The Aroha AND Ohinemuri News AND UPPER THAMES ADVOCATE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 299, 15 September 1888, Page 2

The Aroha AND Ohinemuri News AND UPPER THAMES ADVOCATE.

1 ihU above ail -to thine own pelf be true, Ami it. must follow a" the night, the day Thou canst not. then be false to any man, — Shakespeare.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 5, TBBB. In our issue of !• at unlay last we stated ihat the Town Boar<l never asked Pinko County Council for the control of the main county rowl. We referred to the subject because there appears to be an impression abroad, at least amongst a few (and we believe some who are not at all scrupulous about misrepresenting matters if they think they can thereby fur 1 her the object they have in view, hare afsi?t<'d in eprend lug such a report) to the effect that t lie Board are to blame for the Town District being saddled by Ibe County with the whole cost of maintn'nintt said load. T,he real fnefs relating to thn case are as follows : .At the nicotine of>tbo Council held on Februnry JBth Inst, a letter was read from the Board directing attention to the very bad state of the footpaths in Te Aroha, and request ing Council to repair ?.°'mo. The Council declined to under-tnl-e t\to woik on account of want of fuudf:. It whs then dc»i ided ntn meeting of ihe Bonrd held .. n Afarch Bth that the C sn'invMi aiv) Clerk should wait on the Com. oil, /it their mee-fini? held on March ]f)tli } and obtain permission for the Board to repnit the footpath? in Whitnlicr stivet-, tins p<M:i!i'»ion being neces-

pary lie fore (he Board could expend nion?y thereon, being a main County toad, and solely under County control. The Cleric not being in attendance, the Chairman requested Com Ilott to accompany him in the place of Com Frazer (then clerk J, which" Com Ilott did. The permission asked for was granted. But more than that : At this same meeting of the Council (held at Te Arohft on March Isth) it was resolved unanimously, on the motion of the Chairman, That in accordane with 6he provisions of Section 20 of the Public Works Act, 1887, a special meeting of Council be held at Mr Pavitt's office, Te Aroha, at four p.m., April 12th, foi the purpose of making a special order declaring that that portion of the County road from Ohinemuri County boundary going towards Waiorongomai which lies within the Town District of Te Aroha, shall be placed under the control of the Te Aroha Town Board ; and directing that the cost of construe tion and maintaining sack part of said road shall be borne by Te Aroha Town Board. So it will be seen that the representives of this Riding, Crs Mills and Murphy, made no objection to the resolution when it was proposed saddling the Town District with the whole cost of maintaining that portion of the main County road within the Town District boundaries. Let them cay otherwise if they like, the records of the Council meeting will show. True at the next meeting Cr Murphy proposed and Cr Mills seconded as an amendment that the County bear half the cost of maintaining; the portion of the road referred to, and the amendment was lost. But we ask why were they consenting parties to the new arrangement when first proposed ? Now we are decidedly of opinion that the Council should contribute at least one half of the cost of maintaining this road, More than that, we do not believe they would ever have acted as they did in this matter were it not for the manner in which the representatives of Te Aroha Riding harassed them with requests of a most unreasonable character, such as for instance that at the Council meeting held on Dec. 23rd last, when Cr Mills, after speaking strongly in favour of the work being done, moved, and Cr Murphy seconded, tha*i a kauri shoot be erected for the drain passing through Clarkes place. The Engineer was desired to prepare an estimate of the probable cost, and at next meeting stated it would cost about L5O to do the work. Surely after all the loss of time and money the Council had sustained in connection with this Clarkes drain business, it was adding insult to irjury to ask them to erect a kauri shoot for it ; although no doubt the authorisation of the work would have proved very acceptable to some, work being slack for carpenters at the time. Then what about their application to have a road and bridge made to Mr (Sandy) Russell's house ? Was that a reasonable request, when so many urgent works needed attention ? It was unreasonable requests like these that, in our opinion, at lengtbdeterminedCounciltorid themselves of all responsibility respecting this road. It does not, however, necessarily follow that the Council never will contribute towards the cost of its being kept in repair. We have always observed the Council as a body show every desire to do justice to Te Aroha, And were it not for them, and the spirit and enterprise thpy displayed in constructing the County tramway at Waiorongomai, we ask, Would we have had Mr W. R. Wilson (and his partners), expending many thousands of pounds in our midst to-day, in erecting such a magnificent reduction works at Waiorongomai ? Then, as regards the matter of County rating. The Council have levied no rate in the Riding this year ; althongh it is not for want of being asked to do so by the Te Aroba membeis. How many times have they suggested to Council to levy another rate on this Riding, and promised to support it ? Why as far back as the Council meeting held on February 17th, (before the new financial year had been even entered upon) Cr Murphy said, if Cr Gould would move I another f d rate be struck over Te Aroha Riding after March 31st lie would support it, and Cr Mills at same meeting reminded the Council they could strike another rate after March 31st and said he too would assist Council in levying another rate on the Riding. We consider the other members of the Council have shown far more consideration for local residents in these depressed times than the members for this Riding, who we verily believe, would not scruple to levy a rate about every month if they could have their way. Then again we have heard a great deal about the Council reducing the rate of wage 3 in this Riding lately to what they pay in all the other Ridings, viz., six shillings per day. But what really led up to this ? Undoubtedly the conduct of the members of this Riding in instructing that one man in particular, Bernard Montague, be paid eight shillings per day ; seven shillings having been the rate of wages paid by Council before to R. Michael, who for a long time previously bad done nearly all the County road repairs ,in this Riding. There was never a word said on the part of the Couni'il about reducing wages in Te Aroha Riding below seven shillings a day, until the account for Mr Montague at fight shillings per day was presented and Crs Mills and Murphy stated they had instructed that wage to be paid the Council not hnving even boon consulted in the matter. And why we ask should all the other ratepayers, many of them lrtbouiing men, le fWml ro contribute an extra shilling a duy to Mr B. Montague ? We know of no rei:s< n exrept t'-efact thai he happens to be a friend of, Cr Murphy's can bo •ermed a sufficient

