CITY COUNCIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4611, 31 December 1875, Page 2

CITY COUNCIL.

Thursday, December 30. Present: His Worship the Mayor, Councillors Oleland, Mills, Dransfield, Pharazyn, George, and Greenfield. THE NEW MAYOR. Councillor Mills formally mentioned that Mr. Hutchison had been elected to the office of Mayor, and had made the usual declaration. His Worship then took the chair, and said he had the honor of taking the chair on this occasion for the first time by virtue of his election to the officeof Mayorby the citizens of Wellington. That fact alone would, he thought, be a sufficient guarantee that on all occasions the dignity of the chair would be maintained, and he trusted that notwithstanding any hasty prejudices which might have been formed, they would accord him every support. He claimed that support now more by virtue of his position, but he doubted not that as time moved on they would be inclined to accord him personal consideration. He would impress upon members the propriety of even absolute necessity of rule and order being observed so that there might be full discussion on ali matters that came before them ; and he might say that personally he was desirous there should he full discussions. He was really desirous of cooperating with every member of the Council, and it was his desire to be useful as far as he could be in promoting the interests of the great and important city over which he had been called upon to preside. MINUTES. The minutes of previous meetings were then read and confirmed. THE CITY ACCOUNTS. The Town Clerk laid upon the table the usual yearly accounts, and stated that the auditors had not yet sent in th-.ir report. The Mayor stated that he believed there had been some misunderstanding on the matter of the auditors’ report. A friendly correspondence had taken place between the Town Clerk and the auditors, which would explain the whole matter, but Mr. Hester had doubts whether he ought to produce the correspondence, as it had not been official. Councillor Cleland said he had a conversation with Mr. Macdonald, one of the auditors, who had said that the whole of the correspondence was intended for the Council. Therefore he could not understand what had just been said. It was entirely in contradiction to what had been related to him. A letter was brought by a messenger at this stage of the proceedings, and The Town Clerk then read the following report from the auditors “We have the honor to inform you that we have audited the accounts of the City of Wellington for the year ending the 30th day of September last, and have to advise you that the statements of receipts and expenditure for the undermentioned accounts, viz., general, waterworks, wharf, and reclaimed lands, have been compared with the hooks and vouchers produced and found correct, but that we disallow the whole of the undermentioned statements, viz., assets and liabilities general account, assets and liabilities waterworks account, and profit and loss waterworks account. “ Our reasons for such disallowance are that the statements are incorrectly drawn, and do not balance ; further, that no balance sheet of the waterworks account is presented as required by Clause 46 of the Wellington Waterworks Act, 1871. “ The Town Clerk (Mr. Hester) is careful and painstaking, and what he does we believe is thoroughly carried out ; but the system, or rather the want of system, on which the accounts are kept renders it impossible to prepare the necessary balance sheets required by the Municipal and Waterworks Acts, &c., with positive accuracy, hence no satisfactory audit can he made. “ We did not bring this question specially before your attention last audit, as we had hoped that during the year a more accurate system of bookkeeping would have been introduced, but as this has not been done, we have simply now to express our opinion that unless the city accounts are for the future kept by double entry, they will ere long he in a hopeless state of confusion. “ We understand the City Council departed from the system of double entry formerly carried out—and which had been approved by the superintendent of the province—without the sanction of that officer, which a reference to Clause 167 of the Municipal Corporation Act, 1867, will show is required. “ Looking at the whole question—and there are many points in it that we have not touched upon—we would strongly urge upon you the immediate necessity that exists for changing the system of keeping the accounts, so that they may at all times show the working of the Corporation business in a clear and intelligible manner. —We have, &c., “T. Kennedy Macdonald, ) . ~ “ John W. Stevenson, 1 Auditors. The Mayor thought it would he as well to defer the question, and after some little conversation, in which Councillor Pharazyn remarked that the accounts might be accepted even regardless of the auditor’s report, a proposition made by Councillor Cleland to the effect that Messrs. Macdonald and Stevenson, who were present, should be asked for explanation was rejected, and the Council appointed the Mayor, Councillors George, Dransfield, and Mills a committee to confer with the auditors. Councillor Dransfield said it would be as well that it should be clearly understood that the question raised had nothing to do with receipts and expenditure, but merely as to assets and liabilities, because the public was able to get hold of erroneous opinions on the matter. It was simply a matter as to how accounts should be kept. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE REPORT. The following report was read : “1. On letter from the Honorary Secretary Thorndou Public Baths Committee, dated 3rd inst, applying for fresh water to be laid on free of charge. The committee recommend that if the company pay for laying on the service, the water be given free of charge. Postponed for a month. “2. On letter from Charles Lucas, dated 13th instant, asking for permission to place hoardings for hill-posting in different parts of the city. The committee cannot recommend that the application be granted. “ 3. The committee beg to report that they have made arrangements with Colonel Header in terms of powers vested in them by the Council at meeting, held on the 9th December, 1875. “ 4. With reference to the petition forwarded to the Council re construction of Davis-street, the committee advise that tenders be called and the work executed when the funds will admit. “ 5. The committee have to acknowledge the receipt of a plan and New Zealand Times of 29th November, containing copy of advertisement re street tramways, forwarded by Mr. Chas. O'Neill, the promoter. “6. The committee recommend that the resolution asked for by City Surveyor’s report, of 24th December, 1875, be passed by the Council. “ 7. The committee wish to call tho attention of the Council to the continued neglect of

