WAIROA’S WANTS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 420, 20 May 1902, Page 1

WAIROA’S WANTS.

COUNCILLOBS DESIRE TO PLUNGE

INTO BORROWING.

At the last meeting of the Wairoa CouDty Council, Cr Ryder,' referring to the decision not to get a motor metal dray at present, said if they had got one it would be no good for want of money to keep it going. Ho would advise a loan. Cr Powdrell said Carlile and McLean’s opinion was against them going in for a loan. Cr Ryder was only wasting the time of the Council; and if they got a loan it would be frittered away like most of the borrowed millions in New Zealand. He asked the chairman to count him one against the loan. Cr Walker : Cr Powdrell was only one, others might not look at the question as he did. It would be a good policy to borrow, instead of continuing to spend 111500 or £I6OO a year in mud—it would pay to get a 4150,000 loan, and Carlile and McLean’s opinion ought to be burnt. He moved—That steps be taken to borrow £30,000 for county works. Cl- Ryder said that even taking that day’s accounts into consideration, out of £4OO spent on the roads £2OO of it was for mud. How had they got their railways ? Was it not by borrowed money ? Cr Powdrell : Yes, forty millions of it and not a shilling for Wairoa. Cr Ryder: And if they remained in their present groove they would never get any, but remain mud-stickers all their lives. (Hear, hear.) It was time enough to! meet difficulties. Let them wait till they were refused. While they had life let them go ahead. (Cr Walker : Hear, hear.) If Cr Powdrell was in his position, shut in on all sides, he would feel just as he (Cr Ryder) did. Cr Walker said he had a large interest in Wairoa county, and he knew it was good policy to borrow ; they would save mouey- hands down as soon as they ceased spending £I6OO a year on mud. Cr Ryder ; It was a shameful waste of hard cash. He would ask the engineer to hand to the chairman the documents in his possession. The chairman then read a lengthy communication dealing with the law on the subject of borrowing and lending and the procedure generally, all of which (as put) conflicted with Carlile and McLean’s opinion as to the borrowing powers of tho Wairoa county.

Cr Ryder: They would got money at 3£ per cent for 41 years. Cr Brown detailed a conversation he had some time ago with a Bradford man, a yarn-spinner, who rose from being a working-man to a position of wealth in bis county. He (Cr Brown) went with him to the Hot Springs, and as they went along he kept askiug why these roads were not metalled. This gentleman was a county councillor in Yorkshire, and he urged on him (Cr Brown) tho soundness of a borrowing policy for such as county works. He said that at Home they never thought of metalling out of revenue. _ It was a work that benefited the coming generations, and they never thought of taxing the people of to-day for it. It was the Wairoa Council’s policy too, seeing they could get money at a cheap rate, spread over a number of years. The clerk said that it was not correct, as stated in the document read by the chairman, that the whole of part 9 of the statute was repealed; one part was not repealed, and that debarred the Council from borrowing more than four times its revenue. As a Council they knew everything in the document read. Another thing, section 214 of the Local Bodies Loan Act was not repealed and that empowered any ratepayers to sue for a penalty of £IOO every councillor who consented to illegal borrowing. Cr Brown doubted if anyone would do

SQ. Cr Walker said they should not ask Mr Shaw for his opinion, but write for the opinion of Mr Bell in Wellington. He did not think the other opinion they had was of any value, for it was admitted that they might have overlooked some statutes or clauses. Or Powdrell thought they ought to bo very thankful to Mr Shaw for putting the law so clearly before them, and he for one thanked him for doing so. Cr Ryder: It was time enough to say they could not get the loan when they were refused. It was time they got rid of the idea that to borrow meant ruin. Cr Walker: Two dairy factories were about to start operations, and they would be much hampered if the roads were not metalled. Cr Ryder : Even the doctor was leaving because the place was not progressive. The chairman: That was not the reason, but because it was too healthy for him. Cr Ryder suggested the Council should proceed according to the letter. read,, and they would nob go wrong. Cr Powdrell asked whose opinion it was that had been read. Mr Shaw : The clerk of the Pahiatua County Council. The Wairoa county had borrowed money, and gone through all the forms mentioned long before ever the Pahiatua county was created. Cr Ryder then seconded Cr Walker’s motion.

Cr Brown suggested a notice of motion instead of a straight-out resolution. He thought the amount too high, about £20,000 would be nearer his (Cr Brown’s) idea. Cr Powdrell said the Council might count on him as one against Cr Walker’s scheme.

Cr Walker; That was the way, every question for the good of the county was squashed by Cr Powdrell. Cr Powdrell objected to be singled out in that way. It was not true what Cr Walker said, and the chairman should not allow him to talk as if he were lord of the whole show. Cr Walker : It was for the chairman to pull him up, not Cr Powdrell. He did not, however, mean every question, but every question of borrowing. Cr Powdrell: That might be so, but Cr Walker would find he (Cr Powdrell) had still some support behind him, and when the poll was taken his view would be proved right. At this stage the chairman ruled, under section 111 of the Counties Act that the matter was “ extraordinary business,” and Cr Walker then gave notice of motion in the ordinary way. Cr Ryder asked that some steps should be taken to permit him to borrow £650 for his road at his cost. He could take it out of the general borrowing scheme, but he would not have it said he made that much use of the Council, and preferred to rate himself, and he gave notice accordingly.