THE PROPOSED BOROUGH.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 5, 7 July 1883, Page 2

THE PROPOSED BOROUGH.

To accordance with the announcement published on tho previous*:, week, a public meeting, vas held on Saturday evening I,'nt, the 30th nit., for the purpose of taking into consideration the desirability ov .otherwise of taking stop? to form the district into a Borough under the Municipal Corporations Act -of 1876. Though the night was dark and the weather threatening and showery, about 100 residents attended, and manifested great interest in the proceedings. It was evident that public feeling- ran in favor of the proposal, and after tho convincing address of Mr Wells, who, in the absence of the convener, accepted the duty of explanation, dometlxi'ig approaching* to enthusiasm was created. Shortly after 7.30, the time fixed for the , meeting,, on the motion of Mr Lavery, seconded by Mr Lipsey, Mr Wells was unanimously elected to, the chair. The chairman asked Mr Crump to act as clerk, and to read the advertisement calling the meeting. The chairman said his first duty would be to apologias for the unavoidable absence of Mr H. E. Whi taker, our energetic fellowtownsman, convener of thi-s meeting. All present would regret Mr Whi taker's absence, and no one more than 1 himself. At the eleventh hour he had been compelled to leave only that morning for Wellington, on important public biHine-;3 connected alike with tho goldfijlds and the proposed Boion«-h. Much against liis inclination he had yielded to public' pressure, and he (the Chairman) felt sure the meeting would not only exonerate him, but give- him 'their best thanks and wish him a sriocessful trip and a speedy return. Tho business boforo tho meeting might be said to bo broadly wh.it for our dis trictis the best system of loc.il self-govern-ment obtainable. He would briefly notice the four systems, either of which in sonv> form awaited our choice, viz., Road Boards, "'own Boards, Boroughs, under the Act, 1876, and Counties, and by giving a short resume of the two most suitable show why, i» his opinion, the Municipal Borough was the form best suitf-d to meefthe requirements of a rising and important goldfiolds district like our own. After considering the several systems, it would be for the meeting to decide, lirst, would they change from their present system, and, if so, which of the other three would they try to adopt. He -would speak first of the county systeni. The Pinko County Council had done all for this end of the district that could be expected of them, and more than most other councils similarly circumstanced probably would, bu-in many matters their ability foil short of thtiii incliuatiotH. The fact that Mr Whi taker, our energetic and enthusiastic member of the County Council, had confessed his inability to do wliat we wished under the county system, and inviled »us to com twn Mate a change,- win very strong evidence that .our requirements were grown beyond the County Council. by Road board-*, answered admirably in agricultural and sparsely populated districts, find lor thos^ the Act was drafted, but it, was unsuitable for large centres of .population, and might, he thought, be omitted from their discussion of thin evening. The real tri^l ,'or test hiy between a town district and a municipal borough. He would say en passant that the Town District Act ,was introduced to the Government by the 1 QambnUge Board, who weiv trying to get a Cambridge* Town Board Act, pas^eci.' Ho was Chairman of the latter Board, and assisted in drafting i 4he, original bill. Ho mentioned this* to show that under certain circumstances' he approved of the measure, and was a warm supporter of it. In Cambridge the Act worked well, but" there were great, (ii if enmees .between that to\yn and To Aroha. The former was a purely agricultural township, whilst our own was both an agrfcultural and mining centre, with a large goldliold to provide for and its revenue to administer. In many respects'thei powers of Town boards and Borough councils were identical, but in others they were not: One grcut defect in the Town Board Act (from a townsman's view) was that a town district still remained a portion of the county in which it w.iB situated (vide sec. 10 Town' DUlrict Act, which he read) and so li ible to County rates, and subject to Comity juricdiution. He need hardly say he had nothing to cjo with drafting that clause (Laughter.) Mr Whyte did his best Pi get this clause struck out, but the supporters of tjie County systems f in, tho .House were t(>o ( strong for him'/ As 'an 'illustration of how J this, clause sometimes worked, he st-ited that the Cambridge Town Board had applied under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act for a lean of £700, bju were informed by the Government that the application must ibeanade' through: th* County Council, and further, that' if tnu application was not in, within three days of his (*tWObiurinkn) receiving' lhe-notiqe, it would be too lato tV be considered ttfis year. In the meantime die County Chairman was ab<entfroai home, and was being huntr I I) ,• Vie Town Cl ii ''s by tA •?r -mx in all cl recuoiiß. jAgain, althougn the vVai

