HUTT AND PETONE NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 613, 16 September 1909, Page 3

HUTT AND PETONE NEWS.

(From Our Succial Reporter.)

-4 UPPER. HUTT TOWN BOARD. : Last night's meeting of the Upper Hutt Town Board was attended by Messrs. G. Bengo (chairman), Harrison, Keys, Martin, Williams, Craig, and Wilkie. . A sum of J3S 18s. was received from the Treasury Department as part Government sivbi. sidy. "■■■:■ . Mr. E. H. Webb- wrote complaining of gorse 1 growing on land adjoining.lns property, and asking, the board to take stops to have it eradicated.—Matter to bo attended to. _The Railway Department advised the board that it could supply 200 yards of. broken metal required by tho-boarrtat 4s. Gd. per oubic yard on truces at Femside. The freight from Fernsido to Upper Hutt would bo -2s. per cubic yard approximately. The letter was received. i A .lengthy discussion arose in'regard to'the • driving of cattle through the streets between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., contrary to -' the by-laws. It was decided to -enforce the by-laws, that permits bo obtained by stock drivers, and that cattle should not bo driven through sido streets. ■ Pour building permits were issued,, one of theso being for a bakehouse and loft for Mr. J.' A. Hazelwood. ' A TAG AND SOME PLEASANTRIES. . "It is a miserable, low-down• sort of insult," was tho opening sentence of a letter from an Upper Hutt ratepayer read at last night's meeting of the Town Board. Tho writer complained that a tag had been-attached to the rate notice to which he' took exception. "Please instruct your clerk," he proceeded, "not to address me as 'esquire.' I can do very well without such snobbery." ("He spoils it with ono b,' interjected the clerk, in reading the, letter, 'Probably tho other.one is in his bonnet. ) (Laughter.) The ratepayer added: "It is time enough to put tags on notices when people wont pay, but-1 was willing to pay as soon as I knew how much it was. "I am suro your township will suffer; you want it pushed ahead, but treating ratepayers as if they were rogues and vagabonds won't do it. My sister and I have £10,000 to invest, which we intended., to use -here, but ■ I will not pay rates. and be.treated as a scamp."- A second letter contained the following:—"You seem determohit to insult me. ... I am not a rogue, as ' you are trying to make out.**' Mr. Williams said, that he himself was 6ur-'' ■ prised at receiving the tag. He was not annoyed, .but he fully realised that many would be offended. It. would be far better to work differently. Those who would pay should be given the opportunity to do so without the threat. The clerk, explained ' that the tag was authorised last year and it had.been continued. ■ , Mr.-Harrison moved' that the letter ' be acknowledged and the writer informed that others had been similarly treated and that no offence was intended^ The chairman (Mr. Bengo) did not consider , the tag objectionable. The board wanted the . money, and the: rate Was light onoinrh. , . The clerk defended the tag, -aiul added that " there were, some who paid promptly, but many ; did not. A commissioner: A hundred tags won't bring in the money any earlier. ■ . . . , . ; The motion was carried. '.'■ \ . , JOTTINGS.. Messrs. D.. Wilkie and 5..-y. Bufridge' returned.to: I'ctono' yesterday after spending a pleasant : holiday;'in New South Wales aud Queensland. .'■ ... ,v \ At 8 o'clock last night, at Upper Hutt, a painful accident befell Mr. W. J. Willtie's son. ' Tho-lad fell from a height and sustained a broken arm. Ho was taken to his home, whero he is doing as well, as can bo expected.