THE OHURA ROAD.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 13, 15 January 1914, Page 8

THE OHURA ROAD.

QUi£GT(ON OF RE-M STALLING.

RATEPAYERS IN FAVOR OF A LOAN OF £2500.

A meeting of the ratepayers of the Central Hiding of the Whangamomona Comity Council was held in the Whangamoraona Public Hall on Tuesday afternoon to consider he question of re-metalling the Ohura Road. Mr A. Meredith, chairman of the County Council, was in the chair. HISTORY' OF THE TROUBLE. Two years "ago the Public Works Department, commenced carting heavy material over the Ohura Road in the Central Riding of the Whaugamomona ! County Council, in connection with the construction of the Stratford-Te Ko'urn railway. The road was metalled with burnt papa, which wore admirably under ordinary traffic, but the heavy Public Works traffic speedly cut it up and during the past few winters the road from Whanganiomona for about six miles has been a veritable sea of mud. Last winter the County Council decided that a more should he made to have the road repaired, and the Government, recognising that the Public Works Department had been the chief cause of the trouble promised to make a free grant towards the work of reinstatement. They estimated the cost of reinstatement at £SOOQ and promised a grant of £3500, the ratepayers to raise £ISOO by-special loan. The r.iijKu, rs, at a poll, ratified this ar-

Irangemerit. The County Engineer, however, estimated the cost of the work at £6OOO, and when tenders were called the lowest tender was in the vicinity of £0000! The Government did not entertain a proposal to make a grant of £4OOO, the ratepayers to find £2OOO. Therefore" a meeting was called for Tuesday to get an expre ision of opinion from the ratepayers as to whether they won,., agree to a loan of £2OOO, to make, with the Government grant of £3500, the £.'5000 required for the work. WHAT THE LOAN WILL DO. Mr. Meredith, in opening the meeting, detailed what had been done in the past. 'Hie £(5000 would put 8-in. of metal 1 Oft wide from Mahge-e Road to Kohuratahi railway station. The motion to raise £ISOO, passed at the last meeting, was formally rescinded; INCREASING LOAN AREA. Cr Bacon moved that the loan' include- the [Central Riding, the Wlianga Road, Ohura Road, Round Hill Road and Tirohanga Road.

Mr Geever questioned if Mr Bacon was in order. The meeting had been called for ratepayers in the Central Riding, and the other settlers affected by >!r Bacon's motion had not been notified to be present. T;ie Chairman upheld the objection.

Cr. Bacon said the Act was clear on the point that a special rate could be struck on any part of a County, and he spent wholly or partly outside the Riding in which it is struck. If Mr Geever objected to being included in the loan'ho could appeal to a Magistrate.

Cr. McCluggage said Cr. Bacon's proposal was both legally and morally wrong. It was not right to put Pohokura and Strathmore settlers,in the loan without notifying them of the meeting. Cr. Bacon should not compromise these settlers in the way ho did.

Cr Bacon said he had spoken to some'settlers on the question.

Cr. McCluggage: How many did vou see ?

Cr. Bacon said he had spoken to two settlers. Ho had given them notice of the meeting. A Voice: We don't take much notice of what you say! After some discussion Mr Geever jocularly proposed an amendment to "sneak in" the whole of the County, ns had been proposed in respect of the Pohokura and Strathmore Ridings. Mr McCluggage asked if Cr. Bacon's motion was not out of order. Cr. Bacon agreed, finally,.to add to his motion that the proposed course he followed if found legal. FURTHER INCLUSION MOOTED. Mr Geever proposed that the Tahora people and the 'settlers on Marco Road he included in the loan area. Mr Anderson thought the Central Riding was big enough to carry the burden and lie did not think it right to worry about including the few section proposed by Cr. Bacon. The Chairman asked that both resolutions be withdrawn, and the proper business of the meeting gone on with. JJe still held (bat the proposed action would be illegal.,

(V. Bacon said that if the chairman stuck to his opinion he (the speaker) would make it the basis of a Court action.

Or. McCluggago: Another throat!

Cr. McCutchau asked Cr. Bacon about the matter of appeal from inclusion in a special loan. Cr. Bacbn quoted a case which had come under his notice in which a legal opinion was given that a settler had no appeal after having allowed himself to be included in two loan areas. One loan was for access from one point and the-■other loan was for access from another point. After having been included in one lean the man could have escaped the second loan if he had protested against inclusion.

BOUNDARIES OF THE RIDINGS

Mr Low said the question of fixing up the boundaries of the Ridings should be gone into. Ono side

of Whanga Bond wis a in the loan and the oilier side was not, though both sides benefited equally. ■ The Chairman agreed with this view, but said nothing could be done at present.

