The Aroha AND Ohinemuri News AND UPPER THAMES ADVOCATE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 285, 28 July 1888, Page 2

The Aroha AND Ohinemuri News AND UPPER THAMES ADVOCATE.

* Thin above all —to thino own self bo true, Aikl it must follow as tlio night, the day Thou ennst not then be fnlße ho nny man. — SIIAKESPKAIIE.

SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1888.

THE BOROUGH QUESTION.

In onr lending article of Saturday last with reference to the Borough question, we clearly proved by facts and figures that Piako County Council had hitherto all along treated the goldfield, and Te Aroha Hiding as a whole, in a most liberal manner and werestill so treating it — completely refuting the assoition made by some, in order to further their own ftfctle game, that the County Council received all and gave back next to nothing — and pointed out that the goldfield was likely to benefit far more by remainunder the control of the County Council, than it would were it under the control of a Borough Council — at any rate that it was altogether premature to seek to^ constitute a Borough which woula include the goldfield. We also showed by facts and figures, that the liability that would necessarily attach to a Borough, if now constituted, would in all fairness amount to several | thousands of pounds, to meet which the j proposed Borough had practicallj no I funds or security to offer whatever. In support of the stand we have taken on this question," viewed impartially and upon its merits after giving the subject I most careful consideration, we think we cannot do better than quote for the information of our readers generally (few of whom probably have looked up the matter for themselves) sections from various Acts bearing on the subject, I either directly or indirectly, so that they may the better form their own opinions on the matter, and the better judge as to whether we have taken a practical view of the question or not. | First of all thfn with respect to the Council's powers to construct and daal ! with tramways. Section 2GO of the Counties Act' states that : ; " The Council may, out of any funds which at the time being may be at their disposal, and in the manner provided by this Act, and " The Public Works Act, 3 882," make and construct tramways for the uso and convenience of the public within the County, nnd may use and work the same." Section 2C4 states : " The cost ofmaking nnd constructing any such tramway, * * * and of woiking nnd using the same, shall be defrayed out of the County fund/ Section 138 defines what the County Fund^ shall consist of, and states it shall include : (4) "All monies received from the use or working of any tramway." Section 22 of the Public Works Act Amendmont, 1887," reads as follows : "Any County Council, Town Board or Road Board owning any tramway or portion of a tramway, may by special order, let, for a period not exceeding twenty-one years, or absolutely sell the same, with the rolling stock aud appliances used therewith, upon such terms and conditions a? such local body shall think fit, and may $rant to the lessee or purchaser ! thereof, as the case may be, all or j any 'of the powers, rights, and | privileges of nnd incident to the working, maintaining, or extending the same which the local body itself possesses at the time of such letting or sale." etc, etc. By this it would appear the County Council have the pov»er vested in them by the Public Works Amendment Actpassed last year to absolutely dispose of thetramwfly, rolling stock, etc., or now lease it for a further period of eleven years (in addition to the, existing ten years lea^e). Whilst then, it is quite evident that it was the intention of Government when passing the section of the Public Works Act 1882, Amendment Act, HB7, referred to above, that County Councils should have sole and absolute power to deal with the tramways they might construct, or had constructed, as they might think fit ; with respect to the Waiorongomai tramway, towards the cost of constructing which Government contributed L 12,000, and the same being within the goldfield boundaries, we think there can be no doubt the sanction of the Warden would have to be first obtained to its being transferred from tli3 County Council to a Borough Council, even though the County Council raised no objection. Anyhow, beyond a doubt his recommendation (which it is only reasonable to suppose would be made having in view what he considered would be most beneficial for the miners and the interests of the goldfield under his charge, rather than with reappct to the interests of the ratepayers or "would fee" Boroughites), to tho Gbvemor would i

