COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS,

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1348, 23 November 1872, Page 2

COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS,

MR. OOOPFR'S MEETING. Mr. W. M. Cooper, who had complied with a requisition of the Greymouth electors to become a candidate for election as a member of the Westland County Council, addressed a public meeting at Gilmer's Hall last evening. There were tvo other meetings appointed for the same evening,, yet there was a good attendance. The meeting failed only in point of punctuality, and in that peculiarity of meetings held at Gilmer's Hall that those who form the audience are compelled to exhibit their profiles to the speaker or to occupy seats so distant from him as to suggest that either they or he are there for the purpose of undergoing a few hours' quarantine. Mr Joseph Kilgour was- called on to take the chair, and, having taken it, introduced Mr Cooper, and . expressed his satisfaction that on this occasion of a County election there was a large choice of candidates. Mr Cooper said he appeared before the electors as a candidate for election to the County Council, in consequence of a requisition presented to him before any other candidate was in the field. Since he had received that requisition, four other candidates had come forward, and it would be for the electors to hear what each had to say, and to choose the best; If their choice fell upon him^ well and good. He would do his best to fulfil the trust reposed in him. . If, on the other hand, they chose others, he would be quite content. One of the principal matters demanding the attention of the new Council would be the question of finance. For several years past the Council had, in its expenditure exceeded its income, and it was only owing to certain windfalls, coming from several unexpected sources, that the excess of expenditure over revenue had not been greater. He found that, during the four half-years ending, on the 30th of June last, the Council had , expended Llß,ooo more than its ordinary income. The ordinary revenue of the County had been something like L 21,000 for each half-year, whereas the expenditure for the same periods had been L 28,600, L 28.000, L24j100, and L 24,000 respectively, making, as he had said, an expenditure over income of LIB,OOO odd. By the receipt of 'certain unforeseen sums of money, a part of this liability had been cleared off. These amounts were a considerable sum of money "received from the Sinking Fund of the Canterbury Loan, amounting altogether to Llo,ooo, with a small sum of money expected to come from the same source. There had also been a special grant of L3OOO from the General Government, and LI2OO re-, ceived from the Native department on account of surveys j the total of these amounts reducing the deficiency to something like LB6OO. At the end of last June the liabilities of the County exceeded the assets by that amount. That had to be paid somehow. In addition to the County having to. clear off this liability, they had to meet the diminished revenue consequent upon the reduction in the gold' duty of sixpence per ounce, which took effect on the Ist of January next, and which, he esti-' mated, was equal to a difference of L3OOO per annum. The cost of the road from Omotumotu. Creek to the Arnold, amounting to L7BOQ, had also to be provided for. It would therefore be seen that there was urgent necessity for the expenditure to be immediately and largely reduced, otherwise the County would' not only be heavily embarrassed, but be left without a single sixpence to be expended on public works. He had gone. through: the County Estimates with a view to see what reductions ..might be ; niade, and selected certain specific items which he would strenuously-; endeavor to reduce, these amounting altogether to the sum of EI6OO for thi half-year. He hoped that a reduction of another LIOOO might be effected in other parts of the Estimates, by carefully going into every detail, This would reduce the expenditure to LI @,000, exclusive of public works. Their revenue had hltherto'been keeping up at the rate of L 21,000, but, deducting from that LlpOQ on account of; reduced gold duty, their prospective income not be likely to exqeed L 19,500, leaving a surplus for public works and for clearing, off liabilities of L3SQQ. This would necessitate a complete re-organisation of the departments. He did not, however, advocate any reduction of salaries. These, he thought, were quite low enough already, but he would favor a reduction of the number of officers, expecting those who were retained to do an additional amount of work. A portion of the reduction of expenditure already mentioned would be contingent upon the General Government relieving the County of all charges in relation to the Christchurch-road. In the course of two years that road had cost the County LjO,QOO, less the receipts from tolls 1 ."- He had, however, good grounds for thinking that the General Government, if the matter were properly placed before them, would be found willing to to take over the road without any charge whatever. In fact, two years ago the General Government distinctly offered to do so, but the County authorities declined the proposition, and when they afterwards, changed their mind, the Government was not prepared to enter into the arrangement.. If the matter were placed before them by the new Council, he believed they wouldfavorably consider the matter and relieve the County of this'heavy expenditure. In addition to the ordinary expenditure of the County, a considerable amount was spent by the Qeneral Qoyernment direct,- and charged against vs v Some reduction in this respect' had been been madej but he believed that a further .saving could be effected. Referring to proposed expenditure by the General Government on public works within the County, and on which the County Council would probably be consulted, he considered there could be, no question as to the urgency of completing the trunk road between Grey month and Hokitika. With respect to which route should be adopted in order to supply the M missing link " between" Greymbuwi and Marsden, he would state that, after careful consideration, he thought the road should be taken by Sawyer's Creek 'rather than by the Omotumotii. As he had originally held a different opinion, hhre r would state, the reason, which had induced him to change his mind. The chief argument in favor of the Omotumotu routej to hia