reason. Wo recently referred to the little regard the' local representatives in the Council show with respect to taxation ; or thoy. would have done their duty long ago, in moving that Waitoa Riding contribute at least halt of the subsidy to Murphy's punt. Why should To Arolm Riding alona have- had to pay about £100 for this concern since the subsidy business was started ? Facts aye stubborn things, and if local residents only look into the matter for themselves, they will bo able without difficulty to jndgo how far our present representatives in the Council have studied the interests of the ratepayers as a whole.

On Tuesday next the important duly will devolve upon the ratepayers of Te Arolm Town District to record their votes in favour of the five candidates whom, after carefully weighing the pros and cons with respect to each, they consider will most faithfully discharge the "duties attendant on the office, and the candidates are all local men, welMinown amongst us. and we do not purpose referring to their individual merits or elements. Wo do hope the electors Mill put all party feelings aside, and vote for those they know have the best interest of the place at heart. We understand five candidates have been selected as being in favour of doing away with the Town District, and forming a Borough. But it should be borne in mind the Town Board cannot forward or retard in any way the formation of a Borough, which can only be done on a petition of the ratepayers. In the meantime no good can possibly result from trying to prevent the Town District form of Government being a success. We would remind onr readers that the Skating Kink will be open as usual in Te Aroha Public Hall on next Tuesday evening. Through pressure on our space we are compelled to hold over report of Town Board meeting, Ohinemuri correspondent's letter, mining new, etc. The ceremony in connection with the removal of the remains of William Thomson (Te Wahaioa) is proceeding at Maungakawa. There are a large number of natives present. Mr Hy. Buttle, manager of the Annandale Estate, Piako, has for sale come choice young dairy cows. The improvements to the domain are being rapidly cm riod on hy the contractor, Messrs Campbell and Cook, The bowline: green in the course of preparation will be 112 ft by 50ft in measurement. The Hon. G. M. Waterhouse, a member of the Legislative Council, is a visitor to Te Aioha. Mr G. A. Burgess, for several years manager of the Te Aroha branch of the Bank of New Zealand, and recently stationed at Wairoa, near Napier, has been eppointed to the bmk at Te Awamutu. The fancy dreiis carnival in connection with the closing of the Waiorongomai skating rink will be held on Wednesday evening next, and bids fair to be a success. Much prepaiation has been made for the orent in the way of costumes, and some novel ones will be introduced. The c.tr nival will commence at eight p.m., and linking- will be held up till nine p.m., when dancing will be instituted. Refreshments will be provided throughout the evening. By the Regulation of Local Elections Act Amendment Act, 1888, passed on the 9th ult., we find there are two new sections, which, in view of the local elections taking place this week, we think should be made known to all electors. In place of section 2o of the former Act, which is repealed, the following is substituted :—: — " No scrutineer or other official or unofficial person shall speak to any voter in a polling-booth, cither before or after such voter has given his vote, except only the Returning Officer (with an interpreter, if necessary), who may ask the questions he is authorised to put, and give such general directions as may assist any voter to give his vote Every person offending against this section shall be liable for each such offence to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, and may be at once removed from the booth hy order of the Returning Officer." Section 32 of the former Act is also repealed, and the following has been substituted :— " If any voter is blind or physically inenpiuitated from reading or wi iiincr, or so desires, the Returning Officer und, if necessary, an inteipreter shall ietire with him into the inner compartment, and there make up the voting-paper according to the instruction of the voter ; and such Returning Officer shall sign his own name at the foot thereof. The new postmaster, Mr Clough, arrived from Te Awamutu with his wife and family on Thursday la-4, and has now taken over the duties of the Te Aroha office. Mr Vnuse will leave on Monday for Te Awamutu. In refeiring to Mr Clough's departure from Te Awamutu, the Waikato Times says :— " Universal regret is expressed at the removal of Mr Clough, our much esteemed postmaster, to Te Aroha. Every effort has been made to retain him in this place, but without success so far, as he is under orders to leave on Thursday (To-dsy>. No .other man in the district would be as much missed as Mr Clough, who is certainly the most popnlar man in the countryside. Uis obliging disposition his made him deservedly respected ; he will leave hosts of friends, and what can be said of few indeed, not a single enemy. As ho has been here for about twelve 3'ears, we have learned to look upon him as a fixture, but the pleasant illusion has been dispelled. We hoped the department would have taken the unmistakabty expressed wish of the district into their favourable consideration, and have gratified us by letting him remain, but apparent!}' their Jaws are as unalterable as those of the Medes and Persians, for they will take from us the man whom we could least afford to lose. We have been singularly fortunate in our public officials here, and when Sergt. Gillies was removed we hoped no more of om favourites would be taken, but to our regret' we are about to lose another. Perhaps our good fortune in this respect was too good to lust, as the present removal would indicate. We all tender Mi and Mrs Clough and family our sincere regrets at their departure, and our Jienrficst good wishes for health «nd prosperity in wh.ttevur place their lot may !>c <y,\^t, anil we hope we will always enteitain the same kindly reruenibrancu of tho people of this district as they will of him." »,