PUBLIC MEETING RE PROPOSED LOAN OF £1500.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 184, 25 December 1886, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING RE PROPOSED LOAN OF £1500.

On Tuesday evening Fast a public meeting was held in Mr- Randolphs roorn ; ,Te Ar6h&> to discuss i the' proposed' loan" o£ £15w. There were a-goodTnuraber o£ rate-papers .present. -.\ \ -- \\ ...u^ ;*j i Mr F.jPavitt'jpresided^and read ithe advertisement in the Aroha & Ohlnemuri News conveniOg tluT'meetirig,' pnd' stateU that - according to* th© ,A.ot it >vas__ usual for tfie member of t the Riding' to take the chtiir on such occasions, but jMr •jilurphy'^h^ving expressed an unwillness to, do so, The chairman of the. County had appointed him instead ; h'e^ Would at once proceed to business 'by calling upon Mr Murphy to address the meeting. - <•• r „ ' '" MrMu'rphy'said : r Phey'hll kn^w well tlfer^Ule, 'of lh.e roads in tFie .distinct in! the p^ist, tind'liow greatly they needed repair. The ovoulraft'^t'the-' County Cinnoil jwas noally \\\x to tho limit that w.onld be in it Led by the" Act, and if olxoedtlod mercy- ; bors wouJu^inaltOjjthemwlves imViviclnWly/ liable. It was hot likely that tho menxbeis o£ the Council, knowing itliis, r would rendor themselves liable, by iiurrheri in- r croiising'tne o'venlmCtpand lie lsa\v-no of ob^inin^th^uyjn ay- needed for the road, fib t by loan" now piopbsed. It would, bp for tli6:rft'te,payeii^ ( to .deoHU^thejmal.t^,' as to whether the 'money should be oorrowedior noti ' l 'He 1 \vas'-hira«j©ll: 'o£ opinion flTat to b~oTrow the money and" I|.\S[V-, ■^he\roa\ds l3ropeVly i t jrtud,e .would "really] be to^tlifeA'aLepiiyerfe than'j.o ffft on patching*'them up as heretofore. Since \ho MM Mbh a vinellibec -of 3ha "Gbmic\| hd ■ )lUIUtHwli tbVpfdblallHlib ."Woiiey lie/ctjuld,,i?)t*r\fofJ4b* fow^hip htDd'sflib iip'ooiiatFy.".; >'Uyt/h'oj^'e*d^rt6n. oppaaed^ttkarlioan'liJhen. tlioy w^sid either have to rate themselves

. - .„ „. or put, up v,'ttli b-atl roajlgj"* ]{,> vahj'<] now aaic Mr Fuviti, the Jfirigmeer to road the , estimates ef the w^oYic^whicty \srotlld bo laid\hoT^e^f^fifrtyjppuncil next clay. (Mr\^«ivit<yrmvJng'" read the estimates, whic(i,will 6e fqutiU iti dnr report of the Counpitl meeting) \ Mr* Murphy said- he thoughti'itOwould • | most important ma^ter'to haye n[ gbW <rlsad made as ' faras fall's, 4 Mataioatiii! -With respect&rtl'ie'amoturit pf'qp'osed to "b_e 'spent on the Gordon Bettlement,/he would mention that a third of^thoyfent that would become due by the^iufordon Settlers in January, would be returned for road works, and the council had made application for the expenditure of the money. Ho would propose that the work be let in sections' as scheduled by the Engineer, and then the ratepayers resident within such portions of the Riding would only have to pay for the amount expended within their boundaries. If the proposed road was ittade good for coach traffic, many touristB~would"avail of it in going and returning from the Hot Lakes. MFErFr ßoche said: He should be" glad for the Gordon "settlers to have agood road, but he thought they could wait a little longer for it, as so many other settlers before them had to do. The prices of every class of farmers' produce >yeve now so low that extra taxation meant a serious matter to the jafcttlers, and they could, do r without roads in such apple-pie order* so long asjthey were passable. He certainly was of opinion it would be most ill-advised to - borrow so .large a sum of money for expenditure as that proposed, and should decidedly vote against it. Mr B. Montague said he supposed the TeAroha settlers would hardly expect the Gordon set.tlemto in.ike tho proposed road altogether, by themselves. In response to a request from Mr D. J. 'Frazer, the Engineer read over the various , items in -the schedule of works in detail. , Mv W. F. Hunt said ; So far. as travellers to and from th« Lake Country were •concerned, too W'that the railway was open, they would most certainly. prefer availing of it to travelling by coach He had lived in North New Zealand for about ten years, where there were no roads- whatever available for wheel traffic, and yet the settlers did well enough ; and he thought it would be time enough to make the road to the Gordon- Settlement wlTett the Settlers went on the land, so far he believed only one of the whpl.e body of settlers had gone to reside on* their land. The Gordon settlers had the advantage" of water carriage by means of' the Waih'dU' river right up to their landr /The -present were the worse times f oil farmers he had ever experienced Isinc'o* he-had co'me"£o New Zealand and unnecessary J;ax{ition should be avoided. | Mr Jas. Munro spoke in favour of the loin which he 'thought a most desirable scheme for getting the road made right up to the Gordon Settlement on easy terms ; and concluded his remarks by saying : " The Gordon settlers I can tell you will get a road to their settlement independent,of whether you get this money or not." Mr McLeod remarked that the proposed road was in 'the interests of the wo v king . man generally and not solely for the Gordon settlers. . Several questions were asked by „some_sf. those present, amongst others "wha£"guarahtee" could be given" that in the event of a Town District being granted, that the residents within the Town District would only have to pay in proportion to the-suim expended within their boundary, seeing that'in the event of the poll being in favour of the loan the ratepayers as a'wli'ola were made liable -for its repayment according to their several valuations, irrespective of what portion of tho riding they resided in. The Chairman reminded those present that thft poll will take place on Wednesday next, 29th inst.