A WESTLAND COUNTY ROAD BOARD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 130, 1 June 1872, Page 2

A WESTLAND COUNTY ROAD BOARD

We have recently heard so much in the Provincial Council of the very excellent manner in which everything is done in tbe model County of Westland, that we have some difficulty in believing otherwise than that the Greymouth Evening Star was " chaffing " its readers in publishing the following paragraph describing the method of conducting business in one of the Road Boards in tbat County : — The scene can be better imagined than described. Business commenced by tbe j reading of the minutes as is usual at such meetings. The narration of one of the minutes, stating that the name of Mr. Dowling with others appeared on a Committee for the purpose of having the road repaired from Saltwater to Peter White's store, wss -made the first bone of contention. Mr. Dowling objected to his name being on the Committee. Mr. Butler considered Mr. Dowling should have objected at the time. Mr. Dowling then felt himself bound to say that any one insisting upon his name so appearing was himself a " cur "or a " puppy," To this Mr. Butler retaliated that the last speaker was a decided " cur," without a doubt on the subject. This was followed by, what is known in common parlance, a general set-to in fisticuffs. Both fought, and others in the room fought. The chairman's cry of order was unheard. A regular "mill" went on for some time until the Board adjourned in a manner devoid of anything approaching order or decorum. Since the above was in type we have seen a leading article in the Star, from which it appears that our contemporary was perfectly serious in describing the proceedings at the Board. Those who have heard the fulsome praise that has of late been bestowed upon the Westland County, and all that belongs thereto, will with difficulty recognise in the following a picture of a Road Board in that Utopian district : — The Paroa Road Board has certainly been an unfortunate institution since its creation, and has managed better than any of -'its kin to bring odium (brt itself. At the same time, its members have been blessed, With a happy ignorance of their ; deficiencies, and have aired themselves as martyrs in the public service. They h^d a defaulting secretary to begin with, who paid bir; balance ! with [the* topsail.sbeet, and they have been stumbling from one trouble into -another ever since. Though

apparently hopelesß for good they stand on their dignity at times, tbe Press generally being their peculiar aversion, and its comments especially distasteful. Only a week or two ago the West Coast Times trod on the tails of their coats by saying tbat members had swallowed brandy during their deliberations, which was charged as kerosine in the public account, and after solemn deliberation it was resolved to prosecute that libellous journal. How our contemporary has since fared we have not heard. In the meanwhile verdicts have been recovered ngainst tbe Board, and tbe creditors only wait the deposit of some money in the bank, either through the exertions ot tbe Rate Collector, or by a windfall from tbe General Government, to lay an embargo on it. In the face of this danger tbe Board has ordered their Collector to cease his labors, and in the meantime one of the members has ventilated a proposition that creditors shall accept bills at two and seven months, bearing 12 per cent, interest, for the amounts variously due. Should such a proposition meet with favor, the Paroa Board will virtually declare themselves bankrupt, or, in the words of the Act, " unable to meet their engagements." A respectable position indeed for a public body to hold ! As if their previous pscapades had not been enough, a free fight took place at the last meeting among tbe members present, not a verbal conflict, but a positive argumentum ad baculinum in the most approved style of the fancy. Such complimentary epithets as "cur" " liar," etc., were freely bandied about, and the result was as stated. There is no secret about the disgraceful proceeding, as it was known to all in the neighborhood, and was even worse than we have briefly painted it.