cany very erreat weight indeed. Section 38 states that on a Borough boinc: constituted "The County Council may agrec.witl} theßorough Council as to fl.) What pnrt of the property real and personal of such Oountyjotfc., shall boconie the property of the Borough • \ ft " , (3 .) « What part oF the debts, liabilities, and engagements of such County, * o o whether absolute and outstanding at the date of such severance or then contingent, or prospective, so long as the same are capable of extinction, shall be the liabilities and engagements of such Borough." etc. Section 39 states that in the event of no such agreement being arrived at within two months of the first meeting of the Council, the Governor may appoint an auditor to hold an enquiry and make the award. Section 40 : Any such award may declare in whom any property shall be vested, and by whom any monies shall be paid, etc., ctc.^ and " Every such award shall be final, and shall from the date thereof have the operation of, and be enforcable as, and be held (o be a Judgement of the Supreme Court." So much then for those who, to all intents and purposes say, a County Council may in all good faith expend and go on expending for years thousands upon thousands of pounds in the construction, extension, and maintenance of a tramway for tlje benefit of the County, and that, (whenever he thinks the time ripe for so doing,) any village politician, agitator, or other ii responsible person, or gas pipe, can, simply by taking round a paper and obtaining a certain number of signatures thereto, and for'Wftrdinof this on to the Governor, absolutely have the former owners evicted in the most summary manner, without the slightest consideration, compensation (worth mentioning) for monies expended, or, so to spealc, as much as " By your leave " — and take absolute possession of the property and all revenues derived therefrom, and use and enjoy it from that time forward. Surely those who seek to cram the general public with such a yarn most consider themselves mighty clever, the general public very wanting in common sense, and the Governor wanting in common honesty if he would be a party to such a transaction. And yet we have in our midst those so unscrupulous and barefaco<» as to assert they believe, (and who would seek to make others believe) that in the event of a Borough being constituted, to include the tramway and whole the amount of compensation that would be awarded Pinko County Council for the losi thereof would only amount to " about £170 if allocated upon population alone, and if allocated according to population and rateable value it would amount to a much Ic3? sum " we quote their ewn words. And this in the face of the rolling stock, etc. of ihe tramway alone, being set down as an asset of ths xvholf county, valued at £950, in the very last balance sheet of the County Council, and to sny nothing about the overdraft of £2000 incurred in connection with the construction of this tramway and referred to in our previous article on this subject. Such froth is scarcely worth a moments notice, and very plainly shows what the idoas of those who utter it are of justice nnd right. We trust the day will never come when such principles of rie;ht and justice as that will prevail, or the expenditure of the goldfields revenue be entrusted to persons hold : ng such one sided views. We fear the gold field would fare very badly at their hands, and that by the time'various little billets had been filled, there would be precious little left wherewith to foster our staple industry. But to refer to another aspect of the ! question under consideration : Section 145 of the Counties Act states that "The Council shall, in each year, apportion the gross estimated income of the County from all sources in the manner following, that is to say, — (1) In payment of the jreneral debts and liabilities of the County as a whole * * • and of the general expenses incident to the administration of this Act." (2) In payment of contributions requ:red to be made out of the County Fund, etc. (3) In payment of the cost of constructing and maintaining all main and County roads, etc. etc. (4) The remainder of such annual income shall, subject to the provisions of the next following section, be apportioned among the ridings in the County in proportion to the amount of general rates and goldfields revenue received from such ridings respectively in inch year, 146 " Separate accounts shall be kept for each liding in the County of the income and expenditure thereof in each year, and to the said account shall be placed the amount apportioned to such riding of the County income, which shall be expended in works in such riding. In case from any cause in any year, an allocation as herein before provided of the proportionate part of the County income cannot be made among the ridings, and any riding 1 shall receive in such year any more of less than its clue, then such riding shall, in succeeding allocations of the County income among the ridings, receive from the Council such an increase on diminished proportion of income as may be just" 11 Whqn in ft county \t any time previous to the passing of this Act (188 C) separate accounts for each

