VINCENT COUNTY COUNCIL.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1083, 26 January 1883, Page 3

VINCENT COUNTY COUNCIL.

Wednesday, 24;h January. 1883. The usual two-monthly meeting of the Council was held in the County Offices, Clyde, on We Inesd.ay, the 24.h iust. / Present :-Crs MGinoiss (Chairman), Jolly, McKidlar, Colclough, Sirouach, Welsford, and Pi "dies. The minn es of previous meeting were read and Confirmed. Scheduh s of correspondence were read and the following letters were dealt with From residents of ryhread digging, complaining of a nuisance, created by a butcher keeping a number of pigs penned up in the township, and asking the Council to take such steps as to aba e the nnisano l . Resolved —That the Chaitnan ascertain the nature of the nuisance comp ain d of, audio take such steps a-, he may deem necessary. From W. Olds, rangei of Cromwell Commonage, complaining of several roads on the Cromwell Commonage being closed to the disadvantage of residents. K- solved —That the matter he left in the hands of the engineer to deal with. From Surveyor General to the effect that after the late viaitof the Hon. Mi’ Kolleaton and himself to Hawea Flat the Government, had decided not to assist in anyway in deviation of road on Hawea Flat. From Mr J. C. Chap le, complaining of damage dona to his farm and stack., through the overflow of water, and em odyiug a claim for L4U. Engineer’s rep >rt on the question was read, which was to the off ct the oveifl iw was no fault of the Council and characterising the ' emand as an attempt at extortion —The whole matter was referred to the engineer to deal with. Letter from Alexandra Borough t’ouncil, relative to the Vtanuaerikia Bridge, was refer cd to the Engineer. From Southland Coun’y Council that that body could not, until the votes under the Reals and Bn ges Construe!ion .Act were set'led. state what (if a ry) assistance it would give towards construe.mg a road from the S uthlaod s de of ttie ra >gc ro the Nevis Valley. The Chairman was requested to further correspond with the S iulhla n d County on the sa'j-et. F’Oin Clyde Lib ary Oomi'nittee,asking for a remissio i of rates due—the lette.- was received. F.orn County Solicitor in reply to th° effect that the lioudsmen of the lata Cleik. were liable for the sureies. The Chairman stated that ho had p’aeed the matter of the late Clerks defalcations in the hands of the police. Letters from several contractors in the Cromwell district demanding payment of monies due then on contracts, and threatening all so ts (f penalties.—The c aims were not entertainer). In reply to a question as to what action had been taken in reference to unpaid ra’es, the Chairman said that instructions hail been issued to take proceedings at next ! sitting of the Resident Magistrate’s Court, | Clyde, and such action would he taken. Ho | hoped the Press would give the deterrnina- j tiorr every publicity. The financial position of the County was j now gone into, daring which it was ex- ( plain- d that the off rrts of the Chairman and Treasurer to make arrangements with the Bank of New Zealand ha I been futile ; the hank authorities declining to a low the Council' to overstep its present overdraft. They had, however, made an arrangement, whereby current revenues was placed to a separate account, styled No. 3 account, out of which currsnt •xpenditura was to be paid. ,

