THE PROPOSED BOROUGH COUNCIL LOAN.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1480, 2 May 1873, Page 2

THE PROPOSED BOROUGH COUNCIL LOAN.

A public meeting wa3 held at Gilmer's Hall last evening, called by the Mayor, in accordance with a requisition he had received, signed by forty-five ratepayers, of which the following is the text : — " To his Worship the Mayflr, Greymouth, — Sir — We, the undersigned ratepayers of Mawhera Quay, &c, do object and hereby protest against the special rate of Is per £, as being unjust in the extreme, in so far as such rate as proposed, falls too heavily on that portion of the township known as Mawhera Quay, &c., and we trust your Worship will not only take time to consider the matter, but likewise to hear the opinion of those interested. — We are, &c." — When the hour of meeting arrived the promoters were not forthcoming, although there was a good average attendance. After a short postponement they arrived.

The Mayor took the chair, and stated that the meeting had been called in answer to a requisition, which he read, from a number of ratepayers who wished an opportunity of expressing their opinion on the proposed Borough Council loan, to be raised for completing and improving the streets in the Borough, and for improving the condition of the wharf. He was fully prepared with all necessary documents to give every information the requisitionists required as to why the loan was required by the Council, but it was not for the members of the Council to come there to address them. He was surprised that it was only now these gentlemen should come forward to ask for information when the matter had been made public so long. He believed the bulk of the ratepayers fully endorsed the action taken by the Borough Council, and were quite agreeable to pay the proposed extra rate for the extra benefits that would be conferred upon the Borough. He considered that the gentlemen who were the promoters of the meeting had displayed a considerable amount of ignorance on the subject, but after the information which had recently been given them, he thought they would admit that they had been mistaken and that they were now satisfied. He called upon Mr D. Girdwood, who appeared to be the principal promoter of the meeting, to address them. Mr Girdwood said he had heard it said outside that in bringing this matter before the general public he had been put up to it by some other people ; that lie denied. He took action in the matter because, on looking over the list of works proposed to be executed out of the loan, he saw no statement of how the money was to be spent, as required by the Act. He called upon three of the Councillors for an explanation, but by each was told that he was. too late. He thought, however, that he had discovered a flaw in the manner in which the preliminaries to the obtaining of the loan had" been carried out. ' The' information published was not explicit enough. He might be wrong, if so he would admit it, but if not j they would giye him the credit of having brought a matter before the public which might have caused the Councillors much inconvenience and personal loss. He then read clauses 239 and 240 of the Municipal Corporations Act, in order to show that sufficient information had not been given in the public announcements as to the manner in which it was proposed to expend the various items of the loan. He misfht be wrong, but he thought the point was worth ventilating to save future trouble. It appeared to him clear from the Act that the Council should have advertised specially the purposes to which the money was to be applied, and not simply said Waite street so much, Werita street, &c, because they were not to know whether the Council intended to

build a bridge or a house in these streets. He appealed to Mr Newton to look at the Gazette notice and say whether it was sufficient.

Mr Newton looked at the notices and said that he considered them perfectly sufficient for the purpose for which they were intended.

Mr Girdwood thought it was possible for some other persons to be wrong as well as himself. (Laughter.) With reference to the manner in which the loan was to be expended, the gentlemen who signed the requisition felt aggrieved at an additional tax of Is in the pound, as that made up four-sevenths of the loan to come out of the front street, whereas a very small portion of the loan was to be spent there. He mentioned seven owners of property in the front street who would have to pay LIOOO out of the L7OOO loan. He did think that the properties that paid the taxes should receive due consideration.

The Chairman said that so far as he was personally interested^ he thanked Mr Girdwood for having brought this matter before the public, and he hafi. come there with all the information possible, in order to submit it to any of the ratepayers ; but the members of the Borough Council, although present, had not come there to speak, except giving explanations as to details. If anyone had wished information, the whole of the plans and specifications of all the proposed works had been elaborately drawn up, and were lying at the Torn Surveyor's office for inspection, and he did not intend to repeat them at that time. Many were under the impression that for years to come they would be called upon to pay a rate of 2s in the pound, but that was a mistake ; next year it would probably be Is, 3d or Is 6d. The Councillors were responsible if they did anything illegal, and he thought it would have been much better if Mr Girdwood had gone privately and obtained the information he wanted, instead of taking the course he had done. Mr Girdwood : You said I was. too late. '■

The Chairman had said so, but at this stage the public had nothing whatever to do with the loan, unless a majority-of-the. members of the Council voted against it. In order to have the full expression of public opinion on the question, he had hurriedly called that meeting,, aa the Council would meet the next night, when the motion for the loan would come on for consideration. The Mayor then entered upon a long and detailed explanation of the previous expenditure of the Council on the various, parts of the town, including the wharf, the roads on the reserve, the road to' join the Paroa road and the main road to Marsden. He mentioned the assets aud liabilities Of the Borough Council, and spoke very hopeful of its prospects, as he considered the 2s rate would only be required for one year, and a rate of Is 6d next year, which would gradually decrease after the roads were made and patching-up expenses lessened.

A discussion of rather a conversational nature ensued, in which. Mr F. Hamilton approved of the course taken by the Council, as the cbeapest'and best for the ratepayers, as, if carried out, the improvements were likely to/ increase the value of property ,by 5Q per cent. — Mr Cooper thought that after 'looking at the figures produced to him by the Town Clerk, the Council could carry on and get the loan as well at the ordinary rate of Is in the pound. — Mr Lahman did not .agree with the last speaker. He thought there would have to be an extra tax "of Is in the pound for three or four years, as the newly made streets would have to be maintained at considerable cost. He did not say that it was not advisable to have these roads made at once, but he was sure the Is extra rate would be required for some years. — Mr M. Kennedy highly approved of and supported the action taken by the Borough Council in this matter, as he believed it would prove the most economical course, instead of the Council going on patching up some streets and finishing none, and paying a high rate of interest for their overdraft. — Mr J. Johnston strongly protested against the leving of the additional tax. — Mr F. Hamilton thought that Mr Girdwood would have been prepared with a resolution, but to test the question he would move — " That this meeting fully endorses the action of the Borough Council in endeavoring to obtain a loan for the public works mentioned in the schedule as advertised and gazetted." — Mr M. Kennedy seconded the motion. Mr D. Maclean said he was sure the gentlemen who signed the requisition did not object to the extra tax for the loan, so long as it did not fall too heavily on one section of the ratepayers, and he hoped soon to see the whole of the owners of unoccupied sections to which it- was now proposed to make roads, included in the general and special rate's:— The Mayok replied that they would be included in the next rate. ; The resolution was then put and carried unanimously. The usual vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the meeting.