WANGANUI AND ARA- MOHO.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 784, 6 April 1910, Page 8

WANGANUI AND ARAMOHO.

QUESTION OFAMALc'A-t MATION.

FURTHER CORRESPONDENCE.

The following letter has been handed to us for publication:—, April S. The Honourable the -Minister of Internal Affairs, Wellington.—Sir,— R6 Aramoho Borough, I have before me your statement to a reporter as printed in The Dominion of yesterday. You still fail to grasp the position. We claim: .

'• First.—The fulfilment of Dr. Findlay's promise, on December 24, 1908, to gazette the borough on January 1, 1909. He is a man of discernment and acumen, had gone fully into the matter, had considered objections, though out of date, and his decision should have | been final. ■ \ Second.—That as" Dr.'Findlay's pro--1 mise was ignored and set aside, and a commission was appointed, the' finding of the commission should have been .given effect to. -. Third.—That'we have a majority of bona fide ratepayers in the district, in favour of a separate borough. .' Fourth.—That a still greater majority of ratepayers prefer remaining. as we arc, with a special rating area under the existing control of. the Waitotara County Council. - For the above four reasons we must again ask you to stay your hand. Far better to hang the question up in the meantime than cause an injustice, and play into the hands of interested parties. The Waitotara-County Council met yesterday and passed a resolution that: ','The matter of a special rating area for Aramoho.would bo considered if amalgamation with AYanganui did not take placei" '

; Though my duty as chairman ceased when my protest was posted on March 24th ult., I feel called upon- to • again plead with you to give effect to the finding of the commission, or suspend the question. There is really no hurry, as-Aramoho is more sanitary thcfci any other suburb. Inter alia, it has never been stated before that the principal mover against us makes no secret of his aversion to joining Wanganui, but fosters his petition on the ground that it would block the question. No one in Aramoho is so disgusted as he, when he sees the trending of,his action. . I still maintain that those thirtynine signatures sent in on the supplementary list are entitled ,to consideration, as after the position had been'explained to these ratepayers they naturally changed their minds,,and,are now strongly in favour of a separate borough. •. ".'■■• i .

, Aramoho has always been a stronghold of the great LiberaUparty, and it is an awful pity that its .affections should be alienated by : orio of its staunchest supporters.—l am, sir, : Your obedient servant;, i E. ELLERY GILBERT. ' April 3.

AN EXTRAORDINARY POSITION

[To the. Editor.]. . • . , Sir, —Ihave before me Mr. Gilbert's manly;protest against Mr. Buddo's extraordinary action. >Hc has put the matter in a nutshell; though rather a largo one. I have also Mr. Buddo's statement in reply to that protest in The Dominion of Monday headed "Aramoho' s Future." .In - that statement Mr. Buddo ignores:— : That Dr. J'indlay had heard all objections, had /complied-!'with had received and considered objections sent in months after the time' appoint,ed by; law, and, had officially, intimated that Aramoho would •be gazetted ■on January 1, 1909. .; .;.-,. ■ That Mr. Buddo' received further ob-. jections after that intimation. '. :

That after extreme pressure had been brought to bear, upon him, Mr. Buddo appointed a commission, which • ruled iu favour of a separate borough. That no separate list of ratepayers is'in existence, but that Aramoho has sent in a majority of names .to peti-. tions in favour of a separate borough. _ That the conferences ■ were all onesided, and non-ratepayers took up all the time of the meetings. _ That "the power behind the throne" is not denied by Mr. 'Buddo in his statement to your reporter. ■ That Wanganui's debt is approaching £300,000, while Aramoho is free of: public debt. ..•;.,.','