i Cr. Welsford said whatever might be said 1 to the contrary, he lo ked npon it that the arrangement made waa eminently satisfaoi tory. The Council were thereby enable) r to pay all current ' liabilities, and he Would ! promise atm-rdinglyi -. Or. MacK-diwr »tid ho approved--of-Or, Welsford’s motion, but something more was wanted He thou moved an addition which .authorised the Chairman, the Treasurer, i and Crs. Cololongh and MaoKeilar, to draw up a final statement for submission to the bank authorities, with a view to astiilmnre satisfactory solution of the financial difficulty, In tho course of his remarks, (Jr. McKellar said tha Connell- at the present time actually owed £7093, of which £3742 wore pressing claims if the bank overdraft were ino'ndod as one of them. To meet th-se claims there was only £740 at present in the bank to the credit of current account No 3, hut for the sake of argument ho would suppose that£3lß due on CromwellLiwbnrn contracts, E’-O in hand. £l5O duo as advances on rabbit skins, £560 Mm whole of the rat ;s collectable, an 1 the £3OOO due from theGivernme it, would be in the hands of the County Treasurer within a week, ■ what would then he his position ? There would still be a debit balance of, say £I7OO. Surely then it was necessary that so me further effort should be made to finally arran e the finances, and the only chance he could see was to arrange with the bank. Putting it in another way, as the Treasurer appeare 1 determined to only consider the contractors’ demand, supposing the £3518. which is now due from the Government, were actually to hand, what woul 1 the then position he? It would simply lie this. That with £4258 to spend, ho would lie met with demands from con'rao'ors to the extent of £3173. and a demand from the hanker of, s-i y £I9OO. That is to say lie would he £Bl3 short, a-d be would not have paid the ordinary maiutainance and labour department, nor the salaries, nor the rancors, nor the ordinary accounts now altogether amounting to something like £ISOO. Did tho Treasurer sunpos* for a moment that when the £3513 cami from the Government., the hanker would not first of al* dear off his overdraft ? Mr McKel'ar then went an to exp'aiu that however harsh the action of the hank might appear at present, it was perhaps the best thing that possibly could have happened, if it had only 'he one effect of bringing the Council to a due sense of the necessity for economy. Overdrafts never were called in at the lime to suit overdrawers. At tho time he believed, at least he hope 1, that if a fair representation of the grate of the County finances were made to tha ba-,k. it would he possible to arrange the difficulty. So far as he could see from the carefully c implied statement of the Treasurer, at the end of March next the C.nmty need not nwe more than, say L6OO, and that was a slim which be di I not think the bank autho ities would think twine about, if the possibility of arriving at that were once male clear to them. Mr "McKellar concluded a somewhat lengthy address on financial matters by urging the Council to authorise a final effort being made to arrange matters, and thus relieve a large number of County creditors from considerable loss and inconvenience, and extricate the Council from a most humiliating position. Cr Colclnn-gh supported in a clear manner the proposition for a further attempt to he m de. urging as a reason that the present financial position of the colony, with the new Government loan successfully fl >ated, us against that at the time when I the arrangement was tried to be made, the possibilities were all in favor of a satisfactory arrangement 1 eing en'ere I into. Cr J -lly dissented, from the pronosition, thinking,it would be better to apply to the Government for the L3OOO due them and promised to he. paid imme -lately tho new loan was fl iiled. With that. L3OOO he maintained all pressing liabilities could he met, an I with the incoming revenue by the end of March the Council would he in as satisfactory a state as it had been since an overdraft was first created. Fun her discussion ensue hand ultimately the amen Iment was declared lost. Cr. McKellar said that he ha-1 to lie satisfied with the decision arrived at, hut ho hoped, nevertheless, that the Chairman and Treasurer would endeavour to make an arringem cut. The Engineer’s reports on roads, contracts, omits aid bridge- 1 , were real and recdvel. Tie reference to the Cromwell bridge ma le in the report was that the bridge was in a ve y rotten and unsafe condition, and reco nmended tha the Government should be at once applied to for a new hj. idee. .Vl r C. T. Marie’s longstanding grievance was again brought up but it having transpired that the Don. Mr H dleston and Mr MoKerrow during their late vi-it had visited Mr Marie’s coal lease, and hid promise! to report, the matter was ordered to stand over. The Council then adjaurned till 9.30 a.m the 25th. Thursday, 25th. On resuming at 10 a.m., Statement of monies to ho ex r -e"dod oh deferred-payment blocks out of lan I revenue an I plans, showing the mals on which the monies were to be expenled, was laid on table and adop'e I. Tub County Chairman waaeleotel Chief Returning Officer of all licensing districts in the County. i.-t’er from Vincent Pyke, Esq., offering to dispose of tlie whole of hia geologic d and other specimens now in the 1 -cal museum.—Or iered to stand over. A number of accounts were passe 1 for payment. No ices of ra dion were now dealt with : That the Depasturing Kegnlations as amend *d and presented by theChairm in lie consid ired and agreed to. After some further discussion the regula tious as amend) i' were passe I. Cr. Mackkllak moved—That the resolution crs. paying £G f) O (sterling) ti the C uti'actovs for the .'Alexandra Dpid-go be rescinded, with the view of rec insidering t-e matter in Committee ol the whole Council, and making provision for submitting the alleged claim of the Contractors to the arbitrament of one or more Engineers, oi otherwise deaing with thmn in s ich equitable way as the circumstances may demand. Cr. McKellar spoke at some length in support of the mcion, urging thit the Council had nothing before them when they I agreed to vote the £33 ). an I sai I the only way out of the ibffi -ult.y >"as to submit tho I matter to arbitration. | A long, anira ited, and somewhat sorti moninus debate ensue 1, eventuating in the 1 motion bang declared carried, j After a j imminent for dinner, I Tne Council went into committee, and on resuming again intoC .uncil, the committee reported ns billows Thit Mr Drummy lie informed of previous resolution of the Council, and bo asked to consent to the appointment of Messrs Blair, Higgonson, Harr, or Hay, or any two of them is arbitrators. Cr '-Velaford moved as an imendment—• That the further oonside-ation of the sub. jeot be po itponed till next meeting, , The motion was declared carried.

Cr. Colcloujjh tallied a notice of motion for next meeMiig— ‘"That the f n-insr/reso-lotion granting the £6OO be again.reinstated in minutes.” Ob, Welsford to n»iw—That tho jSiVhv of thirty pounds (£3O) bo expedldifd ~'tm road between Oonmiw’a Gullv and Engle Farm. Or. Welsfobd to move—That the sura of fifty pounds (£SO) be expend'd for the improvement of road,on the West side of the river and near-Clyde Bridge. y -, Under the existing state of the finances these matters were left over till the next meeting. Rose'ved--The dog tax reristration fee be 7s 61 for the year 1883 ; and it was ordered that applications be inrite I for the office of collector either for the whole County, nr for the northern or southern portions separately. The qu -stion of dealing with the killing of the rabbits on the Clyde and Cromwell Commonages by the respective rangers, and the payment for the skins by the County, was decided by aa instruction to the Chairman to write the Government on the subject. The Council now went into committee to consider the applications for the post of C erk and Collector. There were 35 applialiens, and of the number MrJ. T, Evans, of Oamaru, was declared elected.