THE PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 1871.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 844, 11 April 1871, Page 2

THE PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 1871.

It had been our intention to-day to criticise at some length the affairs of the Paroa Road Board, and more particularly with regard to the disgracefully careless — to say the least of it — mode in which the accounts of the Board have been kept. We published yesterday the report of the auditors appointed to examine the books of the Board, but it was not until subsequently that we received a full description of the irregularities that have occumd. But our mouth is closed to some extent by the fact that the Chairman of the Board has felt it his duty to institute a criminal prosecution against the late Secretary for certain alleged misappropriations of moneys. Under these circumstances, we are debarred from pursuing what we deemed to be a justifiable close enquiry into the suspicious matters that have cropped up recently in connection with the administration of the funds of the Road Board. A warrant for the apprehension of Mr Hurst is, we understand, in the. hands of the police, on a charge of . embezzling a sum of J6 paid by a member of the Board for his rate and not accounted for. Other cases are also likely to be produced. Our present business, however, is with the Board — or rather with a portion of its members. The enquiry recently instituted has disclosed not only that the Secretary was at least a most wretched and careless book-keeper, but that he has been allowed for almost eighteen months really to rule ►the Board, and dispose of its affairs as he thought best— either for the Board or for himself. The only creditable incident that we can fix upon in the past career of the Board is the conduct of those members who have been the means of the investigation that has revealed the astounding laclies on the part of both the Secretary and the Board which have just come to light. What \,».» -v,» »_i ... " c r _*.v«.. *,v»ctjt -YilH/U Will' allow its responsible servant or servants for eighteen months to e'xeise unlimited control over its finances without being subjected to the slightest check? We are . told that Mr Hurst had given no security whatever to the Roadßoard — that he was simply engaged originally as Secretary and Surveyor, but managed to absorb within himself the duties of Treasurer and Accountant. In these amalgamated positions he has exercised almost entire control of the Board itself. The Secretary was a person endowed with the peculiar sagacity which is often found to characterise men of hi 3 stamp. He knew that, with few exceptions, his employers were a set of incapables— that is to say, I they were utterly unacquainted with i public business, and not very amenable to instruction, except such instruction as he chose to give them. And it is quite evident that he has traded upon these favorable conditions. He knew how to effectually blind the Board if it was inclined to see too much, and how to cross the scent if strong symptoms of irregularity presented themselves. Mr Hurst did this so well that he has not only managed to maintain the reputation of a creditable Secretary during a long period, during which he has most disgracefully neglected his duties and betrayed his trust, but has carried some of the weakest and most imbecile of the members of the Board to the extent of insisting on his being allowed to rfisign with the honor of a vote of thanks ! Be it remembered that it was seriously contemplated by two, if not more, members to vote the thanks of the Board to a defaulting Secretary for the able and efficient manner in which that officer had performed his duties ! We. .would seriously advise those foolish and impulsive men, Messrs Dowling and Colton, to resign their seats. They are evidently quite as incapable of realising the responsibility they owe to the public, as they have shown themselvas to be of discharging it. It is only fair to say that the greater part of the blame attaching to the Board belongs to the predecessors of the ' present body. It was during their tenure of office that the most palpable malfeacenses of the Secretary took place. But still the responsibility is as much upon the present as on the former Board. It has been no secret that for months the accounts of the Board have been in an un- j satisfactory condition, and that circuin- j stances were frequently arising which could only convey the opinion that the Secretary was utterly unfit for his post. We have before us a list purporting to be a list of the unpaid rates levied in J869. In that list appear the names of residents in the immediate neighborhood of the Road Board Office as debtors to the Board in sums amounting in the aggregate to a considerable total. It may transpire that many of these amounts have been paid, or they may still be owing, but under any case it is discreditable to the Board that whilst it has been continually pressed by its creditors it did not endeavor to ascertain its true financial position. The accounts shown by the auditors betray the facts that out of £650 worth of- rates struck in 3869 only £217 was collected ; that this was realised upon an outlay of £75 for valuators fees, and i>2l 10s paid to the Secretary for collecting; leaving an unrealised sum of £301 15s

admitted to be due to the Board after all allowances had been made illegally for the depreciation of property at the Greenstone. The list of defaulting ratepayers comprises the names of many persons who have left the district,, and with regard to whom it is now impossible to prove whether they have paid their rates or not. It also contains the names of persons still residiug in the district, and who, if they have not paid their rates, should at once be compelled to do so. The auditors' report is perhaps as complete as it was intended it should be ; but it does, not go sufficiently deep into the 1 matter. Enough, however, is shown to prove that the late Secretary of the Board was most shamefully unfit for his post, and that the Board was grossly negligent of its duties to the public in allowing its affairs to get into auch a state. We shouid have had a good deal more to say upon this matter had not the proper steps been taken of instituting legal proceedings against the late Secretary. We must reserve further comment until this wretched [ business further developes itself.