The Daily Telegraph. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3859, 29 November 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1883.

Mr Sutton's notice of motion before the HaAvke's Bay County Council is one avo think Avill be accepted by tho ratepayers as quite unnecessary. The proposal is to adopt certain clauses of the Counties Act Amendment Act, ISS2, by AA'hich the chairmen of the Road Boards become the Council. Mr Sutton docs not propose tho adoption of these clauses until the expiration of the present Council., term of office, Avhich occurs next November. Under tho existing system councillors are elected for three years, and it speaks well for its satisfactory Avorking when it is the general opinion that few counties in New Zealand haA-o derived more advantage than HaAvke's Bay from the initiation of the Counties Act. For this system Mr Sutton Avould substitute one that Avould make a change in tho Council extremely probable every year, and Avould increase "the number of members from se\'cn to ton, there being nine Road Boards, and (there will be) a Toavii Board for Hastings. The proposed change is so great that it is to be hoped the subject Avill receive every attention at the hands of the ratepayers, though of course it is open to tho Council to defeat the motion Avhen it comes before it. Mr Sutton, avlio is as avcll acquainted wil.li the requirements of the county as any one, has, probably, not given his notice of motion Avithout duo consideration, but avc take leave to differ from the conclusion ho has, apparently, arrived at. It may bo, perhaps, that in vieAV of increased rates Mr Sutton is of opinion that the county .should have further representation in the Council, or it may be that ho regards tho proposed change as tho obA'ious result of making the ridings and Road Board districts coterminous. The clauses that Mr Sutton wishes to adopt are as follow: —

37. In any county which is wholly divided into road districts and town districts, or Avholly into road districts, tho Council of such county may pass a special order upon petition to the effect that tho chairmen of tho Road Boards and Town Boards, the districts of Avhich aro situate Avithin such county, shall be councillors of the county; then and in such case the members of the Council in offico at tho time of such special order coming into force shall cease to hold office; and thereafter, notwithstanding the provisions of tho said Act as to elections, number of councillors, and ridings, until such special order bo revoked, the chairmen for the timo being of tho said Road Boards and Town Boards shall be councillors of the said county, and if their number bo six or more shall form the Council of the county.

38. Such special order may be at any time revoked by another special order made upon petition, which special order shall fix a date for tho election of councillors by the county electors under the said Act, Avhich councillors, so elected, shall then hold office until the next general election ; and thereafter another special order may be at any time again mado upon petition, and again revoked, and so on from time to time. In any county respecting-Avhich a proclamation under the seventeenth section hereof has been issued, tho Council may at any time by special order mado upon petition, declare that elections shall in future bo held under " Tho Regulation of Local Elections Act, 1870," and such special order shall fix a date for the election of councillors accordingly, Avhich councillors so elected shall then hold office until the next general election.

39. If in any county there shall in tho whole be less than six road districts or town districts, Avhereof the chairmen of the Road Boards and ToAvn Boards respectively are by virtue of either the thirty-sixth or thirty-scA'cnth sections hereof councillors of the county, then the number of councillors shall be made up to six by the election of such one or more members of the said Road Boards or Toavii Boards as may bo necessary to make up the number to six. 40. Such election as referred to in tho last preceding section shall be held and conducted on such day and in such manner as tho Road Boards and Town Boards AA'ho are to elect shall agree upon, or, failing such agreement, as the Governor in Council shall by regulations which he is hereby empowered to mako, and Avhich may be cither general or applicable to any particular county or counties, prescribe: ProA'ided, nevertheless, that each Road Board and Town Board shall only exercise ono vote for each vacancy.

A portion of the road between Oma.hu and OkaAva seems to be causing considerable contention in tho County Council. This road for some tivo and a half miles skirts the base of the hills, and folloAvs the odgo of a valley partly SAvamp and partly covered Avith high flax and grass. For about onethird of this distanco, although tho fall is considerable, it appears that during hoaA'y rains the water, obstructed by flax and unable to escape by its present tortuous channel, is banked up, and as a consequence tho road is not only submerged but forms another outlet for the water, Such an occurrence has just taken place, and the road, being unmctalled and haA'ing recently suffered from the haulage of heavy timber required for a bridge, iioav in course of construction, is in an almost impassable condition. Captain Russell, as avi'll be seen from his letter published in another column, strongly condemns the road as at present situated, and in this he is supported by more than one member of the Council. The road overseer is of the same opinion, and recommends tbe abandonment of that portion of the road at present subject to flood, and its formation at a higher level. On the other hand the county engineer, Mr

C. D. Kennedy, supported by other members of the Council, consider that the difficulty can be met satisfactorily by ttlio clearing away of the flax, and the formation of tAvo cuts or drains between the bends of the creek, Avhich he predicts Avill have tho effect of straightening the water-courses, and thus prevent any further inconvenience. Wo are not in a position to offer any jirofessional adA'ico on tho subject, but Aye aro of opinion that the plan proposed by tho engineer should bo adopted. The valley (native land) contains some hundreds of acres of rich alluvial land, and must at an early date be drained and utilised. Should the Council iioav, at considerable expenso and to the permanent ineonvenienco of traffic, determine to reform the road at tho higher level, Aye shall most probably within a couple of years find them again revorting to the line as at present laid out.