PAPAKURA.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 225, 10 November 1916, Page 1

PAPAKURA.

SALE YARDS REMOVAL.

DISCUSSED BY TOWN BOARD At the meeting of tho Papakura Town Board last Monday evening the matter of the proposed removal of the sale-yards was once more referred to, tho chairman (Mr R. M. Gillespie) submitting the following report, viz : "Sinco the previous meeting of the Board, I have waited on the N.Z. Loan Co.'s Manager, the Board's Solicitor, the Health Department and the Methodist Church Trustees. On looking through the correspondence that has passed between the Board and the Loan Company and the Health Department, I find that the Board has been negotiating for the removal of, or the improvement to, these yards since May, 1912. Early in 1915 the Health Department wrote to the Board strongly advising proceedings against the Loan Company for permitting an undoubted nuisance to exist. Absence of by-laws has certainly complicated the position. In submitting the matter to the Loan Company's manager and the Church Trustees I was confident that diplomacy would succeed without the aid of Court proceedings. I was satisfied with the offer of the Loan Company and arranged a meeting with the Trustees of the Methodist Church. The meeting took place in the Methodist Sunday School Hall on the 24th ult. I made known to them that the Loan Company would vacate the yards if the Trustees would cancel the balance of the lease. The Trustees met me in a friendly spirit, and I was hopeful of good results, when Mr Campbell, a member of this Board, who appeared in the hall uninvited, gave the Trustees to understand that the Company would shift without any concessions from the Trustees, as the Company were going on with the new yards soon as their staff had completed at Fukekohe. That the Company had no intention of putting in another winter in the present yards, and they would shift about Xmas next. This unwarrantable interference on Mr Campbell's part has held the matter up for the present.

I hope to submit a definite statement at the next general meeting of the Board."

Proceeding Mr Gillespie strongly deprecated Mr Campbell's interferference in the matter and related how Mr Campbell had without an invitation attended a meeting he (tho chairman) had arranged, and by his conversation had practically thwartod his (the chairman's) efforts. Mr Campbell had said that he was justified in attending the meeting as he claimed that it was open to tho Board as a whole. Mr Gillespie contended that he alone was authorised to deal with the matter on behalf of the Board and although Mr Campbell had no business to be present at the meeting, he only objected when Mr Campbell made unwarrantable interference. Mr Gillespie then road a copy of a letter ho had forwarded to tho Manager of the N.Z. Loan and M.A. Co., under date of October 25th, viz.: " After my interview with you yes-

terday re Sale yards here, I had an interview with the Trustees of the Methodist Church. I gave then: t'u understand that if they would ac< ept the surrender of the balance of your lease of the yards, yo'i sve're prepared to expedite the building of the new yards and vacate tho present premises. Following m> statement, one of the individuals pro cut stated that your Company's Intention was to vacate the premises at an early date that your Company had no intention of putting another winter in on the present site. That so soon as your carpentering staff had finished at Ptikekohe they would bo employed at Papakura on the new yards. This, Sir, has tied me up till I hear from you. The individual I believe is not one of the Trustees, and he did not represent the Trustees, and he did not represent the Papakura Town Board. His motives being solely personal. Would you favour me with a statement at an early date and oblige ?"

The reply from the Manager of the N.Z. Loan Coy. was read by Mr Gillespie as follows :—" lam in receipt of your letter of 25th inst, and note what you say. I can assure you there is no truth in this statement that you mention as having been made by one of the individuals present at the Methodist Church meeting. What I told you at our interview last week was exactly the fact. No decision has yet been come to regarding the removal of our yards and while I cannot promise you that the yards will be removed' to our freehold property, so soon as I can advise our inspector that either the Church Trustees will cancel our lease or that we will be relieved from any payment in connection therewith, yet I have little doubt that our inspector will accept our recommendation that the yards be vacated early in the new year." Mr Markwick complimented the chairman on the capable manner in which he had dealt with the matter. Referring to the action taken by Mr Campbell he said : " I think it's a down right piece of impudence for Mr Campbell to have entered the meeting and interfered without having been asked so to do by the Board."

Mr Campbell • " I went there to listen and I would not have spoken had Mr Lloyd been absent. The chairman: Mr Lloyd was there by invitation and if Mr Holt had been available he too would have been there.

On the motion of Mr Markwick, seconded by Mr McKinistry, the matter was left in the chairman's hands to proceed still furthor therewith. Mr Richardson mentioned that the Methodist trustees had gone into th« matter and had been in communication with tho New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company and the Chairman of the Synod, without whose sam tion they could do nothing. He added that the chairman might get a definite reply from the Trustoes very shortly. The discussion then dropped, but in accordance with a suggestion of tho Health Officer it was decided to servo notice on the Company to thoroughly clean tho yards.