A SPRAG IN THE WHEEL.

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 56, 20 November 1924, Page 2

A SPRAG IN THE WHEEL.

COUNTY LOAN PROPOSALS. Alleged Irregularities. Petition to Parliament. The principal business before the Matamata County Council on Friday was in connection with the petition of Peter Muirhead and 39 others, of Karapiro riding, praying Parliament to give them relief in respect to the Matamata County loan proposals recently carried, and wherein the ratepayers gave their sanction to the council for the raising* of £210,000 for road works, and including the consolidation of old loans and the payment of interest on the latter at the old rate of 4i per cent per annum. The petitioners merely asked for relief, but nevertheless the petition had the effect of quashing the council’s enabling clause in the Wash-ing-up Bill. The full text of the petition will be published later. The county clerk (Mr. A. Lewis) traversed the matter fully in the following copy of a letter to the Superintendent of the State Advances Department:—

44 I beg* to acknowledge receipt of yours of the 31st ult., covering* a copy of the petition relating to the above. The poll on the loan was taken on the Ist ult., and resulted:—For the proposal 583, against the proposal 235. Sixteen of the petitioners are not ratepayers in the Whitehall district of the Karapiro riding* from whence the petition originates. Karapiro riding has 91 names on its roll and has a capital valuation of £254,405.

“ I will deal with the petition by replying to the numbered paragraphs, 1,2, 3,4, 5 and 6. The loan proposal has been under the consideration of the council since early in the present year. All discussions at the council meetings are reported by the local Press, which has on different occasions commented on the proposal. The provisions of the ‘ Local Bodies Loans Act, 1913,’ Section 9, sub-section (b) and of section 10, sub-section (2) were duly complied with. The purposes of the loan were duly stated in the published notices of intention to borrow, ; also on the voting* papers used at the poll. The Statutory Notice of Intention to borrow was published in a newspaper, the New Zealand Herald, which has a circulation throughout the whole of the county, on the following dates: 30th August, 6th, 13th, and 20th September, 1924. The notice of the poll was similarly advertised on the 13th.. 20th, 27th and 3.oth September, 1924. Enclosure herewith gives particulars of advertisements. The Independent quoted by the petitioners is a paper circulating in the Cambridge portion of the county and seen by possibly seven or eight per cent of the county electors. This paper, with another, the Matamata Record, published in the county, received the advertisement in order to give further publicity to the proposal. Further, in order to place the proposal before the ratepayers, the council held public meetings in every riding, when questions were invited and answered. Again, in order that any person unable to attend meetings might have the opportunity of learning* the details of the proposal, a full report was drawn up and published in the Matamata Record and a copy was posted to every elector. (Copy herewith). There are 1194 names on the rolls, not 2000 as stated in the petition. Records throughout the Dominion show that the apathy displayed by the electors in using their voting powers is not peculiar to this county. It is, however, certain that my council did its utmost by publicity to induce a heavy poll. Ratepayers could vote at any polling booth, irrespective of what riding or portion of the county they might belong to.

“7. The statement that the work originally done by expenditure of former loans has lapsed into decay is denied by the county engineer. The present state of the roads referred to, that carry traffic continually throughout the year is unquestionably superior to their former impassable state during wet weather. The loans or portions of loans to be taken over were expended on works on roads that are now countv roads, and as such do not solely benefit the special areas concerned.

44 8 and 9. Reference to the Buckland road loan special rate: Only one of the petitioners has property rateable for this loan, and his annual special rate is £1 8s Id. £41,000 does not absorb all special loans, but only such amount as was expended on county roads. Special loans amount to approximately £60,000, including moneys*" expended, in course of expenditure, and part now under consideration of advance to the council by your office. At present only one of the petitioners* is. paying* a special rate to the council and 23 of the 40 will not be' liable under the proposed Whitehall loan. This loan is not yet raised, being one by consent and subject to the money being raised at the rate provided by the State Advances

Office. There are 16 named on the special roll of this area, the capital value of whose properties is £59,145, and the area 9426 acres. “ 10. Rabbit board areas: Several , exist in different parts of the county. The ratepayers under the rabbit boards have not suggested that such boards constitute an objection to the laying* down of roads in permanent material. 44 11. The proposal provides for the improvement of abrfut 7 miles of roadway to Cambridge; the rail, market and shopping centre of the petitioners. 44 12 and 13. Karapiro is one of the nine ridings in the county, but is much less than one ninth of the area oi valuation of the county. The valuation of Karapiro riding* is £254,405, whilst that of the county is £2,906,074. The total length of county main roads in the county is about 180 miles, of which about 15 miles is in the Karapiro riding*. The suggestion that the petitioners may, use an alternative route refers to possibly 6 of the number. To say that the rest who now use the route as set forth in the proposal, may take a longer and more difficult graded route, when a permanent surface is laid down, is ridiculous.

