ASHLEY COUNTY COUNCIL.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1259, 20 March 1878, Page 3

ASHLEY COUNTY COUNCIL.

A special meeting of the Ashley County Council was held at the Eoad Board Office, Kangiora.jon Monday morning, when the following members were present:—Messrs Lance (chairman), Pearson,Blackett, Higgins, Feudal], McFarlane, Dixon, and Cunningham. The Chairman announced that the meeting had beon called in compliance with the written request of fcbrce of the members of the Council for the purpose of considering the advisability of bringing the whole of the Counties Act into force.

He then read the minutes of the last meeting, which were duly confirmed. The Chairman then announced the resignation of his seat by Mr Isaac Wilson. Mr Higgins asked if the chairman could give any information as to the balance of the land fund due to the county up to last December. The Chairman said he believed the county would get the balance due on the 31st December, tie had been informed to that effect by Messrs Bowen and Bolleston. Mr Higgins stated that his Eoad Board had received a st •< tement that the £ for £ subsidy would be paid, but nothing was sad of the land fund. He believed that the other Eoad Boards had received similar information. The Chairman said that virtually the money would not come into the hands of tie Council, as it would be at once distributed among the Eond Boards. Several members mentioned that last week money had been received by the Eoad Boards, which they believed was for the half-yearly payment, £ for £, from the consolidated fund._ The Chairman then addressed the Council on the question for which the meeting had been called. They were all aware, he said, that at previous meetings he had been opposed to the bringing of the wliole of the Act into force, but since the county system had been working and he had been chairman, he had seen many reasons for altering his opinion. There was much to be said on both sides of the question. With regard to the time of bringing the whole Act into force, a good many felt that sooner or later it must be done. As to the financial position, they must stand upon their own resources now that the land fund was gone. This had not improved their position, but. apart from this, the Council had many difficulties to contend with through not having the full Act. For instance, they required dog collws, and he had gone to the police and told them to take the money for them from the dog tax, the Council having no funds to p»y for them. The only other alternative would have been to get the money from the Eoad Boards. This might have been a cause of much trouble had the police.been less obliging than they proved. Another thing was the qnestion of reserves. Some reserves had been applied for, and Government would grant them if the Council would take charge of them, but he, as chairman, could not do so until the matter of adopting the whole Act was decided. On next Thursday he was to meet the Mayor of Christchurch and County and Eoad Board Chairmen to consult about the hospital and charitable aid; if the Act were not brought into force he would not be able to do much. For these and many other reasons he had come to the conclusion that it would be best for them to adopt the whole Act. Another reason was that almost every county, except their own and that of Geraldine, had adopted the Act, and the sooner they did so too the better. If he saw anything to wait for he would say wait, but he did not think they would see their way any clearer after waiting. So much for his reasons for voting for the adoption. He would say a few words as to what he believed would be the best way to work the county should the Council agree with him. The county should confine itself to doing the work which the Eoad Boards could not do, and leave the roads entirely to the last-named bodies. The time might come when they would have to take the roads from them, then it would have to be decided whether or not Eoad Boards should continue. The county should take charge of bridges. He might mention that the Government had offered to make a grant for the Kaiapoi bridge, if he would recommend payment out of the county fund. The county had no fund, and therefore he _ had been unable to make any recommendation. The Council should confine its operations to public institutions which came under its power, bridges and' qther such works which did not come within the province of Eoad Boards. They all knew as well as he did that one of the great d'MKers, of adopting the Act was that property might be rated to a much greater extent than they would be inclined to approve of. He had no fear of that with the present Council, but another Council might not be equally patisfaefcory in that respect. It might be said that if any part of the district was not satisfied it could form a separate county. The Act allowed this, but his opinion was in favor of making tue counties larger rather than smaller. Mr Bhckett, as one of the parties who signed the resolution in compliance with which the meeting had been convenod, would move — " That the Counties Act be adopted." He felt rather disappointed at the Council not having obtained some of the funds which he had anticipated it would. The Kaiapoi and Ashley bridges were both, in a bad. state, and he was

sorry that the Council could do nothing for them. If two or three large floods should come the Ashley would do much damage. He recollected ten or twelve years ago when there was a depth of 1 Oft where now the shingle bank was 2ft or 3ft above the Avater. He might mention other bridges, but these were sufficient to show why the Act should be brought into force. As long as the Road Boards had funds to carry out their functions they should not be interfered with ; however, the time would come when the county would be able to do the work cheaper than so many Road Boards could. That, however, would not be for many years to come. Mr McFarlane seconded the motion. At one of the previous meetings he had been anxious to have the Act brought into force, but it was not acceptable to the majority of the Council. All the other counties had now done so, and they would he wise in following the example. The Chairman put the question and invited further discussion.