liding hnve been kept as required by this section, the x balances of such accounts may be brought forward as, if the sdid accounts had , ■ htien kepi under this section." I It would loppear from tliis last section tli at had not the tramway; been constructed prior to' the passing of the Counties Act of 1880, tW Council could not 'hnve contributed frond the general | County funds towards tho cost of its construction in the liberal manner they did at the time. Neither apparently are they, at liberty ,to expend the goldfields revenue or other funds derived from To Aroha Riding in any other Riding, beyond the proportion required to be contributed by the Riding as its share of general expenses, as enumerated ia sub-sections 1, 2, 3, Section 145. I By the last clause "of section 140 it will be seen the Council are quite justified in bringing forward the balance in Te Aroha Riding account, of £4200 referred to in our previous article, although it will be remembered we made no allowance for this amount or any part of it, with respect to the award that would be made in the event of a Borough being formed — on the ground that it would /lot be an outstanding liability of Council at date of separation. We now wish to direct the attention of our readers to several other most important clauses as affecting the proposed formation of a Borough. Clause 24 of the Municipal Corporations Act states with reference to the constitution of new boroughs : "On the petition of the resident householders of any portion of the Colony # # # the Governor may by proclamation, declare any such portion *of the colony, or any part thereof sptcified in the Proclamation, with or without any adjoining area, to be a Borough « * * #" subject to certain conditions set forth, such as : (1) That the area shall not exceed nine squre miles, and with no two points distant more than six miles. [ (2) That the rateable property in the I district is, at the time of petitioning, not less than will yield # # 1 an annual income of L 250, exclu1 sive of subsidies aad grants. [ (3) That such petition is signed by not-less than one hundred of such i resident householders. (6) That no petition signed by an equal or greater number of such residont householders who have not signed the first petition is presented, praying the Governor not to assent to the prayer thereof/ Fiom the foregoing it would appear th*) Governor is not competed to grant the petition for the constitution of any Borongh, simply because the required number of signatures are attached, rateable value found to exist, and all other conditions complied with — should it appear to him inexpedient to do so. It is also quite evident the Governor is nt full liberty to grant the petition for a Borough, prior to so doing cutting out any portion, goldfield or otherwise, and to constitute a Borough of " any part thereof." Another very important Clause i* 84 of the Municipal Corporations Act, which states : I "If not less than one-half of the resident householders in any part \ of a district which it is proposed to constitute, or to include in a Borough o o petition the Govenor, praying him not to include such part in the Borough, the Governor may o 0 alter the proposed boundaries so as not to include in the Borough the part, or so much thereof as he thinks fit, described in the petition." "We are well aware that some of those i trho f for some motive of their own) are j so very anxious for a Borough to be formed openly boasted — at the time we issued as an Extra " A Note of Warning " to the ratepayers, not to sign the petition for a Borough until they had facts and figures placed before them — that the note of warning had come too late to prevent the people of Te Aroha from signing. We also believe that many who have signed the petition for a Borough did so not then knowing the real facts of the case, and \re are aware many who signed now regret doing so, and would gladly have their names erased, or would sign a petition to nullify the one taken round at night for signature. But Messrs Mills, Whitehouse, Montague, and Co. will perhaps find out that the simple fact of having secured (!) j the required number of signatures, j whether obtained by fair means or otherwioe, will not by any means necessarily result in the constitution of a Borough. Certainly not, unless it is the wish of Waiorongomai to join in. They have a voice in the matter if they are to be included, and the simple fact of Mr Jas. Mills going out (without being publicly invited) and taking the chair in Waiorongomai Public Hall, attended by a few (very few) followers, and passing a series of resolutions to the effect tha'u it was the unanimous opinion of the people of Waiorongomai, etc. — does rot by any \ means constitute such to be the case. When Waiorongoraai desires a Borough to be formed we shall expect to see them convene a public and representative meeting, and appoint a chairman from amongst themselves, anxious though Mr Mills may be to fill that capacity in both townships. But we must bring this article to a close, and will do so by simply repeating what was stated in our last, that it is in our opinion pre- | mature to seek to haye 1 a Borough constituted, certainly so if it is to include T the goldfield, and that thegoldfield is in very good hands as it is. More than

