HOKITIKA.

Grey River Argus, Volume VII, Issue 477, 4 February 1869, Page 3

HOKITIKA.

Ifrom our special correspondent.) Tuesday. There was rather a long sitting of the County Council last evening, chiefly caused by a debate upon a motion brought forward by Mr Barff with regard to borrowing money. Mr Barff s resolution, as it stood on the order paper, was — "That it is desirable to raise the sum of L50,0(J0 on a loan ; such sum to be expended in the construction of roads, tracks, and reproductive works in the County." He obtained the leave of the Council to amend the resolution to the effect that " the Chairman and Mr Lahman be authorised to negotiate a loan of not exceeding LIOO,OOO, at 8 per cent, interest." The mover did. not deem it necessary, or else was not able, to give any clear reasons — first, why it was necessary to borrow at all, or, second, why the Council was justified in dealing with so important a matter at aIL. He confined himself to the vaguest generalities — said that he knew of •persons who were ready and willing, at a moment's notice, to advance L 60,000 or L 70,000 without any other security than the good faith of the Council. He expatiated freely— as it was easy enough to do —upon the benefits to be conferred by the judicious expenditure of the sum of money proposed to be borrowed, and finally sat down, no doubt thinking that he was a profound financier, and had induced the Council to think so too. Mr Harrison said that no one would be better pleased than he would be if it could be found that the County could legally borrow not merely L 50,000, but ten times that amount. No one could doubt that there were very many directions in which borrowed money could be properly and profitably expended in developing the resources of the district ; but he was of opinion that the Council had not any legal power to borrow. He relied chiefly upon the ilth section of "The Consolidated Loans Act, 1867," which read as follows : — "From and after the passing of this Act, no Act or 'Ordinance which may be passed by any Provincial Council of any Province in New Zealand, for raising any provincial loan, or for guaranteeing the payment of any interest or subsidy, shall be valid." The object of this clause was, he (MrH.) thought, quite clear, viz., to prevent any further borrowing by the provinces ; and as, according to the County of Westland Act, the word "province" also included "County of Westland," except in a few special cases, this clause of the Consolidated Loans Act must be taken to apply as thoroughly to the County Council as to.any provincial legislature. He was satisfied in his own mind that the Colonial Parliament had not intended to confer borrowing powers upon Ihe Council ;. and he would like to know what security could they offer ? He understood that the Chairman had received telegrams from both Mr Stafford and the Hou. John Hall, and that the Government were strongly of opinion that the Council could not borrow. They had no fixed revenue and no estate, and as for Mr Barff s idea that capitalists or Banks would advance large sums of money simply on the good faith of the Council, he (Mr H.) would ask Mr Barff how it was that the debentures of Otago and Canterbury at one time fell so low in the money market, although both those provinces could offer vastly superiqr security than the County

of Westland could hope to do. He considered the resolution untimely, and if carried perfectly inoperative. He therefore moved as an amendment — " That the whole question of the borrowing powers of the Council be referred to a finance committee, consisting of Messrs Barff, Bonar, Lahman, the Chairman, and the mover." Mr Bohar quite agreed with what Mr Harrison had said, and doubted very-much if the money could be obtained as easily as Mr Barff had stated. Mr Rees, as he always does, went in for explaining the law to mean exactly the reverse of what it was intended to mean. He insisted that the fact that the County Council was a Corporation removed that body from the operation of the prohibition contained in the Loans Consolidation Act. He maintained that the Council was as free to borrow money as any private individual, and he had no doubt that the money could be had on easy terms. Mr Sale opposed Mr Barff's motion, and quite agreed with the grounds advanced against it by Mr Har i3on. It was preposterous, he said, to imagine that the Council could obtain a loan on fair terms, when, although a Corporation, it did not at present possess a shilling's worth of property. He thought with Mr Harrison, that possibly money might be borrowed for reproductive works such as would bring in a revenue by giving security over those works; but at present the Council had nothing of the kind to offer. After a few words from Messrs Clarke and Hoos, Mr Barff offered to withdraw his motion, and bring it on in a different form, if the amendment were also withdrawn. Mr Harrison refused to withdraw his amendment, which was carried.

