THE MUNICIPAL CONFERENCE AT WELLINGTON.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 970, 4 August 1877, Page 3

THE MUNICIPAL CONFERENCE AT WELLINGTON.

[BYTELEGiiAI'JL. pek cress agency.] Wellington, August 3. It was agreed, on the motion oil Mr steward, " That it be recommended that provision be made for dispensing with the necessity of a reference to his Excellency the Governor in matters of the removal and transfer of municipal leases." Mr Steward moved " That steps be taken to vest direct in municipalities the municipalities the municipal reserves now held under Crown grants to the Superintendents, and which now vest in trust in his Excellency the Governor, and all municipal reserves held under and by virtue of any Provincial Ordinance or other enactment ; care being taken that where lands arc reserved for recreation purposes the same trust is maintained, so that the reserves may not be alienated from the purposes originally intended." Carried. After some discussion, the following resolution, moved by Mr Ellen, was agreed to—- " That in the opinion of this conference, in event of any contributions being in future exacted by law from municipal and governing bodit's by way of deduction from the amount of subsidies payable to those bodies respectively, it is necessary that some different basis should be adopted from that adopted in the past; inasmuch as the result of the system which ha? hitherto obtained of making such deductions in proportion to the amounts payable, has been found to work most unjustly."

The chairman thought that conference should agree on whit form they should ask Government to refund money which had been

taken from them on the pro rata principle. He then read the copy of the following letter which had been forwarded to Grovernment " Sir, I have the honor, by direction of chairman of the conference of: municipal delegates now assembled to forward you a copy of a resolution passed this day—'That the chairman write and request the Grovernment to be good enough to inform this conference upon what basis of calculation the pro rata deductions for the maintenance of charitable institutions and hospitals out of subsidies payable to municipal corporations have been made and are intended to be made for the future, and whether the subsidies payable to County Councils and Road Boards have been and will be liable to the same deductions. The chairman would feel very greatly obliged by a reply to the above.' " Mr Steward moved—" That in the opinion of tins conference the municipalities have a fair claim to special assistance on the part of the Gt-ovemment towards the cost of the maintenance of fire brigades, and that legislative provision should be made accordingly." Agreed to. It was moved by Mr Steward — y ' Tin!; all licenses, the revenue derivable from which is by law made municipal property, be issued by the municipality, and all license fees paid direct to the borough treasurer." Carried after a lengthy discussion. Mr Standish moved —" That clauses 40 and 'l7 be amended in order that any person who produces a receipt for rates paid in accordance with occupation may claim at any time to have his name put on the burgess roll, and so be entitled to vote at any election, and that his name be struck oil' the defaulters' list." The motion was amended so as to prevent the privilege being exercised, within seven days of election, and in that form was carried. Several other suggestions from Auckland were postponed until the delegate from that city could arrive. It was resolved to adopt one of the amendments, providing for additional leasing powers with reference to markets being given to corporations, on the ground that the present insecure and short tenure tended to greatly depreciate the annual value. Another of the Auckland amendments that fees for all licenses in boroughs be paid direct to the officers of the local authorities was carried unanimously. The conference then adjourned until tomorrow. The "New Zealand Times" in its report of the first day's proceedings, after recording the election of Mr Hobbs, of Christchurch, as chairman, says : The Chairman observed that when it was first proposed by the Christchurch Municipality to hold this conference letters were sent to the various corporate towns in the colony,' and very favorable replies were received. All the delegates, however, who laid been appointed to meet at Wellington Avere not as yet present, and as lie looked round the room he j saw only about half their number, and he | would therefore suggest that they should adjourn until the following day. The Mayor suggested that some of the business might be proceeded with, such as the consideration of the Charitable Institutions i Eill now before Parliament. The Chairman then addressed the conference, explaining the reasons which had induced the Christchurch Council to initiate this conference. In the Abolition of Provinces j Act, 1875, no mention was made of anydeduc- j tion from subsidies. In consequence of this, the i boroughs in Canterbury had voted in favor of j abolition, vainly believing that under its pro- j visions, a permanent income from local revenue ; and the subsidies would bo thereby secured, j But the result was that the very next session the '.Financial Arrangements Act had been passed, providing for such deduction, in clause i 13. Clause 4, however, provided that for the financial year just past charitable institutions should be charged upon the land fund. And an assurance that this was the case had been ] given to the municipality of Christchurch by j a Minister of the Crown. When, therefore, I the subsidy for the last half year, amounting to : £29-15 was due, no deduction was expected, i But, instead of receiving this sum, a cheque j was received for some £GOO, the sum of i £2327 having been withheld, calculated in J some abstruse manner peculiar to Treasury j clerks. It was considered that the Govern- j ment had treated the municipalities with ' injustice in regard to t.his deduction made i for subsidies for charitable aid. Figures ! proved that the four municipalities in Canter- j bury rate themselves more than all the Eoad Boards. Hence they have a larger subsidy due, and as a consequence a. larger deduction j is made. But; the boroughs only contribute one third of flic patients in the hospitals and other institutions, and about one- j third of the paupers receiving relief. \ These four municipalities ought not to I 1)0 ma.de to pay, if a pro rata deduction 1 has been made, more than about £2070, whereas 'the deductions from their subsidies amount to £3251" This showed that the prhi- , ciplc upon which the cost of charitable instil u- j lions has been allocated was unjust; and it was J to obtain a remedy for this injustice that a| conference should be held to bring united . pressure to bear to obtain redress. In order to i show bow unjust this method of making tie- I ductions is, he asked if all the municipalities j rate themselves at Is in the £, and the road j boards Gd, what would be the result ? Why j simply that, although only one-third of the patients and paupers belonged to the towns, yet they woidd be called upon to support twothirds or more of the total number of them. | Had the Counties Act been in force the counties would have';been empowered to provide for their own sick and destitute, but in consequence of the action of the County Councillors in not bringing certain parts of the Act into operation, the boroughs had to suffer, and this he did not consider fair or reasonable. He desired to obtain from the Government a refund of the money unjustly withheld, and that in future there should be a definite charge made on the Consolidated Fund, for charitable purposes. He was opposed to the Charitable Aid Bill brought in by the Grovernment, which be considered would press on the liberalminded in the community and allow the largo majority to escape without contributing, and it was felt necessary to take some united action in the matter as soon as possible, in order that they might obtain some finality in the action of Parliament in dealing with the incomes of the boroughs. The conference would also discuss any other matters of general municipal interest. Mr Steward said it should bo one of their chief objects to make such a representation to the Government as should have the effect of bringing about a fair adjustment of contributions to charitable aid, whether expended in town or country, lie was not prepared to say that he wasopposcd to the principle of the Charitable Aid Bill. On the contrary, he approved of it. Mr Hutchison and Mr Sutton caul th v approved of the principle of the Bill.

