COUNTY COUNCIL.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1775, 28 October 1879, Page 4

COUNTY COUNCIL.

AKAROA. Satubdat, Octobeb 25. A special meeting of this Council was held at the hotel, Barry’s Pass, on the above date. The following members were present:— Messrs F. W. Williams (chairman), G. S. Fleming, Rev. R. R. Bradley, O. McDonald, W. Coop, J. Dalglish, J. Gebbie, J. B. Barker. The Chairman road a statement or the business it was necessary to bring before the special meeting. A legal opinion was read from Messrs Harper and Harper, in which they gave as their opinion that after the amendment made by last meeting in the by-law for regulating pounds that the by-law would require to be re-advertised, and confirmed at a subsequent meeting to be hold at a date not later than four weeks. The Chairman road the amended by-law. On the motion of Mr Gebbie, seconded by Mr Barker, the resolution confirming the by-law for the regulation of pounds passed at the meeting of 30th September last was revoked. Rev. R. R. Bradley moved—" That _ the amended by-law as read bo now adopted.” The motion was seconded by Mr Barker, put, and carried. Oedinaey Meeting. The ordinary mooting of the Council was then held, the same members being present. The Chairman made the following statement of the business of the Council: —Since the last meeting the half-yearly accounts have been prepared, in accordance with the Counties Act, and are ready for audit. As treasurer, in accordance with the resolution, he had paid the contractors for the Council Chambers a further sum of £l5O, being amount of architect’s certificate for the third progress payment, which makes in all a total of £6OO. The sub-committee appointed to draft a letter to Mr Montgomery re closing of old roads have done so, and it will be laid before them. Clause 116 of the Counties Act provides that all officers receiving moneys belonging to the Council should have security for the same, and he had spoken to Mr Latter, and he is quite willing to find the needful security. Letters have been received —From the Okain’s Bay Road Board, to reply requesting explanation of Mr Dawber’s letter. From the Colonial Secretary, stating Mr Priest’s appointment as Registrar of Dogs for the Okain’s Bay district has been gazetted. From Messrs H. Hawkins and Co., enclosing order from Mr H. Mclntosh for £ll2 on the Council for compensation. From Mr G. Stanbury, enclosing cheque for £5 16s, being received by him as poundkoeper. Little River, for cattle sold in the pound. From the Akaroa and Wainui Road Board, enclosing total amount of rates paid by Mr Armstrong to that Board, also enclosing copy of statement showing how the money has been spent in that district since 1872. From the contractors of the Council Chambers, asking for a further extension of time to the 30th of this month. From tho Pigeon Bay Road Board, asking for a copy of the scale of pound fees adopted by the Council. From the Pigeon Bay and Port Levy Road Boards, asking tho Council to recommend the alteration of tho boundary between the two Boards. He wished to draw their attention to the fact that the grants for the Little River recreation ground of £57 2s lOd, and Port Levy cemetery of £lO, which were reacted for tho term of three months, will again lapse on the 16th of next month if not applied for. The balance to the credit of the Akaroa County fund account that day was £lß7l ss, and the County Council account £502 16s. A letter was read from the Colonial Secretary’s office, informing the Council that tho appointment of Mr Francis Priest as registrar of dogs for the Okain's Bay Road district bad been gazetted, and that tho Road Board office, Okain’s Bay, had been appointed th« place for registration. The Chairman brought up the report of the sub-committee appointed at last meeting to consider the question of closing impracticable roads. Enclosed was a draft letter to Mr Montgomery, tho representative of the district, asking him to introduce into Parliament a short Bill, having for its object the giving to Road Boards and counties greater facilities than tho present law does in the matter of closing roads. The letter suggested that the cost should bo greatly reduced, and that it should only be necessary to advertise the fact of closing once a week for four weeks, that the plans should be copied off the Crown grants, and that the amount to be paid for them should not be less than the amount at which the neighboring land woe valued at for the year previous to their being closed, and the sum so obtained to be spent in making roads in the same district.

Mr Gebbie moved, and it was seconded by Mr Fleming—“ That a copy of the letter be forwarded to Mr Montgomery in Wellington.” Mr Ooop strongly objected to the course the Council were taking in the matter. They had gone out of their way for a matter to meddle with. It was a serious matter to interfere with roads in a new and only partially settled country. Ho was quite sure the legislature would not listen to the proposals, as such rights should be jealously guarded. He did not believe in passing what the report called “Short Acts” on special subjects. These short Acts would apply to good or bad roads alike, and he for one wished to enter his protest. The motion was put, when all the members present voted in favor of it, with the exception of Messrs Ooop and Dalglish, who wished their dissent minuted.

A reply to the Council’s letter in reference to certain complaints made to the Council by Mr Geo. Armstrong, Akaroa, as to the way in which his part of the district had been neglected by the Beard, was read. The letter covered a statement of the Board’s accounts, showing how their funds had been spent on the several roads in the district for the past seven years, and also a return of the amount of rates paid by Mr Armstrong since the commencement of collecting rates, £157 4s 9d. The Board contended that they had not spent their funds badly, as alleged, that the road asked for by Mr Armstrong was badly graded, and of such a character that the Board would not be justified in spending money on it.

