CITY COUNCIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 8, 9 January 1875, Page 2

CITY COUNCIL.

The Council met last night. Present, all the members but Crs Thompson and Wright. The minutes of the previous meeting having been read, Cr Burn said that he wished to bring under the notice of the Council the conduct of Mr Mirfio, the gas manager, at the last meeting. Language euch as he had used to the Mayor was quite unwarrantable in any servant of the Council, and should not be allowed to pasß unnoticed. Mr MirGn was a personal friend of his own, and he wbb much grieved and pained to thick that he should have so forgotten himself, but such things must be put a stop to, and an explanation or apology should be demanded from Mr Mirfin, for it was derogatory to the Council that any of its servants should so conduct themselves. It was agreed to postpone the consisideration of the matter until the other business had been disposed of. A letter was read from Messrs N. Edwards and Co. elating that in consequence of the rise in the price of cool at the Grey they should have to raise the price to 37a 6J per ton. A letter was read from his Honor the Superintendent, enclosing the following communication from the Provincinl Auditor : — Provincial Audit Office, Nelson, Deccmbsr27. 1874. Siu — I have the honour to acknowle 'ge the receipt of your letter of the 15th inetant, conveying report oE Commissioners appointed to examine the accounts of the late Assessor and Collector of the V\ ater Rst s for the City of NeUon. Upon receiving the same, I inquired into the statements made therein, and I believe them to be correct Some of the individual case* mentioned were then examined more particularly, and the embezzlements were co apparent that, in compliance with the " Provincial Audit Act," I immediately entered a criminal pro ecution against the late Collector, and a warrant has been issued lor his appreh"Dsion. It may he a?ked, How under a system of Audit have these defalcations been possible ? in the first plane, no system will make a man honest where there w a will to be dishonest, as was evidently the case with the late Collector Inquiries made, amongst the ratepayers prove that receip's have been given for one am cunt and a different amount entered on the bult of the receipt-book and in the cash-book. In oiher irgtances moneys have been paid to him and no receipts giver, and, therefore, nothing appears in the books, la other cases, receipts have been given and the butts torn out of the bocks altogether, and go again nothing appears as having been rereivtd. In the next place, no assessment has ever been made up by the late Collector and forwarded, to the Government — at least, I never heard of one, so that it has been impossible to