THE MAN WHO WAS EXCITED OVER THE WAR NEWS. (Detroit Free Fress.) Mr White, a Detroiter of middle age, visited this office yesterday to find a war map and to have a chat about the European situation, and it wasn't ten minutes before his enthusiasm was up to the boiling point. 'lt will be worth thousands and millions and billions of dollars to this country ! ' he shouted as he broke through one of the office chairs. 'Yes, it will,' somebody remarked. 'lt will stiffen .wages, bring out capital, make money plenty, and, just set us all to whooping ! ' he whooped as he scratched the. leg wounded at the first Bull Run. Somebody remarked that it probably would Taking five newspaper war maps under one arm and a copy of the London ' Times' under the other, Mr White left the office and proceeded directly homeward, feeling more patriotic every moment. 'Oh ! we're goiner to lay 'em right out, Nancy !' he said as he dropped his hat in the | hall. ' Bid you order the Hour ?' she asked in a careless tone. ' .Flour ! What do I care about tlour. "The Russians have got Kars and half of the Turkish army!' ' Have, eh ? Well, I hope that paperhanger will be here in the morning. You clidu t think to see about—' ' Right here is Kars, and right here is where the Turks got mauled,' he exclaimed as he knelt on the floor and traced one of the maps. ' Hid, eh ! Say, John, can't you rake off the lawn this morning, and did you see about the whitewashing?' ■ Will you talk about whitewashing when all Europe is convulsed with war '."' he fiercely demanded as he shook the other four maps at her. 'l—l'd like those onion beds marked out to day,' she replied as she hunted through the work-basket for a button with an eye to it. ' Onion beds marked out, when this very copy of the Loudon 'Times' editorially predicts that a million armed men will be rushing at each others' throats in less than sixty days 1' Whe found the button, and he unrolled the balance of his maps. There was a dead silence until his finger rested on the City of Erzeroum, when he shouted : ' Here she is ! Bight around here is where they are making the Turks howl for sugar !' 'By the way, John,' she softly remarked, as she looked up, ' don't you think that summer kitchen will have to be reshingled this spring?' The girl who does general housework says he tore the five war-maps inta five hundred pieces, and banged the London 'Times' against the w r all with an awful thump as he jumped out doors, but girls are sometimes prejudiced. Mr White was in the corner grocery at half-past eleven saying to the proprietor : ' Don't it make your blood jump as you read of the European situation ?' And the proprietor raked the cheese-knife on the edge of the counter to clean it, and replied : ' Seems like I shall haf to kill doze poys who cut soap mit dis knife.' How can you expect anybody but a warrior to feel as warriors do ?— Detroit Free Press. THE EUROPEAN SITUATION. A man who cultivates ten acres of ground in the suburbs of Danbury stepped into a grocery yesterday morning, and inquired the price of a barrel of the best flour. 'Sixteen dollars,' said the grocer. ' What ?' gasped the stranger. The price was repeated. ' Well, now, will you just tell me what this means ? Three months ago I got a barrel of your best flour and paid you twelve dollars. Now here you want sixteen dollars for the same thing—a rise of four dollars. Ain't that a pretty good lif s ''.' ' I know I sold you that tlour for twelve dollars then, but there is a war in Europe now, you know. ' Well, why should the war over there make any difference with the price of flour here ?' ' Why ? Because of the demand there for tlour and the shipments from this country. You know demand makes the price. The greater the amount of Hour they use over there the less we have to sell here.' The grocer rubbed his hands composedly. ' You know that, don't you Vhe added. ' Y-a-a-s, I know that. But wdiat I don't know is what troubles me. Now if those fellows are making such a lively demand for flour now, what I want to know is what they eat before they began their fighting.' ' What they eat ?' ' Yes, sir, what they eat. Here you say I must pay four dollars more than I have done for a barrel of flour, because there is a war in Europe. I ask you what's that got to do with it, and you say there is a demand there for flour which is taking it out of this country. If there is this demand then it is because they ate eating it. They couldn't 'a been eating it before or thcre'd been the demand before. Now what did they eat before they went to war ?' The grocer took the precaution to rub the back of his head, and then explained in a voice of sudden cheerfulness—- ' It's the troops they want the flour for, you know '!' 'Yes, I know,' said the Granger, but he did not appear as if the knowledge brought him any marked relief. ' But these troops was somewhere before the lighting begun. They moved and breathed and had their stomachs just the same, I guess. They didn't come into the world all of a sudden in the last month, did they ?' The grocer's countenance which had brightened up under the inspiration of his last idea, now fell again, and assumed a clouded aspect. The Granger raised his right hand, and with the index finger marked off the following wisdom—- ' Now these soldiers either lived on something else till the war broke out, and arc now feeding on ll >ur, or the marching and lighting and living out doors has just doubled up their appetites. It's one or the other of these, if it's anything at all. But it ain't .anything. It's just a plot by a lot of thieving rascals to bring up prices ; and that war over there is trumped up as an excuse. And people swallow it all down. But they can't blind rae. I look into things, I do. I see into their tom-foolery.' Ami the Granger departed, leaving the grocer feeling very miserable, indeed.— American ii,^v.\

