DEBATING CLASS,

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 117, 29 August 1885, Page 6

DEBATING CLASS,

A MicflTiNO of the above was held otl Wednesday evening last in the Court; House, Te Aroha. There was a large attendance of members^ and thg biibjic rally. Mr F. pavitt in the cffaft. Mr A. H. Wta'tehouse sopftliVii The subject for debate, viz. ; *'. The action of the Domain Board' in letting a monopoly of the overflow of tjf»a N Thermal Springs for ten years," The' only member of the Board present- was. Mr C« -.After- a., few remarks Mr W'hitehonse opened the sulm jeut for discussion by reading Jtj>^ repWt of Mr flobson's a^pplicaUfJJt/ for tl>e\s'i>le ri^ht to the overHww, and .the granting of same. to 'Mr Robsoh by the^Bw.nl subject to a royalty as.folloVs : lstye»r, free ; 2nd year, Id per gal. ; 3rd and 4tli year?, 2<l per gal. ; sth yeair, 3d per gall At end of Ist fire years the amount of royalty payable to be recortoidered. -With regard to tne propriety of discussing the question h«rre (the speaker proceeded to' say) J, I consider it should from the fact that I have never heard of any question becoming of -sach prominent and general interest; so :sud* denly a3 this did dirwtty the .action.- of the Domain Board became knowrii -"The matter of the management of t he springs is of rital importance to us . all, and it has long been '-recognised, that' -these springs are a more relinbkVand ; tfecfrf6il i merest than gold ami other tnin^rai^. Now yf\^\\ regard' to tl'ij^f " v aci?on fit ' the ' lio^rd , : M t Peel a 3hort ti m§ /f}psk applied for the right to tiic,oy(si;nQn^f'tth6 springs. The. remarks from tlje.Botnl at that time in reply".: require ...peculijir , emphasis, as the flatter npw Btflna^^.Od are rocorded. «s. follows : < *!The ;lotter was d'scusscid «t' considerable length*, the iiu'mlwis of ,the 'Briar^ Julfy Jr^uiaed the f^t^iaji. 1 Mr ?t«f l lia.^U'en sulei'al.ie (rouble and expense in makingknown t(teste wateis in -liisown particular liho,.aud-\t \vas stHted.^imi'he> had; »cut

. cases of the waters, after having been terated, to Auckland and other plavcs where they had found ready sale sit the hotels; etc. Mr Peel had »Iso sent three or four cases of the waters, as' an exhibit to the Industrial Exhibition, to be held at Wellington. Having these facts in view the Board generally expressed a wish to act liberally towards Mr Peel, still keeping in mind it might hot be well to permit a monopoly, at least not for any very long term, as such might prove detrimental to the interests of th» place. It Was ultimately decided to let the matter stand over to a future meeting, when It was, to be hoped all tnemters of the , Board would be prenen*. 1 * Now, gentlemen, alt of us must admire the Board's unwillingness to deal with a subject of such universal importance in the absence of some of its members i altliotftrh the members present expressed themselves so favourably inclined to the application. But what is our surprise when the next report of the Board's procee tings makes the startling announcement that a similar nu"iner of the Board have met and definitely agreed to give a monopoly of the overflow for a period of ten years, an'J this to a totally different applicant. I contend the action of the Board was unwise in letting the privilege to any one without *\\ st calling for tenders. Is it not Within the range of jpossibility that had the letting of the right been advertised some capitalist would have come forward and made a far belter offer ; not that I wish to, in any way disparage the present applicant. But looking slightly ahead, the near completion of our railway which is to bring as into direct communication with Auckland) and the many advantages our district possesses over irost other*, and the almost certain large in flux of visitors very soon, is it not probate that an offer, to which the present one ©cold bear no comparison, would hate been made. The speaker next went oi» *d refer to the term for which the Hoard lit the right, condemned it as altogether - ton lengthy, and gave it as his opinion that in the near future the popularity of the waters might be so great as to put it oat of the reach of a private inditi loftl to deal with, and considered it Wert better to let the overflow run to waste for a little longer, and later on let it by public tender, rather than hurriedly deal jith the first offer made. I am folly ft ware (he said) that it may be replied that we hare no roice in the matter, as the Board are elected by the Governor of the Colony and not by the people *, but if we have no voice in such a matter the sooner steps were taken to alter this state of things the better. We all know that the future success and importance of Te Aroha depends largely upon its spring!, and their right management ; should not then the people have any Visit e in controlling what so deeply concerned them all ? The speaker concluded by saying that he fully endorsed the reTnjufcs in last Saturday's Nbws, vis., ~*niai tjie Board were entitled to much j>raise for the admirable manner in vbich ' they had developed the resources of the Hot. Springs Domain ; and he thought inert WM no ground for complaint prior to^thW action, now under discussion. The Chairman having declared the meet* ing open lor discussion, invited any who so wtUwd, to speak to the subject. The majority of those present, however, teemed too modest to express their Views thns openly, or preferred to simply r cord tiieir rotes, later on At length fiir Jas. Mills rose and •aid : He considered that there could be tio more severe condemnation of the recent action of the Board than for a meeting of this kind to be held, and. not a member of the Board Appear to lay • word in support of the course they had adopted ; the only member rtf the Board present apparently lid not care what tiie remit might be. It appeared ai though the Board considered they were elected for life, and nc«d care for nobody. He quite endorsed all that had been laid in praise of wuat the Boaid had done h thcto in improving the springs, £te, r but considered they should discuss ' the matter now, and see if it were not" possible to get ft measure passed by (he House so that such public bodies should be elected by the people. He-considered the springs had be^n given for the use of the people. If the Boafd were ' eltfted as they should iv, and had to meet their constituents annually, they would have thought twice before granting ft monopoly for ten yeais. The tnatt'T ought to be agitated and a petition got tip to have the Board elected "by public rote. With respect; t3 the amount ot royalty fixed by the Board in Mr Robsou's cast 1 , he thought that it was fair ; if the right had only been let for two or three years, but to let it for slich a term as had been done was out of all reason. It was said it really only ine»n*t fire years, seeing that the royalty was then to be re-fixe<! ; but suppose within that time the Waters became very popular and a good thing for the possessor of the right, should the Board at t,hfe end of five years fix a royalty the holder might consider exorbitant, it were ver/easy for him to accede to the terms demnn<*ed rather than lose thffr right, and use only a gallon a month, or vuihe nominal quantity until terus were made to suit him. The board ought to be placed on th* same footing as other pub ie bodies, and be made responsible to public opinion. Prior to the recent action, in the matter before them, he had no fault to tfmi with the Board, but it w«s 100 much jam, if true, that they were elected for life. Mr E Peel next rose and ma.'c a few rr-ranrkfi to the effect that he did not think the Board had do»ie wrong in the overflow, and considered Hhe royalty fixed was ample. Wnoevei Undertook to make th« water? well

