COUNTY COUNCIL.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1253, 5 August 1872, Page 2

COUNTY COUNCIL.

k[abBIDOBD FROM TVEST dOABT> TJMBB.J' 1 Thursday, August 1; : ; ; , :7 \ *;\ The Chairman presented a petition rom Mr John Jones, praying to be tllowed to purchase 2500 acres of land at LOs . per acre, under special circumstances itated in the petition. The petition was :ead and received. . " . . : . t -■.-• . , .■ THE 'HOKITtRi. HOSPITAL/— . The Chairman; stated; that hadrreseived a letter from the President of th.6 Bokitika Hospital, enclosing a memoran* 3um from the Committee of Management, respecting oertain alterations which they iesired to have effected in the regulations passed by the| Council during the ; pwvious session. ' ' ■'• '■ <; "*' " ■■ '* The letterand memorandum were retTd and ordered to be takenintoconsideration on the following evening, '• " ' .!. i . COMPENSATION TO TRAMWAY COMPANIES, On the motion of the Chairman, the Ooimoil resolved itself into Committee, to consider, what amount of compensation should be given to "the several Tramway Companies, The; Chairman said that infconsidering the question the Committee would have to be guided by the regulations passed by the Council in 1869, and gasetted -in-the , month .of: 'March in- that; year. He held the sth clause ia the. regulations to be. the one by .whioh !:tfie , Council*^! should be gbyerned in arriving at^a.. * conclusion. By that olaus,e tftei GotfnQil agreed to guarantee to the tramways a minimum rate of interest of eight per cent, per annunvforten year^ o» the actual amount of the; cost of the line of tramway applying (for (protection. He . / held the opinion that the County Council had no power to make any promise to give compensation, still a corporate body like the Council should not endeavorto evade a promise made,: even if it were not within the scope of ; its powers. ' He should therefore, recommend that; compensation should be giy.en upon tile basis, of the clauie to wliich he had' referred. The County was unable to make payment of such pompensatibriiri money, and it woul4 have to be given in land, one acre fop every pound of compensation.; It would be observed that the \Bth clause of the Be* gulationa would seem to hold out a hope to . I;he tramway companies, that W th© , event of. a Qpyerninentrbad being opened which should compete a tpa^nway. \q its, detriment, compensation would be given.; But^Wnitwat only such com« pgnsation as >d Council might; deem fit, and the clause gave the companies anything but a legal right, and the only gl»iw on the ponncil which they pould urge as of right was in respeof to the sth blanse, already mentioned. It certainly must not ', be forgotten that the tramways had been veiy beneficial at one time,- through now they were viewed more as an obstruction than anything else. (Mr, Fqx:- Hear, hear.) The tramway companiea had sent in their claims and, from these he found that the Hokitika and Greymouth Company claimed under the Bth c)ause compensation for loss, by a road being constructed to the detriment of the tramway, as being L 19,118 13 4d, and under the sth clause fp.f guaranteed interest, L74j|6. Altfl; , gether spinethjpg o»er L26j§00.~ The, capital actually paid by the" sharefib^derg was L 5786 and IjQt 10 of -dividends whjgj had been oapitalised. Taking into apgoiint . the dividends, the actual loss was about LllBO, besides rolling stock, which he Sid not think should be taken into account. - Therefore, there could not be any fear that any of the, shareholders were being .ruined. In point of fact, out of every L 5 they had paid they had received L 4 lOr. The guaranteed interest to be paid would amount to about L 6836 for the sevennnespired .years.. $utast|ie amount would be paid in advance in land, a decjufiiipft should be made which he (the Chairman) calculated at 25 per cent., reducing' |ha compensation to L 5127. The claim oT the Kanieri Company recommends itself for its moderation;: It : is calculated at L2BOO for interest for the unexpired term of protection ; and making a deduction of 25 per cent; from -that amount, the claim would be reduced to L2IOO. With respept to flip Halj-Jiau Trqinway^ha cost of the line was JJ4689 §s 2d. Mvi? dends had been paid amounting to L 1943 ,0s 6d, leaving; a balance of L.2741 , 4s", Bd. Considering, nowever, chat ibh'e line could be used for* a road, and that its coatinu- ' ance as at present was dangerous to the travelling public, it was deemed expedient to purchase it altogether, and to form it into a road to connect the Hau-hau with Hokitika. .it njugt not be' forgotten ? ttiat the *- Oounoil could only ceodmraend the Governor- to pay the compensation in land, and, that whatever decision was arrived at, it would be carried out if considered fair and equitable. With these remarks, he .wpuld leave -it to the Committee to decide what amount of compensation should be given in each case. < A I Mr Hoos regretted that the Chairman should have come down: with a written statement in his hands, which he expected the Committee to deal with ; at 'ones, instead of having had it before them previously for consideration. : The phairman had put it that there.were two iiabilities. ' The one as to the eight per cent, interest guaranteed, and the other as to the $}mpensation promised" by the Council in" to .. event of a Government road being opened which should compete with any tramway to its detriment.. This liability, the Chairman set aside altogether, because the Council had resolved that the compensation should be such as it "may deem fit.? What did that mean ? Did it mean that the Council were to be rogues md cheats ? What was deemed at should be what was right, and what was just and aquitable. The members of the Qouncil tvere elected hy the people and'repre* sented their K- lor. Tliat honor he would uphold as lo ,j is he had a, seat; in the Jouhcil, and > oiUd not lend himself to tie use of a quibble in order to evade a lability. There was a moreil obligation . UOli'red which : was not to be ; '

