LOCAL GOVERNEMENT FOR TE AROHA

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 179, 20 November 1886, Page 2

LOCAL GOVERNEMENT FOR TE AROHA

The question of local self-government is of the greatest im parlance to Te Arohn, ; ( -^nmHs the principal topic of conversation > in "our lowr at c piefcent. Nor is this to lie wondcied ut, ho much depends: with regard to the future progress and prosperity of the place, on the action taken withiespect this matttT just now, and a mistake once in-ide, though perhaps quickly found out, could not be rectified by years of regret. ' We therefore desire to lay a few facts before our readers to-day, hoping they will think the matter out for thcalsehes and not be led away by any idle tales or mere ta'k, or the holding out ij. lugUaisoundiijg. special favour* being occ\irfing-tn their cuse, but wilfeojitr a. Bjfndow of common t>«ns% to recommend them. We are not nou' going to ask our leaders to adopt an}' -^4yU-U c ii's r Jl nt of .action to the exclusion of all others, l>ut we do, and that most earnestly, ask any one who has a slake in the place, those who will have to bear the en -eqwences of any mistake now made . — who cunnot uffoid to experiment in the • jhuitcruf local self -govern merit — to weigh the luiatter thoroughly and then act as reason and common sen^o dictates for own good and the prosperity o£ the vffbjice, ignpring all party or peisonal feeling of any ami every kind. Briefly put, illie^HJbition is simply as follows-:— Scv<4ral months pgo a^ agitation was st t on foot • iipji' a petition 'got up to have Te Aroha, \Vaiorongom ii, and the goldiiuK 4 . (both at AV-tyorongomai and Tui) foi tried into a lioiough ; aii'l as no .move was nude at the time ior any other foun of local go- • 'Veirrtiicbf, whilst all recognised the necessity «of having local affairs relating to our blre«:ts and footpaths, etc., administered Jooall} , the petition -was signed b^ about 120 ptirstone. .Speaking for ourselves, -we were never convkicod that it was advisable eveu -then to Include the goldlield, »md we refused touiyu the petition. Since j*itluiiif however, moht importntit cliange.-> Juvc takcn-piice, wiiereby the^hoiepo.si--lion of affairs is so completely altered,

