THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1871.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 839, 5 April 1871, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1871.

Recent events have disclosed a 3tats o t affairs with regard to the Paroa Road { Board which does not reflect much credit ( Upon that body. It is well known that i for fully twelve mouths the practical fnnc- * tions of 'the ßoard have been suspended. * The cessation of money grunts from the { dounty Gouricil Was 'followed .by a voluntary suspension by the Board of it- * mate rfttmg powers, and t v course a state pi »*•- •* ■ , _...» legifciThe Board *•- ' ..,e result was of g(ld * .odolute impecuniosity. • ; r ..ad po revenue, was in deibty. . could not possibly undertake any public works. One would have thought that the; proper course for the Board to have assumed under such circumstances was to content itself with occupying a negative position until it was better able to pursue its active duties. But what is the fact I— That during a time of absolute poverty, of revenue, with no work to do, and no business to transact, it still kept a Secretary at the rate of £200 per i annum to help the Board to do nothing ! And the only excuse that we have heard advanced on behalf of the Board is one given by one of its prominent members— that they could not pay the Secretary's arrears of salary, and were compelled to keep him on ! It never seems to have occurred to the wise members of the Paroa, Road Board that they could have as easily dismissed their Secretary when they owed him money as. when they did. not. Nor does it appear that the Board ever considered that they were positively defrauding their constituents by retaining on pay an officer for whom they had no work, a»d whom they were unable to pay. The course pursued by the Board had this result — that out of the sum of money lately received by the Board from the General Government a large propoition of it has gone in paying a salary for which no proper equivalent has been received. The whole affair is monstrous. About two hundred pounds, which would have

gone a long way towards supplying some of the urgent necessities of the district, has simply found its way into the pockets of a dummy secretary ! We do not blame Mr Hurst. He was wise in his generation, and would have been a fool to refuse the gifta which the Gods of Paroa offered him. He had emphatically a " rosy billet." Nothing to do, free lodgings, and' two hitndred a-year is not to be sneezed at in these hard times, and like a brick he stuck to it as long as he could. But what are we to say of the custodians of the public purse represented by the members of the Paroa Road Board 1 We can only interpret their action by the assumption that their Secretary having helped them to spend the . public money for the benefit of their own properties, it was only fair to give him a turn. We will say this for them, that they loyally carried out the principle. Whatever grounds of complaint the ratepayers and the public generally who con f ribute towards the revenue of the Board may have, Mr Hurst must for ever entertain feelings of profound respect and affection for the Board. Even in his hour of trial, when his superiors for the first time ventured to mildly expostulate upon proceedings which elsewhere would have been visited with far less charity, the remembrance of past favors must have carried no little consolation. What if he did commit the trifling indiscretion of temporarily diverting the course of a sum of money entrusted to him by the Chairman for a special purpose, did not his former experience warrant him in assuming that cho Board was not over particular ? Mr Hurst naively suggested to the Board, in his defence of the course he pursued with regard to a certain cheque, that the Chairman must have intended him to use the money during the slight interval that had to elapse before the acceptance was dtte. We have no doubt that Mr Hurst was justified in assuming that anything that was unbusiness-like would comport with the Board's usual proceedings. If he had a doubt, he gave himself +he benefit of it, as a sensible man.

The best of the affair is, that only by a fluke Mr Hurst escaped receiving a formal vote of thanks for the very.able and efficient manner in which he had managed the affairs of the Board during eighteen months' work and twelve months' idleness. It was we must confess a most refreshing instance of gushing confidence on- the part of the member — Dowling by name — who, while the Secretary was, as one may say, on his trial under the ordeal of a strict audit, wished the Board to anticipate matters by at once passing a formal eulogium upon that gentleman. For once the combined intellect of the Board betrayed a little common sense in postponing the outpouring of their affection until after the audit. But the fact that this little precautionary measure was at first seriously considered unnecessary, conveys a high compliment on Mr Hurst. He has all through been master of the situatiou, and is so still. He has been altogether too much for the men of Paroa. They may, as their Solicitor with grim humor remarks, express their disapprobation of their Secretary's conduct, but they can do no more. Not only have they no grounds upon which to take legal proceedings, but it is extremely doubtful if the Secretary cannot take proceedings against the Board for daring to assume anything in the slightest degree calculated to cast a shade upon his purity. But we may be sure that all parties are anxious to cry quits, and that the whole rumpus will be allowed to die out. It is unfortunate that along with the resignation of the Secretary the relinquish men c of office was not also tendered by the whole of the members of the Board, who are primarily responsible for the difficulties that body is now in. The inhabitants of the district would undoubtedly prefer to start again with an entirely clear sheeS.