THE WATERWORKS LOAN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 711, 20 July 1878, Page 2

THE WATERWORKS LOAN.

TO THE EDITOR OF IHE EVENING MAIL. Sir,—l note in your issue of yesterday a letter signed T. W. Hislop, in which the writer suggests that he would be willing to submit to the infliction of "two hours' weary talk " from me, if only I can explain the reason of the delay in the receipt of the proceeds of the above loan. Fortunately, it is not only unnecessary to make a two hours' speech, but equally unnecessary to take up a column of your space to afford the fullest possible explanations, which I purpose to give without any such verbose remarks as those with which Mr. Hislop's queries arc surrounded. First, then, the debentures were offered by advertisement for sale by the London agency of our bankers on the 2Sth February, 187 S. Tenders were received on the 7th March, 1573. A telegram advising sale was despatched on the 9th March, but was, as regards the first of it, unintelligible. It was addressed to the Inspector of the Bank at Wellington, and was wired to Oamaru on the 12th March, the Inspector stating in so doing that he was getting the message repeated. There was some delay in getting a reply from London, and on the sth April the London manager telegraphed : "Requirementsare irreparably rent property referred letter Engineer 23 July 1877 legally irrevocably secured to debenture holders reply." This was received in Oamaru on the 9th April. The passage in the Engineer's letter here referred to was evidently the following :

In a further Report, which is annexed 'or your information, you will find" that the immediate revenue to be derived from ordinary Water rates would appear to he L2OOO ; and from machinery power, LiiiOO; total, LGSOO; or 10 per cent, on the estimated cost of Works, i.e., on LG5,000. But it has been decided by the Council to set aside the rents from some valuable property for the purpose of paying part of the interest on the debentures proposed to be issued through your agency.

These rents will, it is estimated, amount to Llf>oo per annum, thus enabling the Water charges to be reduced to a minimum, without having recourse to any special assessment authorised by the Act, and allowing for the use of water for motive power and other purposes on the most reasonable terms; or, adding the LloOO to the figures before given, would show a revenue of LBOOO per annum, equal to 10 per cent, on 1.60,000.

The letter from which this passage is taken is one which was addressed to the manager of the National Bank, dated 23rd July, 1877, giving particulars of the nature of the probable cost and the calculations made as to the revenue which would be derivable from all sources, which particulars, it appears, were embodied by the Bank in London in the advertisement re the loan, which appeared in the London Times. It had never been for a moment contemplated by the Council to offer the rents referred to by the Engineer as a part of the security, but the recital by Mr. M'Leod of a resolution passed by the Council appearing to have been so interpreted, it became necessary to urge that the endowment which was agreed to by Ministers last session, should be gazetted at once, and the Mayor immediately proceeded to Wellington to urge that this should be done without delay. After a negotiation extending over some weeks, t'ie endowment was gazetted on the 14-th June. On the ISth April, the London oiiice had advised as follows :—" When 20(10 acres gazetted and allocated, pay — (next word undecipherablej Oamaru Loan." Upon this the members for the district were asked to urge that the request of the Mayor be complied with, and did so ; and as I have said, the endowment was at last, namely, on the date given (June 14) gazetted. Thereupon the Corporation was consulted by the Bank, as to whether the proceeds should be remitted by wire or by mail, and it being ascertained that a percentage would have to be paid for remission by cable, it was found that it would be to the Council's advantage to have it- sent out in the ordinary way, and instructions to remit by mail were wired to London on June 15 accordingly. There has. therefore, so far been no delay that was unavoidable. And now as regards the question of interest, the subjoined, from the instructions given to the Bank, will show that the Council had not lost sight of the point raised by Mr. Hislop. This occurs in a letter of instructions sent to the Bank, reciting resolutions of the Council passed on May 15, and is as follows :

That the Bank be instructed to remit, at once liy niiiil the proceeds of the loan, after deducting: aii amount sufficient to pay the August interest. That it I'c pointed out to the Bank that the Corporation is entitled to interest on the proceeds of the loan for the time it has been in their- hands in London, and also on the sum retained for- August coupons until payment thereof, and that the Bank he requested to include such, sum in the remittance of the proceeds 'f loan. 1 think the above supplies all the information which Mr. Hislop requires —1 have, &e. Wll. J. STiiWAIU!, Mayor.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING MAIL. Shi,—l have just perused your paper containing the report of the Nomination of Candidates for the Mayoralty, also the speeches made on the occasion by those becking election. The address of Mr. Steward, although long, and probably eloquent, seems to me a borrowed one, as r have read it before, in condensed form, in a very old Book. It reads thus: "Is, not this, great Babylon which I have built?' No doubt, sir, Mr. Steward has done much for Oamaru, and may be excused for his egotistical speech, seeing the terms in which the requisitionists speak of him; and, no doubt, his opinion is, that without him Oamaru would go to the dogs. Did it ever strike Mr. S. that a great part of his popularity might be the effect of a expenditure of public money : money, which his predecessors in office struggled hard to obtain, but which they succeeded in getting even without the assistance of Mr. S. How gratified our Representative in the House of Assembly must feel at being patted on the back by this modern Nebuchadnezzar, when, in reply to the question whether he would again proceed to the Wellington Conference, he declared he would do so, as it was his duty, which he never shirked ; but, meantime he had arranged with Mr. Shrimski to carry through the business, which he had put in trim. Fortunate Mr. Shrimski to be thus educated at the feet of this modem Gamaliel, and find himself trusted to perform duties which none of our sapient Councillors considered any one able to perform, except the golden image which they worship. I, sir, can quite understand, and sympathise with the feelings of Mr. Steward when performing his duty in Wellington during last Session of Assembly, and the rush of recollections on beholding the place and the people which the ballot box of this country had debarred him from entering and mixing amongst as an M.L. A. His feelings on the o casion must have been somewhat akin to those of that youthful couple of apple-oafcing notoriety who, some years ago. were turned out of Eden ; or of a fond lover over the grave of his first love. Think on the position, Mr. Editor, and with me drop a few weeps of sympathy for the harrowing remembrances that agonised his heart. In fancy I can hear the echoes, whioh, on the occasion of his visit,'had barely ceased to reverberate through that Colonial St. Stephens of his many soul-stirring appeals on behalf of our suffering and persecuted sisters-in-law who are legally—also on the score of morality— '