. „,,,., » . . that.even "were th& hiovc^a judicious oiic before, no"w it must be very much less so. Since* the Bormigh petition was dfefeon. fno tjff Government hjj-ve notilicd'^thut all' - for roads and rtc.j for opening up or d^velopincf-£old-lield-*,willMn-.fulUK>, t be only on tho £ priticTple nisteud of £2 fiom Government to £1 locally raised a^ heretofore. Again, by the now Consolidated Alining' Act, the lontal chargeable Y>r mining leases will l>3 redjevd after the iir -t of Januaiy next fiom £.'5 pei' aciu a-> heretofore to 10s per acre.; an alteration th it, no matter how desirable fio^t the bo la fide miner's point of view, siriomly aftloots the revenue ot those hiving tha nunai»cnKMit of a goldfield; as whole they bad £G to expand before thee will hi only JCI coming in under the now Act. Having these fa"ts in view for a sinaM community like Te Aroha with a i.iteahle value of about £163 (on \\X in tlu* £ b isU capita] value, which isneirly equivalents Is in the £ on annual vn'ue) within the aiea of th<} propped 'iorough, to tiy and take (he m inagom Mit of a most, extensive gold lield Uko-ours out of th:> h md-. of a largo aid ino-,t influciiti.il body like tho Piako County Council, who have always acted moat liberally towaido it, and shown every disposition to. foster the mining industry in oOr midst, would'we think bo the height of folly. The Piako County Council have spent -some £9000 in constructing the Waiorpngoniai tromway, etc, and are in a positidn to command the use of money, by loan or otherwise at all times, whilst Government assisted the county by providing rails fiee of eo-t, and subsidised the woik to the tune of some L 12,000. And now there aie some amongst us who to their utmost, urge that a little community Hke oiirfeelves voluntarily come forwaid and ask that the whole alfair be tiken out of the hands of those who have expended bo much thereon, and the goldfields administration left in the hands of comparatively inexpeiienced men, and that, with ajoldlield revenue icdiued in the pronoitioe of G to 1 ; and further, try and pers'itade us to believe that all the goldfield upon which such vast sums have been expended, will by simply petitioning Government be quietly taken out of the. hands of the County Council, and handed over to a Boroagh, wltnout any liability attached.' Is th.it comiirn pcusc ? Would it be justice? Is the supposition a reasonable one? We think not. Ohineinuii Count} Council \\<:ie confident they would have leeeiveJ several thousand pounds from Thames at the a djustment of accounts having- obt lined sepai.ition, but they iin 1 instead,"thftt they have to shut witli.ii debt of L2OOO, inclined for wewks canied out outside then county boundaiies. Againj residptits are asked to believe that ap irt from all^this v\ hilj>t t Jhe.^Pj^ko County Council oveidiatt is at present time close on L3OOO, Te Aiohi*, ttS a ; Boiough would have to biro no share of that, at lcit-t not more than L2OO orL3OO. Tliis supposition is as unreasonable as the previous one. At the recent public meeting in theTe Aioh,a Public Hall, Mr Jas. Mills stated that he felt t>ure that if it was found after we 'were constituted a Borough, <ye could not get a'ong foi lack of funds, i the Government icould not see us stud: for money How nice to h ive the gentMal exchequer to fall b ick upon, in any difliculty, wou'd it not ! We tie of opinion that not only would it be a mistake for Te Aiolia as a township to take over Mich a giuat lc-pon^ibility, at least until it hisgiown to much l.iiyer pioportions thun at piesent, but a bai thing L u the goldli^ld a'so, and piobibly r<'S'ilt in tlutiipphng of a nn>l hnpjitant indu^tiy i:i o>ir nn.i^t, as what weight should we have with Government as a community, compared with the County C'jU!Vv.d, nnd horn what source could wo hope to iai>e money, or iipjn what could we borrow, to meet Government sub^idie^ if offeied, in order to develope the goldfield o\ open up nsw discoveiies V From the nlteied poaitu>n of affai'-s and beaiing these i.icts in view many who Mgninl the petition for a Borough, when presented to them homo months back, hnve since seen they made a mist ike, a number of our loading business ui3n met t )g'-ther on Friday l"2th inst, to talk the matter over, with the r.jsult that all were uirmimous in combmuing the Borough mo\ cucut as quite piemauv, and the goldiield fur too bt-rious a responsibility and liability to try ami "take over, and tlu following weie appointed a committee : Messis Do^-ne^, Fairell,T. Wood, Smith, Edwaid-, and Ebert ; to dwiw up al letter requesting the linpiovemeut Conimittec (who had been authorised to forwaid 'the lioiough petition to Government when ready) to strike oil" the names from said petition of all those now signing said letter, which set forth their reasons for making this request, only those t& sign the letter who had signed the petition for a Borough. This action appaiently did I not meet the approval of tho^e who will it that we must have a Borough, be the consequences what they may, as on the following Monday morning weundeistand jlr James Mills, Chairman of the Improvement Committee, (who had i>een infoimed of the previous evening's, metking, and that it was the intention of a nnmbeV of residents to, in the manner indicated, protest against their names being forwarded as now in favour | olj » a . Borough, and .without we belieV^ balling the committee together on consult them in the matter) on^ Jklondiiy , po^ed, ".the _ petition to the Govein'meht, '«!thottgli he had prepiouqly btated the petifion-Jwould be presented 't'6 the Colonrar-Secretnryon-his arrival at Te Aroha, i?o doubt under the impression that by 80 doing the action of those opposed, to the Borough .vould be of no avail. "We leave it to others to form their own opinion as to whether this action was 1 a very aibitiaiy one or not, to us it appears like putting a number of. fellow towns-,, men in a most unfair position by forward ing their names as in favour of a Borough when they are really strongly opposad fto* it. It has been stated by some that if tl(e. Borough is nc_t__co.nstituted we shlilltemain as we are 5 This is a mistake. The settlers ,o£ -. the , Kidin'g " .iiavyj long since stated * (heir . inlentention of forming a road board, and t 'if\ Te Aioha objected to join in r will do 'so without it ; leaving Te Arolia isolated, but still entirely under the power of the county. There can be no doubt a Tojvn District *ib by far the most dd&irable fohn of local self-government for Te Aroha ; and there is-yet time to ltyve it constituted. The petition for such shouid >be prepared ut once, requiies the bignatarcs of twothiitts Of the resident householders at Te Arolia, and Should be forwarded to Piako County Council at Ih.'ir meeting on )Ycd-^

