CLUTHA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 160, 3 August 1877, Page 5

CLUTHA COUNTY COUNCIL.

<s> A special meeting of the Clutha County Council was held in the Court-house, Balclutha, at noon yesterday. There were present : Messrs M'Neil (Chairman), Henderson, Jowitt, Scott, Dallas, Ayson, Mackenzie, and Roberts. The minutes of previous meeting were read and confirmed. The Chairman explained that since last meeting lie had learned that a majority of the Councillors had come to concur with his views as to the necessity for adopting the whole Act. For his own part, he had of late seen many things to convince him of the advisability of such a course. As one reason, he referred to the condition of many of the roads, which were in a very bad and neglected state. The subsidies had now all been paid to the Road Boards, and were found to be quite inadequate to the work required. There was no othei bo Jy except the County that could undei sr.ke such works, as no other body could borrow the necessary funds. If the A.ct were adopted, lie thought the Council should confine its efforts to the maintenance of the main roads. Mr Paterson, engineer, should be instructed and supplied with the necessary funds to .keep the roads in a proper state of repair. He had heard objections made to the adoption of the Act upon the ground of the extra expense

i for salaries, &c. He did not think these objections were well founded. The clerk's salary was fixed at £50 a year, and he would object to its being raised, except in ' proportion to the extra labour requiring **■ to be done. Then, as to the Chairman : b he would give both his deliberative and casting votes, if necessary, against a salary . being voted to the Chairman. It had , also bQen said that tho Council should , wait until it was ascertained what altera- [ tions were to be made upon the Act during the present session of Assembly before adopting it. He thought the fact that it ' was expected alterations would be made i was a strong reason why they should adopt , it, as then they would be able to make suggestions, and influence such amendments in the proper direction. He was aware that a majority of the members were now in favour of adopting tho Act, and hence he had called the meeting. Some might have doubts as to what their position would be, and what the advantages, were they to adopt the Act. Ho--had written to the Government upon fchef subject, and had received the following telegram in reply :— John M'Neil, Esq., Chairman County Council, Balclutha. Subsidy for financial year 1*387, which ended on 30fch June, has beep all paid *co Rqnd Boards, but ns soon as new' -appropriations are voted, County will receive six nfbnths' subsidy in advance, if required. Meanwhile you could open a ceo ant with Bank, which would no doubt he prepared to assist for urgent work. D. Reid. Mr Henderson asked what amount of subsidy due to the County had been paid to the Road Boards. The Chairman said he was' not quite sure, but he believed it was about £456. If the Act were adopted, the Council would get the dog tax and the licensing fees. The latter had in tho meantime been paid to Mr Hackworth. RETURN. The Clerk read a return he had forwarded to the Government, of the value of rateable property, the rates received, &c, within the County. (The return will appear in next issue.) CORRESPONDENCE. A letter was read from the Clerk to the' Bruce County re proportion of expense of re-planking Matau Bridge, and enclosing one. from the Treasurer upon the same pubject. From these it appeared that a sum of £28 voted by the Clutha County had been paid to the Matau Road Board. The Chairman said he understood tho matter had been before the Matau Road Board at their meeting on Monday last, and left over for decision till the annual meeting on the 15 th instant. ADOPTION OP THE ACT. Mr Ayson moved that this Council now determine to bring the third schedule of the Act into operation. He said he was not altogether opposed to this course from the first, but matters had since come under his notice that convinced him of the necessity of the Council bringing the Act into operation. The main roads urgently required attention and could only be attended to by the Council. For example, a culvert had broke down upon the main road within his district, which would take the whole of the subsidy to repair. "Nothing would be left any other portion of the road. The Council alone could meet such emergencies. Mr Scott, in seconding the motion, said that at present a large district of the County was having rates spent upon it, and yet contributed nothing. In his locality a feeling existed throughout the community generally, that the Act should be brought into force, and he know the County was losing money it could have were it adopted. Mr Roberts had always been in favour of bringing the whole Act into operation, and he now heartily supported the motion. Capt. Mackenzie mentioned that the inhabitants beyond Waipahi had to a man signed a petition to establish a new County. Settlement was progressing very rapidly around liis place, and the people had no means of access to their properties. He had previously pointed out the necessity of the whole Act being brought into operation, and had strongly urged this course. He was very glad to find that the other members had now come to see .as he did in the matter. He hoped the Council would be unanimous in the matter. One thing the Council should do was to urge upon the Government to make all the main roads. Under the Provincial system land had been sold in one place and the proceeds spent in making roads in another place. When the former came to be settled, there Avas no land for sale in the district, out of the proceeds of which their roads could be made, and therefore ought to be made by the Colony, Mr Henderson said he felt it as very humiliating indeed, that they should be forced into adopting the Act just at the eleventh hour. He had no doubt that within a few weeks, if the Counties Act were not altogether abolished, it would be materially altered and amended. He pointed to the fact that Canterbury, where I all were Abolitionists, only one County had adopted the Act. They had seen the unsuitableness of the system ancl had refused to adopt it. In Otago all the Counties with the exception oi two had adopted the Act, and amongst these the reverse of peace and harmony was the result. In the Taieri County, for examine, which pretended to be a model for other Counties, we found that nearly one half of the population had established four or five Municipalities to get out of the County. This was how the system wrought there ; it was found to be a ruinous and uiisupportable system, and the people had left it. The people had been most harshly dealt with by the Government, which had treated them like slaves. It had put its foot upon their necks and compelled them to adopt a system which they hated. He, for one, did not like such treatment, and would not submit to if he could avoid it. The Government had promised to give L 2 to Ll raised by taxation, and the first thing they did was to deprive the Road Boards of the first quarter's subsidy. The County was to get Ll for Ll raised, whereas they had only got about five shillings. Instead of giving L 2 for Ll the Government only paid 17s 6d. He held that in place of the Council meeting to adopt the Act, they ' should have met to pass a vote of no confidence in the Government, and to institute proceedings to compel payment ofthe money due. In the telegram the Chairman had received, something was said about payment in advance. Five shilling in advance ! He would much rather wurii