mind, was that it would provide access further into the interior of the country, but he found that, on a detailed survey being made, a difficulty presented itself which; more than counterbalanced this advantage. A3 stated in the official report of the District Engineer, the inclination would for three miles average lin 10.. This alone, he considered, was, ..',_ a fata! objection to the choice of that route. A gradient of I in 10 was considered steep even for a short distance, but to have it almost contiuo^ ously for three miles would effectually defeat the main object for which the road was. intended. The road by Sawyer's Creek would have easy gradients throughout, and would cost LSOOO less. In consideration of the advantage mentioned, of opening up the country, he would not object to the extra ■'■*• expenditure, if a good road could have been obtained, but, without this, it would be throwing away L6OOO. At the same time, if money were available, a road should be made as far up the Omotumotu Valley as* the : agricultural land extends— a distance of about two miles— but, for the main trunk road he thought that what he had stated was sufficient to warrant a preference being y given to the Sawyer's Creek route. He ...• ; had always been under the impression that a lower saddle existed over the Lime- . stone Range than proved to be the case 6n ' levels being taken, which would have made a very material difference. . Then would , arise the question of compensation to the v tramway proprietors. That question [ ' had already cropped up, and would, no doubt, have to be settled next session. . : No one would deny that public faith should be kept; but the questions whe- ~* ther the tramway proprietors were entitled to compensation, and, if so, to what ■ amount, were, in his opinion, not such as could be satisfactorily decided by a political body. Political motives were so apt to weigh with persons, or might be sup- . posed to do so, even if it were not the case, that he would be disposed to urge i; that the matter should be referred to the District Judge, Bitting with assessors", or i ' with a jury, in a somewhat similar manner to that provided by the Public .? Works Aqt in ordinary cases of compensation claims on account of roads and railways. Mr Cooper continued by referring ■to the Arnold Bridge, which he considered, as part of a main trunk road, should be in _ the hands of the Government; to the imposition of tolls, which, if necessary evils, should be made as light and as 1 few as possible ; to the desirability of extending, the Greymouth protective works as far as Boundary street ; to the propriety of the County undertaking the construction of tracks which Road Boards ' had neglected. ; to the necessity for, and perfect feasibility of auction sales of land being held in Greymouth ; and to the advantages of concentrating on one. site ,; the at present inconveniently scattered * Government buildings.: In concluding, • he referred to an impression which, he. ' said, had gone abroad that, if returned to the Council, he intended to air aooaeprivate grievances of his own against the ' County Government. He stated ,unre- . servedlythat nothing was further from his thoughts. He should not broach any . such topic ; in fact, he was quite as well/ pleased that he was not now in the Government service, and, moreover, he did not considpr that any person should use his political position for any private ends. He repeated that he had come forward at a time when there were no other ,- candidates in the field, and that had =? there been the present number, he might ' not have done so. Having; however, given his consent, . he, would now leave ,- the matter in : the hands of the electors.':,.; He might add that he did not intend to ,; canvass the electors, , but wished every person to form an. unbiassed opinion after hearing all side 3 .. -He hoped, therefore^ that no one would consider himself treated with indifference" because his vote jarid influence were not solicited. If' re». turned he pledged himself to use every"? effort in his power to carry out thja policy 1 ' he had enunciated. ■■•*-;- In reply to a question from the Ohairr man, Mr Coopee stated that he was strongly in favor of throwing open the agricultural lands of- the County ;.to bona fife settlers od[ the most liberal terms.. He would dispose of the land to such persons at a greatly reduced price, conditionally upon * their clearing and cultivating a certain/ i proportion of their holdings; within a fixed perind, say three years, and residing .. continuously thereon^ A motion that Mr Cooper is a fit.and • proper person to represent the town in the County Council was then put, carried, and acknowledged, and, on the pro-, posal of the candidate, Mr Kilgour was thanked for the discharge of his duties as Chairman. ; ■■.'■'