vestlay'nctt for confirmation an I on lorse- . mentis the Act require i, pn<\r ti^N vpafBliv paf8li \ to \\f«Uih*tjsi. As' at i Ud _i n *qrtr issue oJ the 16th hlL\ th^difEjit'enoalbstw'eoh a Town District and/ ji P'oijoug-U' is ;l in many respects \inoro sentimantal^ and spsjjillative thin real. A^^ill l)^;sjon\l>y abettor which appears in this issuv,. Ihe Colonial Secretary apoke m exceedingly , high teinn with respect to "the working of town districts to th'i deputation that waited upon him on Thursday evening last. A town district a 1 To Arnh.i would stut without the millstone ol: liability which would ecrt.iinty have to be accepted iC constituted a Boiough, have piecisely tho same privileges as a Borough with lf^poct to expending all its own vovonue, etc., and not ha liable to be rated by the County except in the event of a general latoovei tne whole county being levied, whk-h has only occurred onoo in tho last ten ye.ir^ at Te Arohn. The whole of Parts eleven and twelvG of the Municipal Corp -nations Act are included in the Town Districts -Act, giving it vqua! power re tho lcvyin^Vof tolls, '.foi'ining, byelnSvs, and carrying out im irovemsnts by loan a-id otherwise By the new Loans to Local Bodies Act, Town Districts can borrow .£3OO year a at 5 pjr cent, with twenty-six years in which to repay it. As tho'Town Distiict Act goes out of force on the 31st December next, if the residents wish to be constituted under that form of government, the necessary steps must be at once taken. When a Town District they can at any future time ineige into a Borough if found desirable. In conclusion, we ask eveiy resident amongst us to weigh tho matter carefully and act accordingly, as we understind a petition for a Town District will be taken round in tho course of the next dly or bo, and if they miss this opportunity to be so constituted it cannot occur again. Wo are opinion that the petition for a Borough is not likely to be granted, as the law with respect to rateable value has not been complied with ; but were it all in due form, the new Act under which the petition is made does not come into force till January, after which the petition would have to lie two months to givo the residents of the distiict an opportunity of forwarding a countei a petition, whilst a Town District can be proclaimed by Government on leceipt of th* petition l'oi same. It will, theiefore, be simply necessary to Set out in the Town Di&tncts petition the rexsons for dcsiiing this latter form of government in ptefyreiiec to a Borough.

We are obliged to hold over till next issue nil mining, and Couit news, a repoi t of Mr Guidon's (Inspector oi Mines) vibit, and other matter. Hon. P. Buckley, Colonial Secretary ai lived ;it To Aroha on Thursday, nud was deputationUed by the Duin lin Board and others, lie left for llotorua on Friday morning,fpurposing to ictuin to Te Aiolia on Monday. lion. Tole, Minister of Justice ai rived at Te Aroha yesterday. Messrs Alf. Buckland and Co., advertise several > important salei in this issue, including a sale of cattle at Ohaupo on Tuesday, at Waitoa on Thursday, and <i a eiy iiupoi tan*" t>ale of hoises, vehicles, etc., at Biadley and Co's stables on Saturday next. A j>rand conceit and di.unatic performance, is advcitised to come off on iace night. A large number of cntiies have boon icceived lor tho laces on Fnday next, and tho meeting pioini^e-) to be a highly suc-ee-^fui one, the weights dcciaiod will be found in this i^suo. Mi J. Lavuiy Ins handjd us tho following letter, with o lequest that it bo publisher) :— '• Ouinuuoa, Ovt. 1886.— Djar Mr Lively : — I am not aware who the chuiimauof the Cemetery Committee is but as you are one of the committee, 1 write th's to you rsaigning my seat on it. I never acted as I am too far ay/ay to attend ; it would be much bettor to have some local person appointed. — I am, yours tiuly, Edw. F. Koche." Tn Aitoii.v Club Hotel.— Visitors' List. — Mr Hudson, Mr Mason, Mr Elliott, MiKeep, Mr M.igee, Mr A. Nathan, Mr Saul, Mr Jackson, Mr Fid lor, Auckland ; Mi Yardley, London ; Mr Lewis, Mr Dyer, Cambridge ; Mr Stratford, H.M., Thames. Mr Brown, Mr Nolan, Mr Mukivey. Mr Longlandb, •Mr Chambers, Mr Cooin, Mr Corbett, Waitekanri ; Mr Moore, Mr Milinoc, Mr Bay ley, Ilaweia ; Mr and Mrs Melhuish, Nelson ; Key. Mr Pie.ston, Chribtchurch ; Mr Strange, Waitoa ; Mr Ilumphreyp, Karan^ahake ; Mr Gordon, Wellington ; Mr Wilson, Miss* Wilson, Thames ; Mr Price Williams, sen., MaPrice Williams, jun_., Mr and Mrs Hill's, London ; Dv and Mrs Brown, Dunedin ; Mr Edgecutnbs, Cambridge. '