it. He would ask how tho funds were, tn be raised to make the main roatis-^by . taxation? If so, then all he could say A was, that it was high time one was leaving the country,. The Government should ' make the main roads out of the land fund^ as the Provincial Government had done beforo it was rudely abolished.* To qdopt V*< the Act would not mend matters. Only 1 discontent and confusion existed where it j had already been adopted. §ome w^n*^ larger Counties, and" for his own part he considered two Counties were quite enough J for Otago. At present the Counties and Road Boards were all fighting amongst themselves, and by adopting the Act th^y would only be sending the more revenue "I to Wellington. He would nmve a3". an amendment— " That the Council defers adopting the Act for six weeks." ?i He said they would then know what alterations were made, and whether the Act was worth adopting. All expected a radical change would be made, and it would bo fprudent for the Council to ascertain what that change was before adopting the Act. Mr Jowitt, in seconding the amend-; ment, said they were there as the representatives of tho ratepayers, and he bolieved if a vote were taken of tho ratepayers it would be found thoy were against the Act being brought into operation. To his mind there had been no argument brought forward in favour of a change. He did not believe' any member had changed his mind since' they I'fj.afc mob. They had only experienced tiie difficulties and inconvencies they then anticipated would result from the system. "The argument was used that the roads were going to ruin. He felt that as keenly as any of them, but it was tho fault of the system tliat had been introduced against their wills. They had stuck out manfully against the injustice that had been dono them, and he thought they should stick to their principles. It had been argued that unless they adopted the Act they were not in a position to suggest amendments. They might not be in a position to write officially to the Government, but they were in a position to let their opinions be known through the Press, and this might prove as effective. Up till tho prosent timo the Council had not committed itself to anything, and -jlthough he felt thoy were in a false position, and could not continue much longer, he thought the present time was inopportune for adopting i the Act. The Country, he said, must progress, and tho main roads must be made, but if this was attempted to bo done by taxation the people would clear out. They would not stand it. He concluded by referring to the small amount of subsidy received by the South Mqlyijeux Road Board. The Council had voted L.250, and they reckoned they would get at least LloO. They had accordingly entered into contracts to tho extent of Ll2l, and now their subsidy, instead of amounting to L 250, was only L7O. He would like to have some explanations as to where the money had gone to. The Chairman said he was not in a position to explain. He presumed the contributions payable to charitable institutions had all been deducted from the first payment. The expenses in connection with the elections had also been deducted. If the Act had been adopted by the Council, he had no doubt they would have been furnished with detailed accounts, same as other Counties. Mr Dallas was strongly of the same mind as Mr Henderson, ancl thought they should delay for a few weeks until they saw what the alterations proposed upon the Act were. As to the funds, lie believed if they would look into tho Finan- | cial Arrangements Act, they would find [ that only the half of the subsidy — that for the first six months — had been paid. He knew of many matters that urgently required attention, but did not think any harm would arise from a little delay. Mr Henderson said the South Molyneux Road Board had written to the Colonial Treasurer with reference to the diminution of subsidy, and were informed that the payment mado was a full and final payment. The Chairman niade a few remarks, chiefly in reply to the arguments used against adopting the Act. The vote, which was then' taken, resulted as follows : — For the amendment, 3 — Messrs Henderson, Jowitt, and Dallas. For the motion, s— The Chairman, and Messrs Ayson, Scott, Mackenzie,' and Roberts. _ The motion was therefore doclarod carried, and the meeting adjourned.