known would have to go to veiy 'considerable eXpeits<' in doing so., and he did not think the rinht to tho overflow was Siich a very valuable concession* With* respect to the number of years for which the Board had agreed to lease the I sprrgs to Mr Itobson, he said he should not express an opinion. There | was a lot of this overflow, now only running to waste, and if It could be utilised in assisting to benefit the springs it would be a gool thing. He quite endorsed, however, the remarks of j Messrs Mills and Whitehouse that the Boara should be an elective one. Mr Frazer rose and said t He did not see that the public had any right to question the actions of gentlemen elected by the Governor; that they were so elected ought to be » sufficient guarantee that their actions would not require looking into What tae Board had done they had a right to abide by, and as to wanting the Board elected in a different manner, how could the people elect better men than the Governor of New Zealand had, and who, he understood, had ail been nominated by one man. The springs had been there for centuries and centcries without being utilised, then surely ten years was not a long term to giant the right to any one for, besides supposing the piesent holder of the right, who was to have the first year free, used 50 gallons a week; the second year he would have to pay Id per gallon whi«h would amount to 4s 2d a week; surely that was not much to inako a fuss about) so that whether public opinion condemned the Board or not, if their own consciences did not condemn them they need not care, and in the future the benefit of retaining these men in office we ulti yet be seen. The speaker generally defended the action of the Board. Mr A. H. Whitehouse, having the right to reply, said t He at first hardly knew whether Mr HVazer appeared on behalf ol the people or the Board. He had sfated he was defending the Board, and soon afterwards remarked "we can* not condemn the Board," thereby accepting a dual position. In reply to his remark that the Board might gain 4s 2d a week by letting the right as they had done ; were they then to have their birth-right disposed of for that gam? He should think the representative member of the Board present wonld feel much 1 flattered by the pleasant irony Mr Fnuser had treated them to ; as what .he had said was without doubt pleasant irony. The Chairman now brought the discussion to a close by asking for a show of hands on the question fiom those present. First. k \ Was the action of the Board in the matter (under discussiou that night) to be condemned ?" This was carried in the affirmative, with only one dissentient (viz., Mr Frazer, who bad assuned the role of counsel for Board). Secondly. " Was it the opinion of those present that some steps stnuld be taken to have the Board made elective by the people ?" Carried unanimously in the affirmative. Mr Ahier, at the close of the discussion, asked the Chairman if questions to come before the Class in future wer« to be burlesqued *• had been the case that night, for he believed the defence that had been offered for the Board was quite unauthorised. Mr P^vitt repHe-1 ; That no burlesque had taken place whatever, and with respect to what Mr Fraser had said, he took it that Mr Fraser, seeing the Board had no one to defend their action, got up and made a few remarks. This concluded. the proceedings.