rid of under the words " deen fit" The Chairman had referred to th< guaranteed interest as the baiis of com pensation. That wan very well, but th Government had interfered with th interests of the companies had mutilatec and destroyed those interests, and th< companies came to the Council for thi compensation promised in case of the veq event which had occurred. This claim th< Chairman would put aside because the compensation was only to bo what th< Council might deem fit. It was the duty of the Council to protect the interest o: those who had displayed energy and en terprise to benefit the County at large, wh( had invested their capital on the faith o! promises, and not to injure them and ther refuse to recognise their claims. He re collected when Mr Moorhouse urged th< people individually to take the lead tc open communication to the outlying dis tricts, and when individuals did invesi their money, their property was to Ik destroyed and compensation refused ex cepton a basis which could not be ac cepted. He trusted a fair scheme foi settling the question would be propounded, else he was snre it would have to go tc the Supreme Court. Mr Babff regretted that any warmth should be displayed in dealing with the question before the Committee. He considered that the Council was bound to deal out justice to those with whom a bargain had peen made. As the custodians of the public purse, and the public estate, the Council should be careful not to squander it, but when a bargain had been made ft became a matter of honor to carry it out. This was admittedly the case between individuals, and it was much more so the duty of a Dublic party to deal fairly and honestly with those with whom a bargain had been made, and not to attempt to get .out of the difficulty by a auibble. Of coarse the Council were justified iv making roads for the benefit of the several districts in ths County, but if in doing so grievous wrong was inflicted upon those ' who were working under special agreement, and a special protection, justice should be _^ge, and _ should be measured by what '•^Pnght, and that should be what the Counoil "deemed fit." Looking back to the period when the tramways were first laid down, he could remember the high prices for provisions which the miners had to pay when the means of communication were scant and few. It was true that the persons who embarked in those enterprises did so for their own benefit ; but the advantage to the public was so great that those enterprises were specially protected, and inducements held out that the investments of capital would be se-

(For ontimiation of Ntvo8 x tee 4th page.)

cured from interference by the'Governinept "competing,, against them to the^r; destruction. Itwas nrft fair to say now that the tramways hwUhad the> day, and ' could be thrown aside like an old coat ( beoAUsethey were not required, without! considering how useful they hod been at j first. .. . . ■ Mr Dunoav said it had been admitted on all hands that the tramways had been most useful, and they deserved consideration if only on that account. But the matter should be looked at in a business point of view, and should be, so dealt with. What was right and Just should be given, no more, and certainly no less. Mr Hpos thought that it did not seem practicable to arrive at any conclusion in the Council/and he would therefore move "That the claim of the Hokitika and Greyulouth Tram way Company be re-ferred-to arbitration." . • 1 Mr Barpf seconded the motion. ; Mr Robinson would like to have the ( raatter postponed until the member for' Totarft should bo present. There were \ legdf aspects in the question, in respect, to which that member could render assistance. Mr Hoos did not ag»ee with obtaining a legal opinion in that way. If such an opinion were requirod, the County Solioitors^pnld be applied to. . After some further discussion, on -the motion of Mr Robinson, progress was ordered to be reported, with leave to sit again, and the Council resumed.