44 14. Experience has proved that permanent surfaces must reduce maintenance costs, and that sand and mud roads must receive constant attention, and cannot stand up to weather and present day traffic. The saving of maintenance costs must, in the council’s opinion, result in a lesser general rate being levied. “ 15. The petitioners’ opinion.

44 16. It could not be a material reason, owing* to the number of votes involved, in relation to the size of the majority. Tokoroa booth, where there are no special rates and electors’ properties are 15, to 28 miles from rail head, voted for 36, votes against nil; Okauia (l-6th of Id special rate), four to nine miles from rail head, 20—nil. “ 17. There is no rule of law whereby mortgagees in these cases could not have been placed on the roll.

44 18. Statement attributed to the engineer has that officer’s unqualified denial. The chief objector and opponent of the proposal, with property at. the county’s boundary (outside the Whitehall special area, owing to objection to inclusion of his property) put a question with the inference that Whitehall was not getting a fair deal. The reply was that Whitehall roads were extremely hilly, and would need heavy expenditure to make them good, and they would still be steep and traffic costs would always be heavy. The chairman replied that no objection would be raised by the council to the objector seceding from this county. 44 19. The majority of the ratepayers in the county hold** a different opinion.

44 20. The council is elected by the ratepayers and this loan proposal has been long* and earnestly considered for the betterment of the county and on behalf of its ratepayers.” The chairman (Cr. J. W. Anderson) remarked that the petition was sent in at the last moment, when it was too late f 6? the council to reply. A most misleading letter had been published in a certain newspaper just a day before the poll, with the same object of defeating the loan proposal. Cr. S. H. Judd said that only one clause appeared in the petition which was against the particular part of the legislation the council had asked for, namely, power to consolidate the old loans under old rate of interest. That clause should have been passed. Cr. W. H. Allen said the legislators had not been doing their duty, for the proposed legislation was of great importance to the Dominion as a whole. The primary producers were not receiving encouragement. Cr. Judd endorsed, stating that the Government offered no help to local bodies to go to the London market to get loans at a low rate of interest. The Prime Minister had referred them to the local market, at high interest rates. The Main Highways were coming on. and no county was receiving proper and adequate assistance with its financing. The engineer said the council was the victim of deliberate misrepresentations. The letter which" appeared in a certain new.spaper was full of inaccuracies, which the writer knew'

Cr. Judd said that a court of law was the place for the petitioners to inspect the loan, and not the House. No matter how true the petition may be in some respects’, it should not have affected the particular clause that was the essence of the proposed legislation. He thought the council should take strong exception to the action of the Minister and others reponsible for the throwing out of the proposed legislation. Cr. Judd moved that the whole matter be laid before the Hon. J. G. Coates, pointing* out that the local bodies who were endeavouring to fall in with the Minister’s highway scheme were being obstructed in that policy, and asking if the Minister was aware of the fact. Cr. K. S. Cox seconded.—Carried .

The engineer (Mr. M. E. Fitzgerald) pointed out that Cr. J. Folilen could not spend any more of his [ £30,000 riding loan on other than rid-

ing roads. The Matamata and Puta- ] ruru ridings only were financial. i Cr. Pohlen thought that the whole loan business should stand over for j twelve months. The alternative was to take fresh loan proposals, which he did not favour. The chairman thoughc that before another year was out general legislation might be passed to cover the special clause the council wanted. The clerk said he had received enquiries from local body clerks and solicitors all over the Dominion in regard to the clause, showing that tiic ' local bodies wanted similar legislation. Cr. Pohlen said that whatever might be spent in future out of the Matamata riding loan would depend on what refund was to come from the Highways Fund. He moved that the treasurer’s report be received, and that this officer be thanked for the -trouble he had gone to in compiling it, and that it be given serious consideration.—Carried. It was decided to carry on with works for which moneys had already been provided. The works referred to were the metalling* of the Waharoa-Turanga-o-moana road, and at Overdale, Putaruru and Okauia. 44 We are taking things too quietly,” said Cr. S. H. Judd, 44 and we ought to protest forcibly. Councillors feared that the council would have to put off many of its workmen, and that a deputation should go to Wellington in connection with the matter. Cr. E. J. Darby: The main highways will be the main mudway. The engineer pointed out that many of the bridges were in a state of collapse and badly needed repairing. The holding up of the loan money would make matters infinitely worse. Cr. Judd: I will be one of the deputation if I am allowed full freedom in regard to what I am going to say. (Laughter.) Cr. E. J. Darby moved that the clerk communicate with Wellington and endeavour to arrange for a conference between the Prime Minister and Minister of Public Works and the county chairman, clerk and engineer. Cr. Judd seconded.—Carried with emphasis.