SELWYN COUNTY COUNCIL.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1227, 8 February 1878, Page 2

SELWYN COUNTY COUNCIL.

A meeting of the Selwyn County Council was held at 10.30 a.m. to-day. Present j Messrs W, Rolleston, D. McMillan, H. J. Tancred, H. J. Mathias, Dr. Turnbull, and the Hon. John Hall. Mr Rolleston said, as the Council were aware, he had placed his resignation of the chairmanship in their hands at the last meeting of the Council. It would, however, be more convenient if he took the chair on that occasion, as there were one or two matters to which he desired to refer. Mr Rolleston was requested to occupy the chair till the election of his successor. The Chairman said that it had been suggested to him, after the last meeting, that the resolution bringing the Act into force within the county had not been carried by a full majority of the Council, as provided by the A«t. Ife might say that, he had forwarded that resolution to the Colonial Secretary, without comment. On the difficulty lie had referred to arising, ho had telegraphed to the Government, asking them to suspend action on the resolution ns technical difficulties had arisen. He hed also written a letter to the Colonial Secretary detailing fully the circumstances of the case. Receiving no answer, ho again telegraph edito the Government, pointing out that the'Council held a meeting shortly,

and it was important that the decision of the Q-orernment should bo known as to whether the Act was in force or not. In reply to this a telegram was received, stating that the Government had uniformly declined to accept the position of legal adviser to the counties, and that the Council would have to decide on its own responsibility and the advice of its legal adviser, as to whether the Act was in force or not. lie had again telegraphed submitting that the Government must ultimately decide the question, as it seemed to him that section 52, referring to the appointment of returning officers, placed the responsibility on the Government. To this he had received no further reply, and had therefore laid the matter before Mr Cowlishaw, whose opinion was that the resolution had not been passed by a clear majority in number of the whole Council, as required by section 13 of the Counties Act. It would be therefore for the Council to decide what steps should be taken in the matter. The first business before the Council was the election of a chairman. Before doing this he might briefly tell the Council what course ho had adopted with regard to the vote placed on the estimates for cemeteries and domains. During the last session of the Assembly £SOOO had been voted for the former, and £IO,OOO for the latter, the mode of distribution being left in the hands of the four chairmen of County Councils north af the Rangitata. He had arranged a meeting of the chairmen referred to for the following day. Ho might also mention that there was a vote of £ISOO for the purpoies of cemeteries, included in provincial liabilities, which had been passed by the Provincial Council. The Council then proceeded to elect a chairman. Dr. Turnbull moved—“ That the Hon. John Hall be appointed chairman of the Selwyn County Council.” Mr Tancred seconded the motion. The Hon. John Hall, before the motion was put, desired to say that in taking this office, it would be necessary to consider wbat course the Council were going to pursue. If they were going to' take up the construction and maintenance of large works, such as roads, bridges, Ac., which were now carried out by the Road Boards, the office of chairman would require considerable more attention than he, living so far from Christchurch, could possibly give to it. In that case, he considered the office should be filled by a gentleman residing near to the centre. But if the Council intended to confine itself merely to administrative work er the carrying out of the larger arterial works for which they were supplied with funds, and acting as a local body in the interests of the people of the County, then a country resident could act as chairman. If this were the opinion of the Council then he should be willing to discharge the duties of the office to ‘the best of his ability. The motion was then. put and agreed to, and the Hon. John took the chair. Mr Rolleston Said the Council should now de • cidewhat they would do under the present circumstances. In his opinion what they should do was to ask the Government under the 52nd section of the Act to appoint returning officers which would throw on them the responsibility of deciding whether the Act was in force or not. After some discussion it was decided to request the Chairman to ask the Government to act under clause 52 in the matter of appointing returning officers. Dr. Turnbull brought under the notice of the Council the great necessity for urging on the Government the survey of the branch railways within the County, as enumerated in the Canterbury Branch Railways Reservation Bill. It was resolved that the Chairman be requested to bring the matter under the notice of the Government without delay. It was resolved that the Chairman write to the Courtenay Road Board fixing the date of an interview with s deputation from that Board as to the adrisableness of bringing water from the Malvern Waterworks to Rolleston. .&■■■ The meeting then adjourned.