. That Aramoho would be rated 2s. sd. in the £ for Wanganui's; debts, and would have to raise special ■■ loans in addition, and pay for them as well. • That the promoters of amalgamation did not want to'join Wanganui, but wanted' to block a separate borough. This does not apply,to the Wanganui Borough Council's action. That had Mr. Buddo carried out the intentions of the Hon. ( Dr: Findlay, Aramoho would now be in a position to make terms for amalgamation. : . ' The ..most extraordinary •part of the proceeding has not yet been touched' upon. Mr. Buddo, as a leader of the great Liberal party, has made a most farcical 'tactical blunder. Aramoho is the great stronghold of his party, and by his action he has caused people to make very caustic remarks. 'He not only caused infinite amusement, blended ifith anger, over his attitude anent the roxes and eagles for the Zoo at Aramoho, but capped it all-by his attitude over the borough question- People say' all sorts of things about him, carica-

tures have already been published in "the Wanganui papers. Surely the Cabinet have not been consulted, or is it as has so often been pointed out, that there is only one man in the Ministry? If so, this is. a question of the Tail .wagging the Dog with a vengeance. Already the matter is being taken up. Every member of the House has. received a copy of The Dominion, I believe, and several have intimated their intention of seeing into the affair. It has been mooted that a strong party shall be formed, and the initiative has been taken, and when election day comes again the actiou of the Ministry in this connection will be remembered.

Tho Waitotara County Council at their meoting ' yesterday passed a .resolution that "a > special rating area for Aramoho would be considered if amalgamation ivitli Wanganui ■ does not take place." This is a step that would suit, all parties, and is a way, out of the difficulty and chaos. It is still hoped that Mr. Buddo will stay his hand and hang tho question up a-s desired in Mr. Gilbert's ' manly protest.—l am, etc., ARAMOHO.

•; P.S. —Mr. Buddo strikes out many names, said to- be 39, of thosowho signed both petitions. A man's last will counts, but these 39 were not allowed to change.their minds.

WANGANUI'S SIDE OF THE QUESTION. ; [To the Editor.] Sir,—My attention has been drawn to a long letter on Aramoho affairs appearing in yonr issue of Saturday. As the matters in question'are of interest only to Wanganui and Aramoho, I do not intend fo occupy your columns at any great length. I will only say that so far as the letter rofers'to tho Wanganui Borough Council and myself, it is a farrago of misrepresentations and absolute misstatements. Mr. Gilbert calls it "an unpardonable impertinence" for the Wanganui Borough' Council to take any part in tho matter as the Borough of Wanganui i=, if not tho largest,'one of the largest jandbwnors ; in Aramoho. I fail to. fol-.

low. Mr.' Gilbert's reasoning. Surely ,we' have the same right as any other landowner, to oxpress our opinion. Put shortly, the position is as follows:;Soino. time back Mr. Buddo intimated to those interested that it was impossible for him, on the material before him, to gauge which party represented the majority oT those interested. He accordingly suggested that each party—those favouring amalgamation and those favouring a separate borough—should prepare and circulate a petition, and ho would be guided by the result. Each party accepted the suggestion. In a few weeks those favouring amalgamation obtained the signatures of an absolute • majority of the district electors, and sent the petition in. The other side kept their petition in circulation for weeks afterwards, using every effort to obtain signatures. They even adopted the extraordinary course of obtaining from the Minister a list of the signatures to the first petition, and personally canvassed the signatories. In spite of all their endeavours, they were unable to obtain anything like tho number of signatures obtained to tho first petition.In the meantime they called a public meeting at Aramoho 'to consider the matter. The meeting was a large and representative one. The state of affairs was fully discussed. On a vote being taken, a resolution in favour of a separate borough was lost by an overwhelming majority. Under the circumstances, I fafl to see that the Minister could come to any other decision than the one he has arrived at, a decision that I believe represents the feeling of the majority of those interested. Those favouring a separate borough are not, and never have been, a majority.' .. Mr. Gilbert's references to the powers behind the throne, "peculiarly interested parties," etc., and to tho genuineness'of signatures to the petition, call for no reply further than that Mr. Gilbert and those associated with him should be the last to make such insinuations.—l am. etc., C. E. MACKAY. P.S.—At the conclusion of his 'letter, which is dated nearly a fortnight ago, Mr. Gilbert declares his intention of handing it to the-press. So'-far," with commendable prudence, he has not published it in either of . the .Wanganui papers. fPublication of Mr. Gilbert's letter in The Dominion was delayed some days owing to its great length.!