say what amount ought really to have been collected. . /. • , •'. And further, I believe, and I think the present case proves it, that the combination of the office! of Assessor and Collector is unwhe j and open to abuae, for the following reasons (I am now speaking more particularly of the water rates) ;— The Collector being also, agaeßßor, has it 'in bis power) and I have heard of instances where, this power has been exerdsedbytheWte TEollec'trir, if any complaint is made to him by ratepayers whea collecting, to lower the value of the property assessed, and of ,so reducing the amount of rate b,e received: If'subb c'iin be done, it is quite Im- < possible for any. account to be checked. ' A further reason for .baying the offices separate, is that the rate of assessment depends upon whether the tenements to be assessed are occupied or not, the rate varying j from Sto 6 per cent. Should the Collector happen to be a dishonest man, nothing is | easier than to assess at the lower and collect | at the higher rate, entering on bis butts the lower one so as to agree jdih his assessment. For these reasons, if for no other, I think the offices of Assessor and Collector ought to be separate. If your Honor will excuse what may be considered on my part, as, perhaps, interference I would suggest that if the Government still have control in the assessment and collection of the water rate, a person should be appointed expressly to asstss. This should be done at the cotnmencement of evety qiarler, or it will be impossible to say whether the amount to be collected is at the rate of 3 or 6 per cent, The rate should be published, or if this is too expensive a certified list given to the Collector, who should be authorised, upon any person requiring to see. tie ; same, to produce it. On receiving the list, the Collector should be debited with thp ; amount, and all arrears carried forward tp .the ensuing quarter." Printed receipt-books, properly numbered throughput, should be supplied to the Collector one at a time. lhe ( system of Audit hitherto pursued has been :— That.at the termination of each quarter the Provincial Treasurer haß placed before me, along with others, monthly statements of amounts received from' the Collector of Water Bates. These statements have been declared to before a Justice of the Peace as being true and ctrrect. They .have teea. examined with the Collators cash-bpok and the cash-book wiih/the butt&bf the receipts, and then again with "the' payments into the ' Provincial account. Small' clerical erifor'a have been found, which have been duly noted in the Collector's cash-book at the end of the quarter, but I believe your Honor could not have been more surprised than myself at finding that the amounts entered in the 'cash-book and on the receipt-butts ' did - nofc always 1 -repres ;nt the amount received by the Collector. , I have the honor to be, &c, (Signed) H. D. Jackson, Provincial Auditor. To his Honor the Superintendent, Nelson. The letter was, referred to the Gas and* Waterworks Committee. A proposal by Cr Haddow to lower the crown; of Waimea-street in the ' neighborhood of the Golden Fleece was negatived by four to three. The Surveyor reported that he bad measured \Dr. Cotter ell's land, and found that it did not encroach upon the road. Letters were read from the manager of the gas-works, relative to the extension of the gas-pipes in Nile-street and Tiafalgar-etreet Sooth and were referred to the.Committee. The Town Clerk reported that since the last meeting of the Council he had collected £213 7s 6i of. town rates, and £100 8a 9d of arrears of water rates. With reference to the Gas and Waterworks account the Mayor reported that on examining the bank book be fouud that the Government had drawn on; the account, including a cheque for £24 to Mr Scaife for analysing the waterworks accounts, in defiance of a distinct understanding between the Council and the Superintendent that the latter was not to draw on the account without bis cheques being certified by the Mayor. The Council had also stipulated that Mr Scaife's fees were to be paid by the Government, and not out of the waterworks account. If things went on in that manner no reliable accouDt could possibly be kept, nor could the Council know their financial position. Cr Fell corroborated what bad fallen from the Mayor with respect to the understanding with the Government. Cr Haddow thonght the agreement should have been in writing. It appeared that the Council was to have the responsibility of the management of the gas and water works, but to have no control over the finance. Resolved, That the Finance Committee wait upon the Government in reference to the matter. In reply, to a question from Cr Fell, the Mayor said that he and and Cr Burn had waited upon the manager of the Bank after the resolution had been passed relative to the loan, and that he had expressed no opinion with regard to the resolution, but had said that the Finance Committee bad made an arrangement with him for an overdraft, not exceeding £1800, to, the end of January, and that he expected the Council would then keep to the agreement. The advance had been made to the Board of Works on the underStanding that when they became a Corporation a loan would be raised to meet it. He (the Mayor) did not see, in the face of the resolution being negatived, any way out of their financial difficulties. Cr Haddow : You are out of order in reflecting upon a resolution of the Council. The Mayor : I am merely replying to Cr Fell. Tbe Bank will keep faith to the end of the month, and the Council will then have to arrange for tbe overdraft. If the rates are to go towards paying it there will be nothing left for the roads. The accounts having been passed, Cr Burn, with reference to Mr Mir fin's late conduct, moved :— " That Mr Mirfin be ordered to forward to the Town Clerk, before next meeting of the Council, an ample apology for his improper behavior towards the Mayor and Counojl, at the meeting of the City Council t held on Monday, 28th December, 1874,"