Mr Dixon did not consider what had been said at all convincing. There was a difficulty in the matter of charitable aid, but the remedy proposed by some was a lame one, as it left out Kaiapoi, Rangiora, and he believed Lyttelton. The Act gave them no power to dealwith what he might call tha poor law question. That question would have to b« dealt with immediately by the General Govern m ent. They should not, therefore, attempt to deal with it. He had carefully gone ovwr th? Act, and the amendment of the Act. In the latter the Council's recommendations had not been carried out. It enabled the chairman to spend a small sum in calling that meeting, and enabled the members to vote themselves payment. As far as the desirability of bringing in the Act in order to enable them to deal with public works was concerned, he considered that drainage and bridges, except bridges used generally, should be dealt with by the Road Boards. The Act had left the Councils nothing to do. The Road Boards had done their work well, had money with which to do all that was required, and would certainly have to keep the main roads in hand for many years to come. The money which the counties would have to raise by taxation could he raised more cheaply by Road Boards. With the prospect of great want of money next year and their great indebtedness, he thought the General Government had done right in taking the local revenue, but such are the extreme necessities of the Government that there was no hope of any of the revenue being obtained for either Counties or Road Boards. The Acts giving <£ for £ would have to be repealed, charitable aid would have to be dealt with by a general Act, and the educational system would have to he maintained by special rates. Ihe General Government must increase taxation; all properties be they large or small would be compelled to contribute. Holding these views he considered it unwise, when the Boad Boards would work more cheaply than the counties could, because the Boards worked gratuitously, but the Councils would require an expensive staff —to bring in machinery which would greatly increase the burdens of the people. With the exception of public reserves there was nothing in the Act. Instead of giving the County Councils the work to do, the General Assembly, while they passed only fifty Acts affecting the whole colony, passed no fewer than 150 local Acts. The Assembly thus did the work of the Councils, but had voted themselves considerable salaries for doing it. With regard to the argument that other counties had adopted the Act, he would ask why should they put their heads into the fire because others had done so. In clause 186 the Act said that they might contract with the Minister of Public Works to do certain works. He did not see whether the Minister of Public Works or the Council was to be the contractor, but thought it was the Minister. The Chairman said that was to enable the Councils to have large works done without being saddled with heavy costs. Mr Dixon considered that the Road Boards would do the work as well as the counties would. As to the reserves, they were being dealt with in a hundred different ways. The men who passed the Acts last session proved, by the way in which they had mixed up matters, that they did not understand their work.

The Chairman suggested that by not adopting the whole of the Act the Council would he giving more power to these men who did not understand their business.

Mr Dixon continued—The Assembly had taken away the county revenue, and would yet take more. They asked the Ocuncil to deal with certain things which* they had not given the Council power to deal with. He agreed with the idea that instead of wishing to restore* provincidism it would be preferable to have a Board to deal with the small questions rather than this clumsy Counties Act, which, howev r modified it might be, must prove expensive. He believed that were the whole of the Act adopted the Road Boards would no longer do the work they had previously done, but would leave it to the county. Mr Higgins had not found that any reasons had been brought forward by the mover and seconder of the resolution to induce him to alter the opinion he had expressed there before when he had opposed the bringing in of the Act. He hid thought that since that time a change in the sentiments of his constituents might have taken place, and that, therefore, he might, have been offering an unreasonable opposition to the Act. He had. however, consulted his_ constituents, and had found that his own opinion was, in full agreement with theirs. He had not found a sirgle dissentient, and could, therefore, still continue to oppose the Act. He thought that whatever reasons there were last year, there were now fewer still, because they would have almost no funds to work with. A considerable balance of the land fund fell to their lot last year, and was distributed to the Road Boards ; now the only remains of the land fund they would, get was 20 per cent, of the produce from land sales which happened to occur within the county. That appeared to him to be a mere bagatelle as a revenue. With that they would have that substantial revenue of «£ for £ from the consolidated fund, dog fees, licenses from public houses, and one or two other very trifling things. They would, therefore, have no funds with which to do those works which it had been said the iioad Boards could not do. He altogether dissented from the statement that bridges could not be kept up by the Road Boards. There was nothing to prevent the Road Boards on each side of the river keeping in repair the Kaiapoi and Ashley bridges, just as the provinces divided the cost of similar bridges in former times. As to the construction of large bridges, which he admitted was the strongest argument in favour of the Act, that couid be done by Road Boards if they had the funds. As to the reserves, it was scarcely worth while referring to them, as they, such as gravel and planting reserves, had been and were still dealt with by Road Boards. As to following the example of other counties, what had other counties done? Take the county which had made the most noise, Ash burton ; what funds had that Council to make the railway of which they talked so much ? 'I he fact was, that the branch railways were not about to be made by the counties, but by the people under the District Railways Act, which empowered any company to do so. On that ground, therefore, there was no necessity for bringiug into force the whole Act. Was it necessary in order to secure the miserable pittance from public houses and dog collars ? The taking away of the land fund was a so e subject to touch upon. They had to thank their representatives for it, through their taking up the pontion they did. It was all owing to the large and reckless expenditure on the North Island. Mr Higgins referred at some length to the causes which had impoverished the North Island, deprecated the absorption of Road Boards into counties, and twitted Mr Blackett for not following the example of Mr Wilson. Mr Blackett briefly explained why he had not resigned. In answer to a question from Mr Cunningham, the Chairman stated that the district would not lose any subsidy by not adopting the Act. Mr Fendail was rather disappointed _ at the arguments used in favour of the proposition. He saw none to male < him change his opinion, except perhaps those brought forward by the chairman. The first result of bringing in the Act would be extra taxation, and he thought the amount of taxation would soon be quite heavy enough, without their adding to it unnecessarily. The Road Boards had at present large funds, which he was of opinion they were expending too lavishly, and on such works as would eventually necessitate taxation for their maintenance. Be would oppose the motion, though the time would come when the Act would be adopted, peyhapsin a somewhat different shape. He hoped that time would not be just yet. ' Mr Betrson spoke briefly in opposition to the proposal. Mr Cunningham had attended the meeting quite prepared to be convinced of the advisability of the Act being adopted. His constituents had left him perfectly free in the matter, though they were, he believed, unanimously opposed to the proposition. He concluded by a warm panegyric on the working of Road Boards. The Chairman briefly commented on some of the remarks made by previous speakers, and Mr Blackett made a short reply. Both gentlemen admitted that it was useless to argue the matter further, as it was evident the majority of the whole Council were opposed to the motion. The Chairman then put the question, when he declared it lost, five members voting against it, viz , Messrs Pearson, Higgins, Dixon, and Cunningham,