COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1363, 11 December 1872, Page 2

COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS.

MR LAHMAN, „ ■-; At the conclusion of his speech on Monday evening, and iv reply to a question by Mr M'Carthy, said he had been blamed for preventing the Paroa Road Board from can/ing out the work of connecting the Saltwater with Greymouth. At that time he had received petitions from every part of the district, asking him to prevent the Board from making the road in question, and to induce them to' distribute the Government money. When it was considered that all the inhabitants of the district had to pay rates, it was natural that residents in each part should expect to see some of their own money expended in their neighborhood. In : consideration of this, and in order to see what the Board would do, he wrote a letter trying rather to intimidate them, and communicated with Wellington. The answer which he had received was that the ratepayers had to blame themselves for returning men whom they could not entrust with the administration of their funds ; consequently he had no alternative' but to inform the Board that the roads to Greymouth, if properly made, would be sanctioned by him, and the contractor got a similar answer — that the money would be paid. Mr Hamilton : Mr Lahman has stated that 33 miles of road in the Grey district had been made from County revenue. Were the payments made in land, at an extreme valuation of the work done, or in cash? Mr Lahman : Out of L 22,000, there was the value of 16,000 acres as payment in cash. [In further explanation, Mr Lahman gave a list of the road works, with their cost.] Mr Glenn: What is the. amount of " extras " on the contract for the Arnold road? Mr Lahman : The deviations were compulsory, and an agreement was entered into with the contractor that he should be paid in accordance with his contract scale for extra work, If he were not mistaken, the amount would be between L3OO and L4OO. A Voice : Will you again become a candidate for the County Chairmanship ? Mr Lahman: Most decidedly. — (Laughter.) Mr GiiEFN : Do you consider that the arrangements with Mr Garven in connection with the Arnold biidge were the best that could be made 1 Mr Lahman : It is not the first work which has been undertaken on the same conditions. If any other offer had been made, the best would have been accepted. Only one was made, and it Avas accepted. Mr Lahman continued by saying, with regard to the future, and in the event of his re election, that he was prepared to exercise an economy in departmental expenditure by which L7QOO might be saved; He did not propose to reduce salaries, but to amalgamate offices. He would propose to do away with one Warden, two Wardens' clerks, and three bailiffs. Since communication throughout the County had been made easy, he had no doubt that two Wardens could do the whole work — one in Greymouth and one in Hokiiika. It had been proved that the work of Waimea and E,oss could be done bn one Warden, as, during the three months' absence of Mr Aylmer, Mr Price had discharged the duties to the satisfaction of eveiybody. Clerks might also be dispensed with at Greenstone and : Kanieri, where the police could do the duties j and as most of the services of the bailiffs were for the General Government, he did not feel inclined any longer to pay their salaries out of the County Treasury. He had endeavored to get the General Government to pay half the salaries of the Wardens, who also acted as Resident Magistrates, tmt, as he was not successful, and, as the General Government derived L3OOO from [the services of these gentlemen, it was for the County to look to its own and do nothing in these matters for the General Government. This ' would save LISOO. He further proposed to reduce the Survey Department, the expenses of which were somewhat large, 1 not in salaries, but in survey labor. He estimated LBSO for the year might be saved in that department, and in the Engineering Department LIOO might be saved. The office of Inspector of Weights arid Measures, he thought, could be dispensed with altogether, thereby saving L3OO. §teps had previously been taken by him to abolish the office ; in fact, policemen who were to do the duty were appointed ; but such pressure was brought upon him and the Council that he had to write to the General Government to cancel the appointment and reinstate the luspector. A saving of L4OO, he thought, might be made on the item of Public Buildings j it was but fair that those who enJQyed the privilege of living in Government buildings should pay the cost of their maintenance. By the General Government undertaking to pay half of the maintenance of the Christchurch road, the County would also be relieved of from L2OOO to L3OOO, and from L4OO to LSOO might te saved in " miscellaneous salaries." He thought Government officers, in some instances, might work more than they did : he did not see why they should work six hours while others worked eight j and it would, therefore, be necessary to alter the hours of attendance. The County's liabilities were— to the Bank of New Zealand, . L 800 0; on deficiency bills to the General Government, L 7500, advanced on a security of at least double the amount; on the Arnold and Kokotahi roads, L13,0Q0, which would fall due in six or nine "months. There was also the falling-off of LSO'OO' in the revenue during the past five months. Altogether their debts might amount to L 33,600. fMr Lahman mentioned an item which our reporter did not hear, and continued :J Their liabilities would still be about L 23,000. When he took office their liabilities amounted to about the same, but the difference was that now, for their debts, they had something to show in the shape of roada andworks. During two years they had spent L 24,000 out of County revenue, but, in spite of air obstacles and difficulties, they were not worse off than they were two years ago, and they had something to show for their money. There was little need to be afraid as to the debts of the County of Westland. It still topk the first place as haying contracted no debts whatever. He only wished that they were in debt,' and had something to show for it in extended roads, railways, and water-races. It would then be seen whether the General Government would" assist theta or not,

(A "Voice: What of Annexation?) He had always advocated that the whole West Coast should be under one Government, and it was again owing to disunion among their members that the object had not been achieved. Whatever harm the Fox- Vogel Ministry might have done to the County, he believed that in that matter they meant fairly. He believed that they would have made it a Ministerial question, and that they would also have carried it, but the difference among the members from the West Coast had foiledthe good intentions of the Government. ■. , ,