that, we anticipate tho County Council would be sure to object pp the goidfield boing included, unless the probable amount of their award were properly secured; 1 and there is no security to.,dffer. The "Warden also would no doubt be consulted by the Governor as to whether it would be advisable to take the gold field out, of the hands of the of the County Council, who have done so mur;h for it, to place it in' the hands of a Borough Council without means or resources (as compared with the County Council) to develope it, etc., and possibly the Warden might not think so and advise the Governor accordingly. A gold field such as ours, is a matter of more serious importance than ordinary endowments or other property, ; its managoment, developement, and assistance are matters of interest to the whole Colony ; and, were both townships now anxious to have a Borough formed and all the required conditions complied with, we very much doubt in granting the petition if the Governor would consent to include it* on tho grounds that the responsibility, liability and necessities of so important a gold field were too great for so young a community, (vri'.h no endowments, or security to offer whereby money could be borrowed for < opening op new discoveries, etc, if required) to tako charge of. We believe Piako County Council fully recognise their responsibility with respect to our goldfield, and the advisability of fostering and developing it so far as the means at their disposal will permit, and hare every confidence that in the future, as in the past, they will do so. More than that, we believe that the large majority of the ratepayers and residents in To Aroha Riding recognise that the Council have acted most liberally towards the goldfield and the Riding, and have confidence in them that they will continue so to do, and that it is only, a small a very very small portion of the community who have given heed to the persistent and long-continued efforts of certain parties to prejudice the Council in tho eyes of the residents in this district, in order to assist them in their frantic efforts to have a Borough constituted, and to have the control of the goldfields revenue, etc. It is, however, truly surprising that any portion of the community should permit themselves to be influenced and made tools of by those who hare very little stake in the place, and who are not over particular as to the means used, so long as the end in view is attained and their ambition gratified. We had purposod referring to the ques+ion of the advantages and disadvantages that would probably result to + he ratepayers were a Borough constituted at this time, and in connection therewith to have shown the rates levied in various existing Borough?, both where goldfields were included and those without, and also to have referred to the question of water supply, but spneo will not permit of our doing so in this issue.

We direct attention to Mr A. W. Edwards new Ttdvertißementa, announcing a monster clearing-out sale at creating; reduced prices, which are worth noting, A little boy, about four years of ago, grandchild of Mrs Joy at Waiorongomai, had a narrow escape from death by accidental poisoning on Monday nitrhfc \nt-t. It would appear the child was suffeiing ±rom croup, and during the night the grandmother gave him a tea-spoonful of carbolic acid in mistake for ipecacuanha wino ; discovering tbe mistake, however, almost immediately, emetics were promptly administered, and it is satisfactory to know the little fellow is now making a rapid recovery. We direct attention to Messrs T. and S< Morrin and Co'k now advertisement. This old established firm are in a position to suppty all descriptions of ironmongery, etc., od advantageous terms. Writing recently abouttbegreatboom in Melbourne tbe correspondent of the Otago Daily Times says; — "Money has grown on the trees here for the last twelve months ; at any rate it is no exaggeration to say that land liai been paved with gold. In this morning's Argus we read the following :l: l An indication of tbe increase of lnte in the value of property on the south side of the Yarra has been afforded in the recent sale of a piece of land in Haig-street, South Melbourne, with a frontage of 99 feet. Less than three yearn ago it was purchased for Ll5 afoot, and it changed ban is a few days ago at LI 15 a foot." There is an impression here that Auckland will be the first to feel the good effects of the approaching boom in New Zealand, for it is considered that the northern city has the biggest future before it. New Zealand, it is considered, is the best Held in Australasia for investment. The long depression has brought land down far below its yea! value; indeed, it is known that even in the cities property is absolutely unsaleable. That a glorious future lies beiore the colony is certain* It has all the qualities that go to make a great coiintrv — climate, soil, minerals, and scenery. Those things are recognised, and all that is wanted to send it forging ahead is capital. It is pi'etty certain that there will be additional sums forthcoming beyond the million and a-half now promised. Now Zealand will afford a new and much more enticing field for the invostor than the country districts of this colony. There in a most undoubted impression here that, the turning point has at last been reached as regards the depression in your colony. You may expect a big crowd of tourists during the coming summer' So many people in this city have succeeded in making a few hundreds, to say nothing of a few thousands, during the boom, that there will be scores who will indulge in a summer holiday/ For the prevention of suffocation in the event of fire, place a hankerchief under the pillow before going to bed, and, if alarmed by a cry of fire, dip the handkerchief in water and tie it over mouth and nostrils. Whoever does this will be able to breathe freely even in dense smoke. There can be no doubt tbat many persons who lose their lives by \ fire are first made insensible by smoke.