THE COUNTY COUNCIL

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 1, Issue 58, 10 January 1913, Page 2

THE COUNTY COUNCIL

And Road Board Finance. Taking Advantage of Allocations. The monthly meeting of the Franklin County Council was held io Pukekobe on Thursday; present-Mr W. G Motion (chairman), Crs R. Higginson (Waiuku), J. A. Recall (Waipipi), Dynes Fulton and H. Wilcox (Pukekohe), R. Lyons (Mercer), J. Henry (Mauku). G. Campbell (Hunua). , HUNUA RIDING. The cl rk to the Hunua Road Beard requested the Council to get the work done in the Hunua riding as requested by the ratepayers' meeting, as the matter was very urgent. At the previous meeting the question was raised as to whether ,tbe Council could legally upen an account with the Savings Bank when it already had another banking account open. It was decided to refer the matter to the County Solicitor (Mr Hanna), and the following questions were put:— 1. Cin the Council invest any of their funds either with a body or bank, outside the bank appointed aa the Council's bank? 2. Parliament has voted several sums for various road districts upon a £ for £ basis and i i some instances the Road Boards are uot in a position to finance to the extent of subsidising the vote. Can the Council borrow to assist these several Road Boards If they express their desire in that direction and their willingness to be rated to pay interest upon such sum or sums as may be allocated to the said districts? 8. If'the Council can assist the Road Boards as above, which body must cauy oat the preliminaries—that is, the poll—and which body must ciii-y out the works? In some instances the work will extend into two Road Districts, or rather will benefit the adjoining (Ustrict; in one instance it will be partly in a roid district and partly in the outlying part of the County, but both the Road District and the out* lying are in the same riding." M- Hanna replied aa follows:--l. I do not think that the local body has any power to invest funds with another body or with a bank except as provided in the Counties Act Sectiion 112 provides for the establishment of a county fund consisting of rates, tolls, money» received by the Council in pursuance of any Act, and mine';B received from various other sou ces. These moneys are to be paid into the County Fund Account of the franklin County, from which fund moneys cannot be withdrawn except for authorised purposes. From the sections it is clear that only ' one bank account is contemplated." 2 With regard to assisting Road Boards, I »m of opinion that the Council can do so. Section 151 enables the Council to agree wi'h any Koid Board for the execution by the Board of any public work within its district, ar,d section 162 enables the Council to pay "by way of subsidy" to the Road Boards auch moneys as it thinks fit to be expended on such road works aa the Board may have power to undertake. 'l'am of opinion that the County Council has power to raise or borrow money for the purpose mentioned No authority or power seems to be necessary to raise the mon;y by way of overdraft. I fear the powers of the Rosrd Board to carry out the work would be limited to the work within the Road District, and that any work in any ou<lying district would require to be done by the Council itself." Cr Campbell aajd he was glad that Mr Hanna supported the view he had held all along, namely, that the County could help the Road Boards. Cr Henry: With respect to tht banking, it appears that the Act gives a practical monopoly tu the institution named as the County bank, and I don't think that ia right at all. Cr Lyons: The solution of our difficulty is to remove our account to the Savings Bank altogether. Cr Henry: That would not do, because we could«not then draw cheques. Cr Lyons: The School Committee! do it Cr Renall said the beet thing the Road Boards could do, in order to secure County support, was to merge«aw at once. JP Cr Campbell said some people had got the idea that the Council intended to make it a condition, before extending help, that the Boards would merge, He had said nothing of the kind, and desired to keep the two points separate. What he contended for was that the Council should finance the Road Boards so long as the Boards w.r> prepired to saddle themselves with th' rates. Mr Motion: It was quite understood that any Road BoadLteld take advantage of the Countjrnelp tn enable them to avail thoielvea of the Government übsidieo^L Cr Fulton said that in his district there was a stretch ot three-Miles from the Tuakau railway station to * the Waikato bridge for which they • I

put rrj.Jlci.lly no rates at all; the ■- P ,< j»* > **^ pe ro *d served were not County—but .the road was. Mb* m rant a big drain on this di"mct; be did not think the Road Board could finance the matte: and he want.a the Council's assistance there. Cr Ktnall: Is the assl tanee wanted that the Couneil should raise a loan in Cr Fult n'sown district, aid not over the whole County? Cr Fulton: That is so. Mr Motion: We reed net raise a loan at $1; we can employ our overdraft if lie choose. Ci Retail: What I lave maic- ' taired all alrng is that tbe Road ' Boards have the power to laise the loans themselves, and they should do ao independently of the Council. Cr Wilcox: But (he Road Boards may preiently so oat of existence altegethef! Cr Henry: Another argument was that the Council, being tbe more influential body, could raise' the money to better fdvantage than the Foard'. Cf Campbell agreed with this. So far as Huoua was concerned—and he used Hunua distiict only to illustrate his point, and not because tbe district was alone to be benefitted—it was a question of expediency and conv.cienKe that the Council should do tbe financing, the district itself being prepared to bear its resronnbilities. Cr Renall: Yes, but if anything ' goes wrong with the district the whole of tbe County will be responsible for the debt, and- I will not Be a party to that Ihe Road Boards should raise the morey themselves Cr Fulton: One difficulty' in my district is that the Road Board may merge before we rould complete the work. lam quite prepared that the ■***• district should pay the rate necessary. * Cr Campbell again disclaimed that he was fighting for Hunua exclusively; he wanted every district to benefit In Hunua the rates now were especially heavy, covering three loans. They had got their roads in fair order except at th<? approach tram Papakura, and to the bounds»j of what is now tbe Drury riding, which was in a deplorable condition The £4400 which represented their borrowing could not be exceeded by much more. Now the Government had agreed to pay over £7OO subsiav on a £ for £ basis. A petition was in circulation in the Hunua road district to merge m March 31st next; if the merging took place it would simply mean that tbe Council would be throwing away £7OO, which could be taken advantage of now. Hunua was n; t asking tbe Council to give it anything, as it was quite prepared to ' pay a special rate. He prophesied, too, that tbe merging would be a fulfilled condition on March 31st Cr Renall repeated bis view about the subsidies, namely, that if they were not used now they would be repeated next year, so that nobody would be penalised. It was an extreme thing to say they would lose £7OO. . Mr Motion: If the subsidies are not taken advantage of by March 31st they will lapse. Cr Fulton: A bigger point is that the work shoukLbe gone on with at once. Cr Campbell said he did not want an "extension" of tbe grants, bat a "repetition" of tbem! He wanted to see this year's sum used and to get another next year. He strongly supported Cr Fulton's idea of getting tbe work done now. Cr Henry thought that Cr Campbell's requeat was fair ard reasonable and should be supported. 'Cr Rrnall: Suppose we advarce the money to the Boards now, out of overdraft, and soppos* the Boards, having got the money, refuse to take up a loan; where will this Council [ stand then? Cr Campbell: All you have to do is to strike a special rate to cover the amount. The motion passed at the previous meeting—committing tbe Council to financing the Road Boards (in the way of ■ dvancing money to enable tbem to take advantage of the (joverrment grants) if it could legally do so—was read. Cr Henry moved, That this motion be confirmed, and that tbe clerk be instructed to take the necessary steps to raise the money for Hurua, and for such other ridings as require it This was duly seconded and carried without further dissent being expressed. Mr Motion and the County Clerk were authorised to interview various financial institutions to ascertain upon what terms the required money can be obtained, and report. Tbe monies so far applied for are—Hu.iua riding £ISOO, Pukekohe riding £IOO. [The general report of the Council's meeting will appear in Tuesday's issue.]