LOAN PROPOSALS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 20 December 1924, Page 4

LOAN PROPOSALS.

PATE A COUNTY CASE. LEGAL ACTION. Y*j QUAiSH PROCEEDINGS. A motion \Yas argued in the Supreme • Court on Fiiuay be lore ±iis Honor Mr. justice MacGregor, having i : or its object the setting aside of the authority taken by the Patea Comity Council for the raising of a special loan of £2900 for tne purpose of metalling the Hukatere and Otauto Loads, which was to be secured by special rate of Ml in the £1 levied over the Otauto special rating district, and for permanently restraining the State. Advances Departments'from taking any further action in regard to the passing of the loan. The loan was to h*ve q currency of 36. V years. The motion was brought by libbert Bremer, farmer, of Waverley, a ratepayer in the district concerned, for whom Mr. F. O. Spiatl appeared, and Mr. 0. H. Weston (for Mr. T. E. Roberts, of Patea} represented the defendants.

The grounds of objection to the raiding of the loan were that certain of the signatures to the form of consent to the formation of a special rating area were not according ‘to the requirements of the Act, and in consequence the consent did not have the requisite three-fourths majority of ratepayers; it was further urged that one of the signatories to the content was. at the time of signing, and up to the date of confirmation of the special resolution, more than six months in arrear with his rates, and therefore not entitled to> sign; and further that the consent of one of the signatories (Michael Norris) was invalid because it was obtained by a ratepayer (Patrick Dwyer) upon a promise to pay the special rate which would be assessed against Norris, and that without his consent there was not the necessary majority of ratepayers consenting CO' the loan; that after the necessary resolution was passed by the council, but before it was colifinned, certain ratepayers who had signed tne consent withdrew their consent, thus leaving a fewer number of consenting ratepayers than the majority required ; that' the special resolution was passed without proper notice being given of the time and place fixed for the meeting; and that the special resolution was defective because : it misdescribed the purpose of the loan, as being for metalling for the first time tlie Hu k ate re" and Otauto' Roads, whereas the true purpose was the metalling of part only of the Hukatere Road.

Mr. S-prat t said there were five main objections to the loan, any one of which, if substantiated, would be fatal. A plan was put in showing the boundaries of the proposed rating area, and it was pointed out that the desire of the ratepayers on. the Otauto Road was to have their road metalled. This road functioned on to. the Hukatere Roaci and thence down to the Kaharoa Road, and the only portion of the Hukatere Road proposed to be metalled was that from the junction of Otauto Road to the Kaharoa Road. The petitioner’s property was situated a considerable distance above that junction and in consequence,, being included in the special area, lie would be called upon to pay the rate '(amounting, to about £oo per annum) without any benefit to his property. It was also stated that the petitioner had previously purchased ■ other land adjoining his property in this area, in order to obtain road access by another route, and that lie therefore did not require the work proposed to be done under this loan. . The number of signatures to the consent was just one more than the required number, and therefore, when those signatures which were invalid were taken away, and those of the ratepayers who withdrew their consent, those left were less than the lequired majority. Dealing with the point as to the want of proper notice in connection, witli the , passing of the special resolution, counsel said the date of the meeting only had been advertised, and not the time and place at. which tho meeting was to be held.

It was stated, m reply to His Honor on this point, that the form of advertisement adopted was the same- as that which had been followed for many years. On the point that the resolution was defective, in that it did not properly describe the true purpose of the loan, Mr Spratt said that under it the council might commence the metalling of the Hukatere Road at the- opposite end from that intended, and'.expend all the money raised without doing any of the work really intended by . those consenting to the loan. The question was also discussed as to the meaning of the term “ratepayer,” counsel for the petitioner submitting that if meant only those persons whose names appeared,‘in this case, on the county roll and entitled to vote on loan proposals. He understood that a ratepayer was the person who actually paid the rates, whether his or her name appeared on the roll or not. On this basis objection,was taken to some of the signatures on the consent.

Mr Weston stated the County Council had acted in a judicial capacity in the interests .of ratepayers as ' a whole, as opposed to the views of a few ratepayers who were acting solely in their own personal interests. It wos then pointed out that, immediately the consent to the special loan had been obtained, the County Council, out of its ordinary revenue, had commenced the metalling of the upper end of the Hukatere Road, and when a portion of that work had been done the objection was raised to the special rating area, and if it was effectual it would leave the ratepayers in tire more remote part of the area without a road, and the council had therefore acted as it thought best in the interests of the whole of the ratepayers. Counsel pointed out that in reality the only ratepayers who did not sign the consent were the petitioner and his wife. Mr Weston submitted that in this connection the ratepayers' consent did not amount to the exercise of a. franchise. Dealing with the suggestion that the order was defective in that it did not properly describe the purpose of the loan, counsel said the lest of that was, were any of the ratepayers misled as to what it was intended to do. and ho submitted that it could not he held they were in_>vny way deceived. The road was unformed for a considerable portion, and no one could think that any metalling could l)e done before grading and forming. '■ Petitioner said the mad was formed up te, the entrance to his wife’s property. which was a considerable distance, past the junction of -the Otauto Road. Counsel said the abjection on this point was a. very technical one, and lie did not think anyone had been misled bv t hi,s particular special order. ;

His Honor .raid the court would he reluctant to interfere with the doings of local bodies so long as they were acting in good faith in the interest’s of ratepayers, but there were certain forms which thev had to adhere to in these matters, and the case to him seemed to he as to whether there had been any material irregularity.

On resuming after luncheon, a point was raised by Mr Weston that the