TOWN BOARD ACCOUNTS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 1, Issue 13, 5 June 1912, Page 3

TOWN BOARD ACCOUNTS.

Statement Still Unpresented. At the liist meeting of tho Pukekoho Borough Council, lipid on Wednesday, May Sth, the Clerk was instructed to prepare a statement of accounts showing allocation of loan moneys and tlio expenditure on the various roads. (hi May 15th a "rough and approximate" statement was presented. At that meeting a halunco sheet was asked for, and tho Clerk said he would guarantee to have it within a month. I3ut the urgency of tlie matter was so apparent (since the Council could not know how they sfood until they lcc.eived the statement, that the Council asked how much longer would he required for its preparation, and the Clerk replied, " I will ask for a fortnight." This extension of time was granted. At the last meeting of the Council May 2!Hh)the Clerk apologised for slill not having the accounts ready, hut said that so far as lie could see it would he ready at the next meeting. Cr. Coinrie asked if the Clerk had written to Mi' Wehster, Chairman of the Town Board, r> hiru to attend the Council n ting to give biich information as he could.

The Clerk replied that he had spoI ken to Mr Webster about the matter. j Mr Webster smiled, and afterwards said that they had kicked him out and evidently did not want him, so that as j far as ho was concerned ho supposed that ended the matter. i Cr. Comrie insisted that Mr AVob- ■ ster should have been written to offici- | ally. i The Mayor said that if only as a i matter of courtesy the late Town I Board should have had a statement of accounts written up and placed before the people, and apart from the ques- ' tion of right, those members in their own interests, and in the interests of the borough, should give all the assistance they could. Assistance had been courteously asked, and a rather cuit reply had been given. He did not want to say anything unpleasant, ' but if the old members declined to give assi-t nee voluntarily, there were me ins of compelling them to do so. They suggested that in going out of office their responsibility was at an ! end ; but that was not so. They had ' had large sums of money to spend, i and the law said definitely that they ! must account for that money. Cr. Johns traversed the requests i that had been made to get the state- ; ! nienf, and said they should have the | accounts, and be fully satisfied that : th°y wore correct, before tbey released j ■ the ('lerk. Cr. Comrie, referring to the request \ to Mr Webster, said the old Town j Board members were not doing their j duty to the public. i Cr. Johns asked when the Town j Board year ended, and if it was not j usual for them to present a balance j sheet in the same way as tho other local bodies did ? Nobody answered. " Don't they have a balance sheet ?" i he asked. The Mayor said that no doubt they had to prepare a balance sheet at tho end of the year, but he did not know tho exact legal position. He might say that he did not expect the accounts ' to be ready that night when the CounI cil first asked for them. He knew that when once a local body's accounts got behind it took more than a day, or a week, to get them right. He would be surprised if they had them even at the next meeting. But the Council had tho means of shifting the burden on to the shoulders of those who were responsible. They (the Council) were prepared to do the lion's share of ths work of " straightening out," but the Town Board members must help—graciously if they would. The Clerk, in explanation, said he was not himself satisfied about certain figures, and he wanted the returns to be correct before handing them over. The Mayor: What we want to know is where the money was spent, when the money was spent, and how the money was spent. The Clerk said he would let them know that.