PIAKO COUNTY COUNCIL. PLACE OF MEETING.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 426, 7 December 1889, Page 2

PI A KO COUNTY COUNCIL. PLACE OF MEETING.

Sir, — I rtjiret flint Councillor Kiinmer'u motion for having the I'u-.ko County OotiiKi! meetings held -it MoniiiMvillo wart lobt. The original Counties Act pro\ide<l tint (ho Coitncii meetings must he held within the County, but as this piovibioa would have been inconvenient to my then [ constituents in the County of Bruce, whose natural centre of meeting would be in tho Borough of Milton, I Hiiggected that this waa a detail which might very well bo left to the people theiiiHclvew, and the clause was struck out. Everywhere fho amendnient hug been beneficial and unabiitfcd, except in the Piako County ; but one could scarcely be blamed for failing to foresee that there would be such a County Council as .a maj&rrtjT of that of Pinko. They do not even" meet in a corner of the County (which might have been, termed a hole a$ corner- proceeding), but they go iato. % towa in another Count}', nnd keep, up a semi-parliamentary , establishment there. If Pi-iko Councillors can take our money for going to Cambridge, why may they not go to Auckland ? What 18 to prevent them even, at our expense, fixing a meeting for Dunedin, where they could see the .Exhibition, where they could pretend to invite other Jocal bodies to confer on tho new Local Growera* men! proposals of the government ? '321 their convenience (I^dpn't say high moral tone), prevents tk<?U> from gpj&g, why could thfir Chairman #ot be se^^^rould suggest to CoimpiJJors HawflypT' and Horrejl' to persevere in their commendable efEytpy and that they should msve that tho Cpunpil meetings in future be held at T e Aroha, and then Mr Pavitt could combine the duties of Engineer and Clerk, thereby effecting a very substantial saving to the ratepayers pockets. This course has wrought most satisfactorily in Bruce, a fur more wealthy and more important County tluin Piako. There Mr Nelson doe* all the work aa engineer, inspector, cleik and collector, for less than we pay Mr Tuck at Cambridge ; and without getting into debt they are well served with excellent and well kept roads, and the Council do, not only the County woik, but nearly all the Koad Board business, Tho members there co-operate, without pay, to carry out the »york, and wo do not sec in their monthly accounts Councillor tio^andHO £7 ; and Councillor somebody else, £7 10s, expenses. If Cr Hanmer moves thntTe Ajoha be the county town surely Crs Mills and Murphy could not vote against that ; Cr Ilorrell could not consistently vote against it, he is a ttraight man ; whilst the Chairman would have an opportunity of (showing his sincerity or otherwise in voting for Morrinsville, unless that in so _ voting ho knew he was voting in a sai'e minority for a motion that would not l/c carried. I hope Cr llanmer will cany tho removal to Te Aroha, and some oE those who voted against Morrins\ ille will havo to travel further, and not fare worse, while others may have gratuitously to sacrifice their valuable time to an appreciative community. — I am, etc., Wm. Akoh. Murray, Mount Pleasant, Piako, December 2nd, J BB9.