas contingencies or it may be as 'incidents' but however it was we feel quite certain that the entry was not for ' chairman's travelling expenses. " Please let me know, since you are bo certain about it, what it is entered for, as it must crop up some way, it cannot be tacked on to the printer's bill, and it is not entered as spike nails, it might be dandles, but we never have used any, so please let the ratepayers know how it is entered, but pray have a care, as the paragraph I have quoted looks very like libel. What do you think? How many hands were employed, in hatching the Leader; it took some time at all events, and.' as it ie evidently thrown in as a fire stick amongst the electors pending , the coining election, it will entirely defeat the very object it was intended to attain.

And now, Sir,. as you- have done me some injustice -in a rather underhanded rnannerin regard to my accounts and as some of the ratepayers in this district are quite ignorant, of the way the Board accounts are managed, and have been for more than ten years I trust yon will allow me space to explain, which is no more than you have done to your informant, and I will try to make ft plain to the meanest capacity. As the ridings are nearly equal in rateable value (that is Akaloa or Eaupa, Okainja Bay and Le Bon's) about three years ago the Road Board agreed- to give each riding or sub-district'an equal share'of-all receipts such share to be spent in the district it was assigned to, and each contributing an equal shareof the incidental expenses such as salaries, printing, stamps, &c, &c. ■•■■.; —-

. For four different accounts are kept, viz., a general -account .of the whole income and expenditure, and one for each of- the sub->districts. Every quarter there is a balance-sheet produced, showing the amount expended and balance due each district, and*at..tbe end of the year the balance of the contingency, fund is divided in equal shares. In the account of incidentals every item is enumerated, and a road book kept showing the amounts expended; and to \yhom paid during the year on every road in. the district. It will, thereforo, appear that the sub-district

accounts all brought together must agree with the general account, and that "with the bank account; at least the auditor has always expressed himself highly satisfied with the £oad Board accounts, but some people are so very abtuse that I question if any system of accounts would suit them. I intend to send this by one of my boys, which reminds me that Mr Dalglish brought this subject forward at the meeting, as it had bean said in Le Bon's Bay that wkec I sent them over to Akaroa (to save myself thfe time and trouble) with advertisements ox letters, that it was charged as a special message, and paid by the Board. I then explained to Mr Dalglish that all the journeys any of my boys had made on Road Board business I never had received nor asked for one penny, and referred him to the accounts. Every member of the Board said the same, and some cried ehame, on which Mr Dalglish said he was perfectly satisfied, and was glad that he had mentioned the subject, as it had been stated so in Le Bon's, and he was happy to see it was not true. But that is nothing in Le Bon's ; some time ago I bought a horse and paid for him, and I heard soon after that it was said there that it was with Eoad Board money I bought him ; a new hat is the same. I shall not feel the least surprised or sorry either if some of them tell me, as that free and independent elector told Mr Wilson in Little River the other day, that I am an Old Lag.—Yours, &c, DAVID WRIGHT, Clerk to Board. Okain's Bay, 26th Jan. 1878.