VARIETIES. The man that drew a long breath has taken another chance in the same lottery. People who meet their bilk in the street Theatri :al managers. If thine eye offend thee, shut it up every time a pretty woman passes your way. Tue woman who neglects her husband's shirt front is not the wife of his bosom. Tim editor of an Ohio paper publishes the names of subscribers who pay promptly under the head of "Legion of Honor." Why does the good wife of the reformed drunkard rejoice ? Because her husband doesn't liquor any mure. "Didn't she return your love ?" "Yes, she did ; she said she didn't want it. That's what's killin' me." Many of the white men in California will not sit at a hotel table with a Chinaman, but will follow him two miles after dark to borrow money of him. The chap whe could do all the business he wanted to do without advertising has been compelled to advertise at last. The new advertisement is headed "Sheriff's Sale." A doting young father boasts that his baby son is so affectionate that he sits up with his parents ad night, and so tough that he seems to have no conception of fatigue or of the time of day. A good old lady from the country, on seeing soda water for the first time, declared that she couldn't imagine how they ever poured it into the bottle so as to make it stay till they got the cork in. lie was carving ,vt dinner, and thought he must talk to the aesthetic looking angel on his right. " How do you like Beethoven?" he asked at a venture. " Well done," said she, promptly, interested in the business at hand. It has been discovered that hat linings contain a poisonous ingredient. That is a most serious matter, and should be guarded against. A strong dose of castor oil or the white of an egg in a cup of clear coffee, drunk just before putting the hat on, will be found an excellent antidote. A suburban butcher was invited the other night to attend a minstrel show, but positively declined, even when a free ticket was offered to him. When pressed for a reason, he replied, " If I should go, I should see so many people who owe me for meat, that it would spoil all my fun." A school-boy was asked by his teacher to give an example of earnestness. He looked bothered for a moment, but his face glistened like the dew-drops glistening on the leaves of the rose in early morning, as he delivered himself of the following happy thought: "When you see a boy engaged on a mince pie till his nose touches the middle plum and his ears droop on the outer crusts, you may know that he has got it." In Western France much of the farming is still of the most primitive kind, but the sun seems to make up for all shortcomings. " Everything nourishes here," says Miss Edwards, speaking of Anjou ; "every fruit you can think of, every vegetable that money can purchase at Covent Garden. Working people eat asparagus, green peas, and strawberries every day, as they eat bread and cheese with us. Rich and poor alike have such stores of eatables and drinkables, medicines and clothing at home that : there is hardly more shopping done than if we were living on an ocean island." The " Civil Service Review" says that a much respected member of the Civil Service has been made the victim of a silly hoax. Some time ago the gentleman in question—a wolbknown author, and a man holding a hiah. official position in the House of Commons Office —received a communication inviting him to proceed to Constantinople and to take upon himself the task of organising the newly constituted Turkish Parliament. The offer was not one to be either accepted or rejected offhand ; and the recipient of it consulted the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Earl of Beaconshold, and finally, it having been decided that he could be spared for a time from his official duties for so good a purpose, he decided upon accepting the proposition. He wrote to the Turkish Embassy accordingly, and to his astonishment received in reply a letter stating that the ambassador knew nothing of the previous communication, and that the services of the gentleman in question were not required. ■