FEILDING.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5070, 23 June 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)

FEILDING.

(from our own correspondent.)

I made some reference in former letters to the question of separation of the Manchester and Kiwitea Hidings from the Manawatu County ; and as the question is one of great interest to the whole county, as well as to the two ridings proposing separation—nay, it will soon be a question of colonial importance, when the petition for separation will lie on the table of the House of Representatives—and as those parties who talcc an interest in the matter would wish to know the grounds that make the scparatiou‘desirable, in the interest of the ridings petitioning for it, I purpose submitting the facts iu a separate letter, as I find that they are too important to attempt at the end of an ordinary communication. The Manchester Hiding contains the Corporation purchase of 100,000 acres, certain lands on the Gorge-road, and other small areas. In this riding is settled a population of nearly IGOO persons, represented by 400 ratepayers, contributing to the Highway Board a sum of £BIO.

The Kiwitea Hiding, which is much larger, contains about 50,000 acres, and is only now in course of being opened up for settlement. The settlers are making substantial progress in clearing the land, bub they want ro ids to it very badly. The rates this year of this riding amount to £75 7s. fid.

Tho two ridings contribute to tho Manawatu County revenue as follows :—Their share of the Government subsidy to 30th June, 1877, £377 10s.; their share of the Government subsidy from 30th June, 1877, to 31st March, 1878, being equivalent to nine months 1 rates collected on tho valuation roll (£BIO Ss. Manchester district, and £75 7s. fid. district), £065 Gs. 3d. ; four public-house licenses, £100; onc-fourth of dog tax, £SO; proportion of county rate at Gd. in the pound, £442 17s. fid. ; contribution of Manchester and Kiwitea Hidings to the county revenue, £IG9S 13s. Od. As against that contribution there is only an expenditure applicable to those ridings of £557 13s. 7d., which is less than one-third of the amount they arc fairly entitled to receive, Thu proportionate items of expenditure applicable to the Manchester and Kiwitea Hidings are as follows :—Onc-fourth of the executive, £75 ; one-tenth of the engineer’s department, being the amount proportionate to works, £35 ; formation of road, Awahuri Co Kiwitea, £300; road maintenance, nil ; ferries, nil ; one-fourth of dog tax, £lO 10s ; onefourth of hospitals, £2O 7s. Sd. ; onc-fourth of miscellaneous, £GO 3a. sd. ; one* fourth of printing, £47 3 2s. Gd. Total, £557 13s. 7d. I now proceed to give the county estimates of receipts and expenditure, as given under the authority of the Chairman of the County at the last .meeting of tho Council :—Heceipts— Balance Slat March, 1877, £2; Government subsidy to 30th June, 1877, £958 14s. 4d. ; ditto from 30th Juno, 1877, to 31st March, 1873, £ISGG ss. 3d. ; public-house licenses, £420 ; dog tax, £2OO : auctioneers’ and hawkers’ licenses, £9O ; rent of Foxton ferry, £75 ; county rate of Gd. in the £, £1044. Total, £4355 IDs. 7d. County expenditure—Executive, £300; engineer’s department, £350 ; road formation, £llOO ; road maintenance, £IOOO ; ferries, £lls ; dog registration, £42 ; hospitals, £ll7 ; miscellaneous, first election, &c, f £2lO 13s. 9d,; ditto printing, ’&c.,

£l9O 10s. ; total, £4357 3s. 9d. The County Chairman and Clerk, £3OO ; engineer, £350 ; printing, See., £IOO ; total working expenses, £BIO. Amount spent on roads, £3002 25.; amount -spent on ferries, £lls ; total, £3117 2s. The working expenses exceed per cent, of the amount expended on roads. Amount of the valuation roll of the Manchester Hiding, £16208; amount of the valuation roll for tho Kiwitea Hiding, £1507 ; total, £17,775, In justice to the Manchester and Kiwitea Fadings, considering the fact of no money being required, at least allowed them for maintenance, they ought to receive a large share of the money for now roads to give access to the back country in the Kiwitea. And out of a revenue contributed to the county of £I7OO, in round numbers, it only receives £3OO for road making; and against that sum there is £257 13s. 7d. set down in this return as expenditure on working expenses, which is nearly 100 per cent, of what it gets for road-making. Now, to contrast this expensive system of local government with the Manawatu and Manchester Highway Boards, their whole working expenses do not exceed 10 per cent, of the money actually expended on roads. The county figures I have given arc those submitted by the chairman, and therefore they arc authoritative. Tho other figures are worked out from the valuation rolls of the ridings, and therefore may be accepted as equally reliable, and they show that tho ridings proposing separation contribute more than one-third of the' county revenue’; and after making a very liberal allowance by charging one-fourth for working expenses, those two ridings only receive about one-ninth of the expenditure, and not more than one-third of the amount they were fairly entitled to, without considering that those parts of the county which have already had their roads made by tho Provincial Government might very well afford to assist the new back country with an advance to open up its bush. Tho £I6OO expended in maintaining roads, made chiefly by the Provincial Government, at all events already made, should be borne by those ridings that are benefited by them; but with regard to Manchester and Kiwitea, which have nearly all their roads to make yet, it is very hard that they should only receive back onc-third of the funds they contribute. In all fairness they ought to receive some allowance for road-making; but as there is not the least hope of getting back their own contribution to tho county revenue, these two ridings arc now very strongly bent on separation as the only remedy. This remedy will enforce economy on the Manawatu County, by making it co-oporato with the Mauawatu Highway Board, whose experience will be valuable in showing it how to reduce its working expenses. The. figures given will be useful to those who wish really to take a just view of the question shortly to bo brought before Parliament—for it will be brought before Parliament, as the petition for separation has now obtained more than the number of signatures required by law.