■■> There was some little talk relative to some questions put down in the name of Mr Rees, asking whether the Chairman was aware that the Inspector of Police had, a short time ago, suspended four constables from duty for refusing to clean someone's rifle ; and whether the Chairman was aware that one of these men was fined £1 by the Inspector for saying that he would write to the papers on the subject. It appeared from what Mr Hoos said that the men had been guilty of insubordination, and he had not thought it right to interfere. Mr Rees said that there was an opinion outside that a good deal of tyranny was practised over the police, and he should move the next day that a Committee be appointed to enquire into the past administration of the force. — Mr Harrison's motion for declaring the protective works at Greymouth a work of general utility to the County, and of course completing them at the public cost, did not come to anything, as it appeared to be the opinion of the Council that it was not competent for the Council to interfere in the least degree with the Corporation of Greymouth with regard to the works in question. The 142 nd clause (I think) of the County of Westland Act does say that the wharves, jetties, and quays at the port of Greymouth shall be under the sole control ■ and management of the Council of the I Borough; but,* as Mr Harrison said last night, the protective works are nsither wharves, quays, nor jetties. Your m smber made out a very good case, but as the opinion of the Council was dead against him he withdrew the motion, but promised to bring the subject up in another shape when the Estimates came on. The only other important matter dealt with last night was a resolution affirming the desirability of constructing a main line of road throughout the County, running generally parallel to the coast- line, such road to be connected with the beach by cross tracks. I must not forget to state that a petition was presented from Harry Kenrick, Clerk to the Bench at Greymouth, praying for compensation for certain expenditure incurred in repairing and improving the quarters allotted to him. Mr Hoos was up at the Greenstone on Sunday and yesterday. He informs me that the diggings are extending, and that on Sunday there were two rushes, one to a place south of the Teremakau, about a mile inland from the beach, and the other somewhere not far from the Greenstone Junction. The township is now almost as big as Stafford Town, and buildings are going up at a rapid rate. The name of the new township is authorised to be Poenatm — the native word for Greenstone. I don't like Maori names of places to be changed, but Poenamu is hardly so euphonious as some, and is likely to be quickly corrupted into Panama. The first escort from the new diggings came down last evening, but brought no gold. It would appear that at present there is no necessity for an escort, as all the gold finds its way to town privately. Wednesday. The Estimates were laid upon the table last night, a copy of which I forward to yon. The Chairman estimates the ordinary revenue of the County for the ensuing six months will amount to L 39,850, and he proposes to add to this sum L50,000t0 be borrowed. I can simply say that I hope Mr Hoos's calculations will be verified. I don't think they will: for instance, he has put down LIO,OOO as likely to be obtained from land Bales — an amount that I predict won't be realised from that source for the whole year. As to the L 50,000 of borrowed money, I wish he may get it, that's all. The expenditure is estimated to be L 101.852, which sum includes an item put down in the Estimates as " Roads, Bridges, Tracks, Ferries, &c," L 50,000. In glancing over the various items, I notice some considerable alterations from last year, but I have not had time to examine them closely. Mr Carreras last evening brought up the report of the Select Committee on the sale of land at Stoney Lead. As the report is not yet printed, and as it is of rather special interest to your district, I have j taken the trouble to obtain a copy of it, which I now enclose. It discloses a remarkable state of affairs in connection with the sale to Mr Roberts that is not complimentary to any of the departments and officers involved in the enquiry, and the censures bestowed by the Committee appear to have been richly merited. The ' business in the Council last night was not of a very interesting nature. A long and at times angry discussion took place on the report of the Public Works Committee, relative to the best road to the Greenstone. Ultimately the Council rejected the route via Chesterfield, and adopted a recommendation that a road be taken from the Eight-mile, first on the Christchurch road across to Stafford Town, thence, to Waimea, and on to the Teremakau, near the Greenstone Junction. A resolution was carried for the erection of a toll-gate at Kawaka, on the Christchurch road,