THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1881. PURCHASE OF RECREATION GROUND.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2247, 15 June 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1881. PURCHASE OF RECREATION GROUND.

Some little time back we directed the attention of the members of the Selwyn County Council to the fact that under the Counties Act they were not entitled to expend the money coming into their hands in purchasing recreation ground. This, after a careful study of the Act, seemed to be clear from a layman's point of view. No notice, however, was taken of the warning, despite the. fact that it was known some of the ratepayers intended to test the legality of the action of the County Council. The district in which, np to the present, nearly £2OOO has been spent for recreation grounds is the Avon, and, as our readers are probably aware, the energetic representative of that . district is also the Chairman of the Road Board. It is somewhat peculiar, and well worth notice, that whilst this gentleman has on more than one occasion evinced great anxiety to expend the money of the public on recreation grounds, he presides over and acts with a body which, from culpable negligence on its part, has allowed disease to become rife in the district. This scarcely seems to be consistent, but it is so. Nay, more than this; it has been pretty clearly demonstrated that in a large part of the Avon district what is most urgently required is means of communication ; and yet this legitimate and proper method of expending the money of the ratepayers is put on one side for that which is now on good authority declared to be contrary to law. The matter was referred to a very eminent counsel here, and an opinion obtained upon the point of whether under the Counties Act the Council have power to expend the money on the purchase of recreation grounds. As the matter is of some importance, we have deemed it worth while to rescue the opinion from the oblivion of the inside pages of our contemporary the "Lyttelton Times," and .to give it the publicity of our columns. The opinion runs as follows; Hereford street, Christcburch, June 2nd, 1881. Edward Mitchell, Esq., Ohrifltohurch. _ Dhab Sib, —You consulted us, some time since, with reference to the power of tbe Selwyn County Council to allocate certain funds within the Avon Bond Board District for the purpose of providing recreation grounds, and you informed us that both yourself and Mr. Bhodes wished to he advised on this matter. We have carefully considered the various Acts relating to County Councils, and we can find no specific or general power vested in a County Council so as to enable it to employ funds under their control for any such purpose : _ neither oan we find that a Oonnty Council has power to grant funds to a Boad Board for such a purpose. The_ manner in which the funds of the Council are to bo expended is clearly expressed in the Counties Act, 1876, and no power is given to enable recreation grounds to be purchased either by the Council or the Boad Board. We are, &c, Habfbb & Co. This simply means that in the opinion of the legal firm consulted the Council have acted contrary to the law, as the Act distinctly puts it that the revenue coming into the hands of the Council shall be expended on the maintenance of arterial roads, the construction of bridges, &c, in the carrying out of what is known generally < under the title of public works. Had ihe ' Legislature intended the Council to be ' empowered to purchase recreation reserves, it would have been so stated. But there is not one word of this or any hint of such intention. The only mention of recreation reserves is where it is made lawful for the Council to hold them from the Government in trust, as it were, for the various local bodies interested. We do not object to recreation grounds as such. On the contrary, they are admirable institutions, and no doubt effect a great deal of good. But we cannot for one moment see the justice of a policy which apart from being illegal—spends large sums of money in acquiring recreation reserves, whilst two-thirds of the district is crying out for roads. It seems to us that it would be far better first to provide the roads so necessary for tho progress of tho district, and then tho recreation grounds would follow as a matter of course. But to begin with tho recreation grounds and neglect tho roads seems to us to be entirely reversing the order of things. Perhaps the attention of Mr. Ollivier having been called—

88 no doubt it will be—to an illegal expenditure of public money, the matter will be put straight; but that the law has been broken there can be not the slightest doubt. We also commend to Mr. Olivier's especial notice a payment made by the Ashburton County Council recently in aid of that most muddled of all muddles, the Ashburton Industrial Exhibition. This, as well as the vote for recreation gronnds, is decidedly against the law.