Normanby Town Board.

Patea Mail, 8 May 1882, Page 3

Normanby Town Board.

(P R O M ODS CORRESPONDENT.) The Commissioners ! met' agkin bn . Friday evening ; all the members present. ■; ' ■ : : - Who Takes the Licenses? ' A letter was read from Major 1 Atkinson, corroborating the Board’s . previously expressed conviction that they are entitled to I ,local licenses. Va ribas clauses in confirmation of his view were pointed out by - the Major’s, letter. He tendered his opinion only as a layman, but he would draw the Board’s attention to one given by Mr. A. L. Travers to the Hutt Council,: in- favor of Town Districts, receiving . the, fees. He. disclaimed, on his own r par|, any authori tative interpretation bf the statute laws, and counselled the. BoarJto obtain solicitor’s opinion, . ■ • County Council Payments. Letter from the County Council inti.mating that £45 (by 'resolution) was handed over to the Board to be expended bn main road; and that Normanby’s share of dog tax wpnld be paid to 5 the Board after Ist July/ Income, and How to Spehd It, / The Chairman /estimated receipts from all sources at £l2O. That would -be available after making necessary deductions for management. He then submitted a. proposal, for expending nearly the whole income on the business 1 portion of the town. Mr Qnin objected. He had a scheme of disbursement by which - one-third of

sthe funds would be laid out on the extension. He thought the money raised in a particular district should be there iexpended., That was his theory, and land ,any other would be most unfair to the ratepayers. :A: slight passage of arms .now occurred ’between Mr Quin and the. Board.

The Chairman considered he had been ; placed, .in, his present position to protect the interests of the town. Trade was the life-of a place, and it was the duty iof the.Jßoard to do all in.their power to promote, trade. Though the town had been., extended, he thought there, had ; been no particular necessity for it.

j Mr... Quin, in reply, would remind [Commissioners that he had been placed on-,that; Board by .an . overwhelming ;majority, and was relied upon by them ito see to their interests. He was of opinion, that the settlers would, be robbed by the manner in which it was now iproposed to expend the rates. We had an instance of factional management in the railway station affair, which had been procured by a side-wind. It was the talk of the whole country. The subsidence of traffic was due to high prices ruling. Two-thirds of tbe townspgppl.e Hawera., , Mr Howe objected to the word robbery as applied to the Board.

The other Commissioners assented to the disapptbhation'expressed.

‘ Mr Quin could see it in no other light. To spend rates at other places than .where they were collected was robbing the people of their money. Mr Rowe questioned the wisdom of entering upon recriminations. Let the appropriations be laid out to the best advantage.: ; i Mr Quin did not think the Board would be so dishonest as to spend the money unfairly ; but he had a majority Against liim, and a majority was a tyrannical thing.

i Chairman : I think you are mistaken, Mr Quinn. : There is no 'intention of spending the rates prejudicially to the general interest. Mr Quin: I take that statement as what you mean. But it would be monstrous to expect the Extension residents to fight their way through a'compact mass of supplejacks. (Laughter,) At this stage it was agreed to adjourn for half-an-bour, to enable the Works’ Committee to consider the matter. ; Another encounter occurred after resuming, a report of which will be forwarded for next issue.

| NORMANBY NEWS. I The Norraanby mounted messenger for the Pate a Mail has been summoned as a witness to give evidence for the Crown in the case of Gallagher. The messenger happened to see the Maori lying near the road, and the horse standing' near. ; The,weather here has been the wettest known for many years. The whole surrounding country is a muddy reproduction of the notorious Mountain road.