The clerk of the Chain’s Bay Eoad Board wrote, in reply to the Council’s inquiries regarding Mr Dawber’s letter re the Summit road from German Bay to Chain’s Saddle, tljat the original reply to Mr Dawber was written to the dictation of the chairman, Mr Barker, who, being a member of the Oonncil, was in a position to explain the whole matter. The road was not under the control of the Board ; it was not plotted on their maps, and that it had never been graded.

Mr Dalglish understood that the road in question was now being surveyed by the Government surveyors, and was of opinion that it was one of those roads that should be taken up by the Council. Mr Gebbio moved, and Mr Barker seconded, that a copy of the letter of the Okain’s Bay Hoad Board be sent to Mr Dawber. The motion was adopted and the subject then dropped. Mr H. Hawkins, Lyttelton, forwarded an order, drawn by H. Mclntosh in his favour, for the sum of £ll2 10s, for certain land claims for road diversion, and wishing to have the order accepted or the money. This being a matter with which the Council had nothing whatever to do, Mr Hawkins was referred to Mr J. Ollivier in the matter. Mr Stanbury, the poundkeeper at Little River, forwarded £5 16s to the Council, being net proceeds of certain cattle sold in that pound. Mr E. Hughes, the contractor for the Council’s new offices, wrote asking a further extension of his contract time to the end of the current month. Granted to the 14th of November, The Pigeon Bay Road Board wrote, asking for a copy of the new by-law regulating pounds. As this was not yet law, the reply was that it could not he of any use to the Board until the by-law was in force, when it would bo forwarded. The Chairman informed the Council that, in terms of a requisition, he had called a public meeting in the Town Hall, Akaroa. The action of tho chairman was approved of. The clerk was instructed to find sureties for the sum of £IOO. In reply to a question by Mr Gebbie as to what had been the original amount paid to Mr Eenton for grading and pegging the Mount Bossu and Lake Eorsyth road, he was informed that the original survey cost £4O 10s, and for correcting the same £ls 10s. The chairman waa requested to insure the new offices and outbuildings for the sum of £BOO at the expirotion ot tho builder’s present luk. Payments were passed to the “ Lyttelton Tunes” for advertising £1 10s 4d, and to the secretary Town Hall, Akaroa, for use of hall for political meeting, £1 10s,

Letter* were received from the chairmen of the Port Levy and Pigeon Bay Road Boards, stating that these two Boards had appointed sub-committees to adjust their boundaries, and that the two committees had met and mutually agreed that the following should be the boundary line between the Boards for the future, viz.:—From Mount Sinclair to Mount Fitzgerald, including to Purau line of road, then following the top of the ridge in a northerly direction to the Maori Reserve, at the corner of Rural Section 24762, thenee to the gully following the creek to the beach in Big Bay. The Chairman explained that the proper course to pursue in a case like the present was by a memorial from the ratepayers in the two districts interested. The memorial to be forwarded through the Council for its recommendation to the Governor. _ _ It was resolved that the .two Boards in question-be informed of the proper course to adopt under the circumstances. Messrs G. Armstrong, Y. Masefield, and G. J. Black waited upon the Board os a deputation, asking the Council to open up roads on the east side of the Peninsula in the Akaroa and Wainui road district. Mr Geo, Armstrong, who acted as spokesman for the deputation, stated in presenting a petition _ signed by twenty-one landowners in the district indicated, that the present deputation had been asked to wait upon the Council, along with Messrs O. Bfaylock and H. Rhodes, at a public meeting of those interested, which had been held in Akaroa a few weeks ago. The twentyone gentlemen signing the petition represented land purchased, some of it many years ago, to the extent of 19,596 acres, and in this way the sum of £IO,OOO had, in round figures, found its way into the Provincial Treasury, of which the Akaroa and Wainui Road Board had had its legal share ; besides this they had been paying rates. But for all this not one shilling had been spent over the area ho mentioned, and not one yard of road made. The cost of getting goods and stores on to their properties was thus as large as shipping goods from London to the colony. They could get nothing done by the Road Board, and they now came to the Council for bare justice, and if they failed hero they did not intend to allow the matter to drop ; they would urge their claim before the Government. What they wanted from the Council was a special grant, and this they apprehended was a legitimate function of the Council. The Chairman said that as a member of the Board now on its trial, the whole thing arose from the fact that after the due maintenance of the Main road the Board had not sufficient funds at its disposal to road all the district. Mr Armstrong then inquired what reply had been received from the Akaroa and Wainui|Road Board in reference to his own road. He thought he was entitled to he made aware of its contents. If put off again he could see that the Council simply meant procrastination.

The Council then went into committee to consider tho question, and after resuming Mr J. Gebbie moved—“ That a copy of the letter received from the Akaroa and Wainui Road Board, referring to Mr Armstrong’s road, be forwarded to that gentleman.” The motion was seconded by. Mr Barker and carried. Mr Gebbie further moved—" That the petitioners from the east side of Akaroa harbor be informed that this Council has no funds at its disposal to accede to their request.” The motion was seconded by Mr Barker and carried. Tho Rev. R. R. Bradley moved —“That this Council at its rising do now adjourn till Wednesday, 26th November, at 11 a.m., at the same place.” The motion was seconded by Mr Gebbie, and tho Council then adjourned.