the City Surveyor with regard to numerous works, among others—Verandah at Pollock and Young’s shop, Lambton-quav, ordered to he altered nearly twelve months'ago ; gulln-holes in Panama and other streets ; repairs in Tinakori-road ; drain iu Sydney-street, and report on town gratings.” The consideration of the first recommendation was postponed for a mouth, the Council believing that owing to the insufficiency of the water supply it would not be wise to grant the request of the Baths’ Company this summer. WHARF ACCOMMODATION. Councillor Mills reported what had been done on the occasion of the visit of a deputation from the Council and Chamber of Commerce to the Premier, and it was resolved to call the Wharf Committee together on Wednesday to consider the advisableness of asking the Government for a loan of £3OOO, it having been understood from Dr. Pollen that the Government would be prepared to consider such a proposition. martin’s fountain. Councillor Dransfield urged the desirableness of the City Surveyor being instructed to proceed at once with the erection of the fountain presented to the city by John Martin, Esq. The Mayor suggested that the corner on which the fountain was to stand should be made ornamental, and that a fence should surround the fountain, but he did not think the city funds should he called upon to contribute to the cost in any way. Several of the Councillors dissented from this expression of opinion, and the City Surveyor was instructed to proceed with the erection of the fountain. The Mayor, in answer to Councillor Dransfield, said he would he exceedingly glad to write to Mr. Martin, acknowledging his kindness in having presented so valuable an ornament to the city. FINANCE. A discussion arose on the mode of passing accounts for payment, in which the Mayor said all contract money should be specially voted by the Council, and that large sums should not he paid away merely on the certificate of the City Surveyor. Councillor Dransfield could not agree with * the Mayor. He thought the Council could not gain any additional control over the money by such an alteration in the present practice. When the Council accepted a tender for any particular work, they in effect voted the money, and it was perfectly regular to pay the money on the certificate of the City Surveyor. If contractors found that such a certificate could he challenged, and that after work was completed they might have to wait for weeks for their money, owing to postponement of the meeting, or any other similar cause, the result would be that people would not tender. Several other Councillors spoke in a similar strain. The Mayor said he could not change his opinions on the matter, but would force it upon the Council. The matter then dropped. Wages and salary abstracts, to the amount of £l3O, were passed. After some further unimportant business had been transacted, the Council adjourned till Thursday.