Mr. McCutchan said there was some justification for the amendment, bin: if it was carried the loan would not be carried. The Riding boundaries needed altering, but the alteration took time; and he thought that that matter and also Cr. Bacon's motion, both small matters, should not be allowed to stand in the way of the excellent offer made by the Government. Mr Low thought that the settlers mentioned by Cr. Bacon should He included, on the understanding that they would come into the Central Riding later on and would not be included in any Pohokura Riding loan. Mr Goever questioned if a guaraYitee could be given that the settlers in question would not be included in a Pohokura Riding loan. The amendment was carried. Cr. Bacon expressed surprise that | the r.mendment should have been carried. In the circumstances the meet-

iil>; could proceed no further. He >roposed that the resolution be reminded.

Mi' Geever seconded, but immediately withdraw his support when he learnt that Cr. Bacon intended to •M'oss his motion.

MEETING DECLARED CLOSED.

The Chairman, after considerable futile argument, said, that unless the •esolution was rescinded and Cr. Ba■an withdraw his motion he would vaeato the chair. Another chairman 2onld be appointed if desired. Cr. Bacon: If I had any doubt as to the legal aspect of my motion 1 rt-ould withdraw it; but I have no doubt.

The Chairman: I declare the meetng closed. ',

•Cr. McCutchan appealed to the .meeting not to break up. It would 'je disastrous to miss the present ine-weather season for repairing the road. OIL ON TROUBLED WATERS. At his request Mr Meredith resumed the chair, Mr. McCutchan expressing the hope that some Understanding would be come to. Mr Geever's resolution was rescinded, and Cr. Bacon then moved his mo;ion. On the voices the motion was dedared lost, and this decision was emphatically supported ,by a show of lands.

Cr. McCluggage moved that a loan if £2500 bo applied for. The motion was carried on the voices, without discussion. THE BASIS OF RATING. The Clerk said the present proposal was that the whole of the main road sections and half of the side .•oad sections should be rated. Mr Moir: That means that the jy-roads will pay 70 per cent, and the main road 30 per 'cent, of the rate. Cr. McCluggage 1 What rot! Mr .Moir: It's not rot. Cr. Bacon said that in years to come the Whanga Road would carry more traffic than the Ohura Road, aid they would have to consider a ■teavy metalling rate. He thought ;he main road sections should bear the bulk of the burden. Cr. McCluggage said the rates ivere being struck fairly on a valuation basis and the cases Cr. Bacon juoagd did not put the case fairly, there would always be some hardships in rating. SETTLERS ON TRACKS. Mr Stockwell asked if it was fair. to ask a settler on a "by-track" oil a by-road to pay the same rate as a settler on a by-road. A settler on the top of a by-road was on a main road for all practical purposes. Mr McCiftchan said Mr Stockwell's argument was not one against the local body, but against the law of the land. The land on which Mr Stockwell was should not have been settled, but, being settled, the settlers should have access. The local body could not make a number of differential rates—the best they could do was to halve sections.

Mr F. Coxhoad proposed that the by-road's pay half the rate paid by main road sections.

Mr Alyward suggested that the settlers on tracks should be rated half as much as those on by-roads. He believed that any metal on the main road was of benefit to all settlers in the County no matter how far back.

The Chairman said that the people now on tracks would later on be on dray roads, and they would then sit with a quarter rate while enjoying u dray road.

Mr Low said that when the track settlers got a dray road they would have to deal with their own metalling. Mrs Walker said she had been on her section for t.V years and onh recently had they had a six-foot track. All that time they had willingly paid the road rate although they had no road to use. Those on jtracks were quite prepared to pay a certain amount for the proposed I metalling. J HALF AMD HALF AGREED TO. ■ i .Mr Anderson moved, as an amendment, that the by-road settlers pay half the rate. Mr Aylward thought the proposfd would not. be fair to the by-roads. Mr Anderson's amendment was carried. Cr Bacon, moved, as an amendment, that the bv-roads contribute 25 per

cent, and the maim road 75 per cent. of the whole amount. j A show of hands resulted in a tie, I and the Chairman voted against the | amendment. Cr. McCutehan entered a protest against Mr Anderson's scheme. Cr. Bacon's scheme meant that the main > road paid eight times as much as the by-roads. Under Mr Anderson's scheme the main road paid five times as much.. Perhaps Mr Anderson's I scheme was the more preferable of • the two; but he could not let the ,' meeting close without entering a proI test against the principle. Mr Anderson's amendment was then put as the substantive motion, and was carried on the voices. This concluded the business or the meeting.