prohibited from enjoying .in amorous anil conjugal hug from an affectionate brother-in-law. But. come, let us dry our tears, and again to business. Mr. Steward seems to lay great stress on the f''ct of all Councillors having again requested him to allow himself to be nominated. Now, sir. this to my mind is the strongest argument in favor of his opponent ; as most people will allow that to have a healthy opposition is the true method of exposing abuses. But, our Mayor and Councillors arc a happy family, of which uo oue can do wrong, and where all join in singing that delightful little hymn " Let dogs delight, &c." In conclusion, sir, allow me to state, that, since writing the above. I have your report

of last night's Council Meeting, and find that one committee of Councillors have dared to hint that travelling expenses arc much too heavy. Out upon you ye mischief makers ; give us your names, so that at the impending election we may for ever banish you from our Hall of Legislation.—l am, ic, IiOBIXSOX. TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING MAIL. Sin, —My attention has been drawn to a letter signed "Brown" in your issue of the ISth inst., and as Mr. Church has replied in your issue of the 19th, I trust you will allow me to give my version of the matter, and leave the ratepayers to judge. I was in the habit during the audit of the Council's books to call at the Town Clerk's

office to lot. the Town Clerk know what books and papers we should require at night, and on one occasion I called, but finding him out, I left a memo, to have certain books and papers left out, and amongst those enumerated was "the minute book." Duriug the day I saw him at the Council Chamber, and he stated that he got my memo., but "what did I want the minute book for? I had never asked for it before." My reply was, " I want to sec it." After some conversation on the matter, he distinctly told me "that he was not bound to show the minute book," and I replied. " very well, I am not bound to sign tin? balance-sheet," and walked away. A day or two afterwards, when speaking of the matter again, he said, "I am advised not i<> leave the minute book out," meaning, as I took it, that unless we came during his office hours we could not see it. When the minute book was not forthcoming 1 left with him a list of certain items of expenditure to which I had taken exception as not having been passed by the Finance Committee, but these having been explained by him were allowed to pass. The only case of delay during the audit was the absence of certain receipts and coupons, which should have been placed at the disposal of the auditors without being asked for.

I might write more on this subject, hut do not wish to trespass too much oil your valuable space, but I wish to know why tlis letter from the auditors was not published amongst the Council's proceedings ? P'erhaps it was not politic to do so.—l am, Src, John" Looice; 0 TO THE EDITOR, OV THE EVENING JTAfL. ■Sir, —It does seem a peculiar feature in human nature that at election times an amount of bile is developed, to- relieve which indiscriminate abuse, without any regard to truth or fact, is. recklessly showered on the unfortunate victim not on

" our side ;" indeed, au election seems to affect a Britisher much as a bull light does a Spaniard. I may instance the letter signed " Brown." as a case in poivit. The writer in his zeal for Mr„ Sumpter, not content with pitching into Mr. Steward, has a dig at the councillors generally, and liuishes up with a slap at the Town Clerk. Not unlike the man in the witness-box the. morniu g after a New York free fight, who, on being asked what he was doing, replied, " only sloshing about," being pressed for a de limtion he explained, " Oh, when I saw a head I hit it." So Brown goes sloshing r mind. Taking the last first, if the auditors a'[lowed themselves to be fooled by the Towr t Clerk they are not lit for their duty, and the sooner a change is made the better. By the way, could two business men be persuaded to act as auditors ? men to whom \\\e guineas would be no object, and who would carefully go through all account s and take nothing for granted ; then the audit would be of use, and not a more me ,ttcr of form. Next, Brown calls the Coir acil a clique. That is surely the essence ' ,>f nonsense, as only a year ago four fres'a members were introduced (and a pretty 'independent lot not likely to fall into any swim). And if 1 am not misinformed, tr iere will be three vacant chairs to till o'.it of live retiring members within the ne'.vt few weeks. So if six or seven veteran'j retire within twelve months, and decline to be re-elected, out of a total of eight, whf.ro does the clique come in ? This, like all " Brown's" insinuations, being pure clap-t'rap and bunkum. As to the gentlemen w'h-, are now candidates for the i.llice i-.f M-.-.yor. assuming both to be equally lit, and both tried men, I would ask The voters to consider well this point. Mr. Sumptei- is now Chairman of the Harbor Board, and that blue ribbon ought to be glory enough for any one man, without at the same time wishing to be also Mayo-, thus monopolising all the honors in the district, and attempting what no business man can possibly spare time to do properly. But, besides all that, many matters of great imriortauee may arise, when the vested interests of the two bodies will clash, then the ratepayers may painfully realise how true it is " That no man can serve two masters.—l am, &c., Oamaru, duly 20. Nemo.