CORRESPONDENCE

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1044, 4 March 1882, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE

[ We do not hold ourselves responsible for opinions expressed by our correspondents.] LOCAL GOVERNING BODIES. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —The deputations from the County and Borough Councils must have been gratified with their reception by the Hon. Mr Rolleston. The County Council seem deeply grieved at having to accept the Road Board’s valuations for this vear, Cr. Chambers stating, as an example of what they were suffering, that one Road Board had reduced its valuation 25 per cent. Cr. Chambers should have named the Road Board that had dared so to offend. I don’t know how Cr. Chambers’s run is assessed, but I know the majority of the flat land is assessed too high, when the absence of a market and the uncertain demand for farmer’s produce is taken into account. Cr. Common considers there should be but one valuing body, namely, the County Council, who could collect the rates (why ?), and then hand over to each Road Board their share (for what purpose ?). The Road Boards can collect their own, and make their valuations much cheaper and better than the County Council, who have paid sums from £95 to £75 for valuations which were far from satisfactory. Cr. Johnson bewails the loss to the County by the election of Licensing Boards ; then why did he, being such a conservator of the ratepayers’ money, record Ins vote in favour of that “ scandalous job,” the appointment of a Government officer to collect the Dog Tax, at a salary of £lOO a year ? I say

•alary, but let me be correct, and put it in the words of one of the Councillors, who told me that it was given to Mr Orbell as a “ bonus ” for his energy in clearing their runs of scab. Yes—and that bonus came out of the ratepayers’ pocket#, and was given to a Govern-, ment officer for performing his duty. There was collected of the Dog Tax previous to this economical appointment £l7O at a cost of £l7. It will be instructive to see how much more has been collected this year for the extra £B3. I hope Mr Rolleston won’t leave us with the impression that we are satisfied with County Councils as at present constituted, but rather that we are sick and tired of their crude ideas and lavish expenditure, and will hail as an immense relief Mr Hall’s proposition to amend the Act this session, giving us the power to cast this incubus off our backs, and retain our cheap and effective Road Board system. — Yours, &c., Quid.