VINCENT COUNTY COUNCIL.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1099, 18 May 1883, Page 3

VINCENT COUNTY COUNCIL.

A special mealing of the Council was held in the County Offices, Clyde, on Saturday last, the 12th inst., at noon, with a full Council in attendance. The business done in Open Coancil was the fixing of the present Chairman’s salary during thp he has held office. Cr, Macoinnis, who opened the meeting, aaid as thh question 'under consideration was a personal one to him, he would retire. Or.-Jolly.theh took the chair. Cr. ; ..MacKellar proposed That the salary of the. Chairman b« at the rate of £ISQ p6r aiinum. Seconded by Cr. Stronach. Gr. Colclouoh proposed That the ealaty be at the rate of £175 per, annum. Seconded by.Cr. Pitches. wJ'CqLcloPoh, in proposing his motion, said the'work of the office for the past six months: had been greater, and' the duties far more qnprons than ordinary, and as the present Chairman had far exceeded his (the speaker’s) expectations, he considered he was entitled to something more than a mere pittance. Cr. Macginnis had devoted a great deal of time, and had been to no end of trouble in initiating the new Town Clerk into the office, and everything was now working smoothly and well. He looked a pop, it, that every labourer was worthy of his hire, and if Mr Vincent Pyke, the late occupant -of the office, was worth £250. he thodght his proposition was quite within the .bounds of reason. Cr. Macesllar said when the present Chairman’s salary was fixed at £6O for four months, it was fully understood that there would be a large amount of work. He thought the; present Chairman took too much trouble, and if he merely supervised the Clerk : and, Engineer, instead of doing the wbjrk, ' it would be the better, not alone for himself, Buffer the Council. Respect* ing the: Salary .paid to the late Chairman, Mr Vincent Pyke. that gentleman had had the initiating of the whole County system,

and he could bear testimony that he did it well, and was accordingly not overpaid ; where a* now everything was in good working order, and the salary he named was quite sufficient. Cr W klsford spoke against either sum, and said he would not support anything beyond £IOO a year. With a clerk who was competent to do the work of the Council, and in whom they had confidence, the duties of the Chairman should not be very onerous, and nothing more than he or Or. Pitches, or any other person sitting at that board, could perform. He thought, however, the question before the Council was the fixing the salary of the present Chairman. Cr. Pitches would ask if the motion as it stood would affect any other than' the present Chairman. If so. he would oppose it, because he thought that from henceforth £IOO would be sufficient ; but from' the amount of work Cr. Macginnis had had for the past six months, he was fully entitled to some 1 hing more. The motion then, by consent, was amended by adding the word •* present ” before Cbairrann, and on being put to' the vote was declared carried. The meeting then adjourned till 2 pm. For the following we are indebted to the Cromwell Argns Upon reassembling, the Council went into Committee to consider the second part of the special business. The Council remained in Committee till nearly 7.30 p.m., inquiring into certain vouchers which had been issued by the Engineer, upon information received from Cr. M'Phail, member for the Hawea Biding. Mr Thomas Hueston the chief complainant in the matter, was examined at aome length, aud the Engineer was called in several times. The result of the Committee’s investigation was. a report to the following effect: —That after inquiry into the validity of certain vouchers the Committee is of opinion that whilst the inquiry has disclosed certain irregularities in the manner of payments, sufficient explanation has been made by Gr. M’Phail to. warrant the conclusion that no injury has been done to the Council, and that no occasion exists for further inquiry into the matter. The Committee has come to this conclusion after hearing Thomas Hueston’a statements (in themselves highly contra, diotory), and carefully considering them and" the various vouchers and .reports bearing upon the matter before them. [With reference to the -vouchers referred to in the above, we (Cromwell Argus) think wears committing no breach of confidence in saying they are all for works carrieil on in the Hawea (Mr M’Phail’a) riding, and the inquiry was necessitated in consequence of remarks, and statements made by Thomas Hu ston, who until lately acted as roadman on the Lindis-Morven Hills road. We have great satisfaction indeed in saying that the inquiry elicited the fact that there was not the slightest ground for imputing any w-ong motives to the member for the Hawea in his dealings with the workmen on the road. At the same time we trust it will be a caution to all County Councillors not to interfere too much with the men in the execution of County week. There may be Other like minded men to. Thomas Hueston in other parts of the County after they get the “sack” (to use la’Jcolonialism). and we really don’t know what the Engineer’s duties are if amongst them i» not the lookingafter the Various Coiin y works and the time employed indoing : tliein. : -We hardly think the Chairman-was justified, in paying, so much attention to Mr Hues ton’s statements as to call, a special meeting of the Council to investigate tl em ] [it may be asked—How is it wo have to seek information from our contemporary on matters that transpire'-in our mids- 7 The answer is—Tbafneither the Council or its officers had the good taste to extend to us the usual courtesy of informing us either of the meeting or the business'to be transacted. By the njereat p ssible accident wag it. we were made aware of the meeting, and when in attendance we only learnt by the debate the nature ’of the business —re Chairman’s salary; and next, that same private inquiry was to take place in Committee ; but being excluded- from Committees, and no one supplying us with the nature of the inquiry or its result, we had to trench upon our contemporary’s columns. One part of the system of County management initiated by Mr Vincent Pyke was the affording the local Press every possible infor-mr-t on, dates of meetings, business to be considered, in fact, supplying us with a copy of all order papers, but under the new regime, a very useful custom has been dropped. We claim nothing as a right, but if the County Council desire that publicity should be given to their transactions, the least they can do ia to afford the Press every information that lays in their power.— Ed. D.T]

The following is the Order Paper for the next meeting of the Council, convened for Wednesday, May 23 : consideration op balance sheet. Consideration of the Balance-Sheet and Statement of Tieasurer for the year e iding 31st March, 1883, and the report of the Counties’ Auditor thereon, and finally settle the same m accordance with Section 134 of the Counties Act, 1876, NOTICE OF MOTIONS. 1. Cr. Stronach to move—That the motion carried on the 29th inst, by which the Council voted the sum of £6OO to Messrs Urummy a.id Co., be rescinded, and that the matter be s ihmitted to arbitration. 2. Cb. Btronach to move—That the turn of £3O stg. (thirty pounds), be voted for repairing the road from Tinkers main road to Upper Drybread. 3rd. Gr, Stronaoh to move—That the sum of £SO sterling (fifty pounds) be voted for repairing the main road from Ophir to Tinkers and Drybread between Sections 15 and 42. 4 th. Cr. Pitches to move—That this Council vote the sum of £l5O sterling (one hundred and fifty pounds) towards defraying expenses in the event of separation of the County. sth. Cr. Stronach to move -That the Engineer be instructed to have the main road through Sugar Pot and Tinkers put in repaiT.