kato County Council admitted that the Town Board were entitled 4 to to the Publican^License fees, the clerk fliun, ami haj takpnftlilir money, |enae|fing; *the* TJown 3? Boara a cheque v for the balance after deducting certain stoppages. Pie could furnish other instances or HioW the two -ooaiea jar under aim War but if they would only draw ftpoirtheir imaginations of how a.ship«woulcLwork.m,inne(l by .two** crews, commanded by two captajns, they, have* a fair, representation of hovtf the dual system of Town Boards* and (^ounty Councils work* in' one district:' Again) as a Borough, they , would have larger, anticipations from Endowments. The' clause ,in the Municipal Act of i 1876, which entitled Borough to large endowments had been repealed,, but ohe, Government" had stated in'reply to a question by o,ur member Mr. J. B. Why'te, that they 'intended to ask Parliament this session for power to endow Boroughs with a portion of the Government lamjs lying witjriu Boroughs. 'But even -without tliis proposed new 'Ac t the speaker was of the. opinion, that so long as the' government possessed the land within the towns, they could under the Plan of Towns Act 1875, endow the proposed Borough to the exteut of one tenth of its entire acreage. The lands proposed to be included within tha Borough a*p.d J still, in .the hands of "the Government might notyet be comparatively speaking, very valuable, ' but if the town became the progressive place they all thought it and hoped it would, these lands would soon become of great value. He then instanced the Thames 'High School Endowment ;at .Waiorongomai. Having made some futhe'r remarks, on Reserves, and municipal, powers generally, he saicl he thought he had taken up'alreidy too much of their tiino." If however any gentleman present wished to ask him any question on anything he had not ma : de clear on he would, be happy to announce to the best of his ability. He had been for the last ten years cpntinuously either C hairman of a Road Board, Town Board, or Domain Board, and latterly *i member of the Waikato County Council, which gave him opportunities of observing the several working of these Boards. He thought the Borough the most desirable form of selfGovernment, not speaking as a representative of any portion, of the proposed Borough If Waiorongomai became more important than Te Aroha} His firm would speedily be there, but in any case the interests of all the districts witjrin the municipal limits were .bound up together,', and he would ask all to regard the propouls to be brought before them- in a broad light, and to consider what was beat i'o-i the district as a whole, it was most essential that they should occupy an important stand as a large goldfield.s boiuugh, lather than be slit up into small and insignificant boroughs or boards. When tho borough was formed it was quite competent for tho burgesses to petition to .have the municipality divided into wards; 'tho Act permitted the creation of not less than three, or not more thin six in any borough. Each of these wards would be in fact a little town board in itself, but forming part of a whole large council, and when they had any representations to make or favours to ask, Jj.ir greatei weight would be attached to their requests an a large and influential body. He concluded by reminding them of the old fable relative to the bundle of sticks, which united could not be broken, but when ' loosed and scattered could readily be singly snapped across. Just so in the present case, if united they could do a great deal^ but if divided, nothing. (The speaker at the conclusion oH hia address J was loudly and warmly applauded.) Mr Caff moved the following resolution — "That it is desirable to take immedi- ! ate steps to have the Te Aroha district proclaimed a borough under the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1876, the boundaries of such borough to be those sho.wii on the plan prepared by Mr Crump, which includes the Waiorongomai mines and township, Te Aroha townshie and the Government township on thp western bank of tho Waihou river." He | had little to add after the able exposition J th'? Chairman had given them. The above resolution did not reier to the Te Aroha township, but to Te 'Aroha district as' a whole. He might mention that it was not an idea ot the day, but had been entertained some, months ago, when several gentlemen met to discuss it, but it was thought to be then premature. Now, however, with the largely increased population, it was found absolutely necessary that something should b« done towards procuring local self-government. He relerred to the fact mentioned by the previous speaker, that either as a town board or road board they would still be under the jurisdiction of the County Council. In speaking of Mr Whitaker he said that gentleman had been called away at a moment's notice, chiefly in the interests of the tramway. Jie paid a high tribute to Mr Whitaker's indefatigable exertions fur the district as a member of the County Council, but oue . member was n t sufficient, and the time had ,'come Wheu they should have, a governing body bf 'their own. He gave a description of the foundries of the proposed municipality which would include all revenue praying sou rees, including the duty on gold produced within its limits. This alone, presuming that only the present battery was at work, crushing 500 tons a week, with a yield of only half an ,oz to the ton average, would give a handsome income.' He spoke of opposition in one" part of v the proposed 'Borough', through jealousyt'hat'Te £roha would .overi;ia!e ! ,the .other, parts/ He showed liowjinp(Vssi6le*lt' would be for ahy part to ha"vb more tharf'-its fail share of attention and expenditure, in carrying out needed worksjund concluded by, specially impressing oil "those jjreserit'th it this resolution had reference" to Te Aroha district, and not to Tw Aroha township alone. - Mr Tonge briefly beconded the resolution. , : The Chairman sn'd there was one small matter^ iri- connection "withujtown boards, constituted under' the'Towii District /Act This was that tliey had no power to borrow and could not even legally obtain an overdraft at any, bank. Members- could only do so "on their per.-unial security and would respectively be persorially'respbnsibjle for repayment. t Under -the Municipal Corporations Act; Borough ll 8 l could hypothecate their year's income, And could raise special, Joans, repayment bein^« extended oyer a number of years', and members 4 \yere ,not personally responsible. The resolution was then put and carried unanimously without a dissentient voice, and amid loud applause.

> Mr O'Halloran said he had hail a resolution put into his hands, which simply asked |pme of the people who approved of the |bjeot of the meeting to assist in obtaining the necessary signatures. According jbrahe Act a huudred were required. The" Resolution he would move was as follows : —"That Messrs Lavery, Pavitt, Crump, mover, be appointed a committee £o* obtain the necessary signatures required by the> Act to the petition, to be submitted Jo 'HiB-Exoel]enoythe-G-ovemor,"and'forwaTit X such petition to, tlje; .Government as soon as possible." They would see that the committee included two well - kno^-n WHiorongornai,,raen.; v \ Mr J. Wood seconded the resolution, which on being put was also carried unanimously. i . A hearty vote of. thanks'to the diairmjui tenflinajted the meeting. , . ; , ' The petition duly drawn out, with plkn &c. attached, was then produced by Mr Crump, and before leaving the room no less than forty householders,, duly attested, affixed Jheir signatures; ' >. I \