, Some of the Councillors objected to trie word "ordered " ,as being too harsh. . ; Cr Fell seconded the resolution. If a servant of his Were to treat him in spch a manner he certainly should , order him what to do, and in such a manner that there would be no misunderstanding his meaning. Mr Mirfin was a servant of the Council, and, as a member of that body, he would not submit to such treatment. That hia conduct' had been utterly outrageous they must all feel. There appeared to have been some misunderstanding as to facts, and because the Mayor had read from a paper in his own handwriting, he had been accused' of being the author of it, whereas it was an extract made by him from a letter from Mr Dobson, the Provincial Engineer. He himself was not present at the time, and he certainly was surprised that no notice had been tiben of the affair by the Council. No doubt Mr Mirfin had acted in a fit of temper,- but he Bhould have controlled his temper. Servants of the Council must be taught how to conduct themselves, and if Mr Mirfin did not obey the resolution he should be instantaneously. dja.misßed. The Mayor explained his position in the matter. (As this explanation has ah^dy appeared in a letter ad- ! dressed by the Mayor to the Evening Mail, it is unnecessary to repeat it here.) He said that at the time he was reading an extract made by himself from a letter addressed by Mr Dobson to Mr Younger. He was greatly surprised and completely dumbfoundered by Mr Mirfin's conduct, and thought that he should have been supported by tbe Council. (Some of the Councillors: We had no time.) He was also much annoyed to find that some of tbe Councillors appeared to doubt him, as he was not accustomed to being disbelieved or to making statements which be was not prepared to substantiate. Cr Haddow explained that he had not clearly understood the Mayor. He was always, prepared to keep order, and considered that Mr Mirfin was entirely wrong in acting as be did. The resolution was carried unanimously. ; : The Mayor called attention to tbe fact that picnic parties wore in tbe habit of lighting fires for boiling their kettles near the dam in Brook-street Valley, and thought the practice should be put a stop to, as the. fire might spread to the wood work of. the dam. Ordered that a notice board be posted near the dam, warning people against such a practice. The Mayor said that there was one more matter concerning himself that he wished to bring forward. Since the last election he had never felt comfortable in the Council, as he bad to encounter great opposition from the Councillors at the other end of the table. Still he had always had a majority except in the matter of the loan, and as in consequence of that resolution being negatived, he saw great financial difficulties ahead with which he had not the moral courage to grapple, be should follow the example of statesmen, when they could not carry out their policy, and retire. He felt that be had not been supported as he should have been, and even the servants of the Council had been encouraged to oppose him, and Mr Younger was the only servant who bad efficiently done his work, indeed, had it not been for him, he did not know how they would have got on. Cr Haddow had Btated that the Mayor had no right to interfere with their servants who were merely to. do what the Council told them. Having met with so little encouragement he saw no other course before him but to resign. They would require as Mayor a man of thorough business habits, and in order that he should be useful they must give him their full support. Mr Dodson then handed in his resignation to the Town Clerk. Cr Hooper : Do I understand you to say that Mr Younger is the only one of tbe servants who has carried out your instructions ? Mr, Dodson : The only one who did so faithfully, and in a manner to ensure efficiency in working. I shouli have suspended those who disobeyed me but that I saw they were encouraged by the Council. Cr Fell was sure that under the Board of Works Mr Watts would never have ventured to send in such a letter as that he had addressed to the Council He regretted heartily and sincerely the resolve at which Mr Dodson had arrived. The Town Clerk said that the Mayor had most unfairly cast a slur upon him, in saying that Mr Younger was tbe only one of the servants of the Council who had obeyed his lawful orders. Ha was new to the work, and necessarily there must have been some shortcomings on his part, but he bad endeavored to do his duty faithfully, and to the best of hia ability. He wished to acknowledge the great kindness he bad received at the hands of Mr Younger, who had assisted him in every possible way. Lately he had been engaged io collecting the rates, and it was impossible for him to be doing that and office work at the same time. He did not think it right for a gentleman occupying the position of Mayor to cast such a slur upon him in retiring .from office. The Mayor did not intend to accuse the Clerk of general neglect of work, but thought that at a busy time such as that of rate collecting, the clerk should not heßitote to work night and day. Bank clerks and clerks in mercantile offices

had to do so at times, and he did not see why tbe Town Clerk Bhould not. ! The servants had not done as he wished and in this were encouraged by the Council, and therefore he felt bound to retire from tbe position of Mayor. : The Council then adjourned until Tuesday next.