COUNTY MATTERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXIII, Issue XXXXIII, 22 April 1901, Page 2

COUNTY MATTERS.

THB MKHiriNG AT INGLBWOOD. " Following will be found the balance ' of oui' report of the proceedings at the t ra.opiyers' meeting at Inglewood on . Friday evening, Mi'. Okey, r.-ferring to the County ! finances as the " new Council" found ' tham in 1895, said Mr. Price had gone 1 round telling paople his administration ' had bean able to let contracts for road motalling in lots of four and five miles at a stretch. It had ; but it didn't pay f.u* them. The new Council, on taking office, found a contract on the Junction j Road (Ke ly and Hayes) was in proI gres*. The contract amount wai £IBOO, but the only paymeat made hart bem .£406. This left a liability of eome £I4OO to be faced. In addition, the bridge? in the Parihaka riding were in a bad state. Tue bank overdraft was in such a bad state that tha Council cou'd noi draw a cheque The contractors would not suspend work, although an attampt was made t) gat thorn to do so. The Council had than to give " orders" to the contractor to the extent of £750, and these were discounted by a moniy-l«nder in New Plymouth. The old Council should hive seen that its revenue was such that the roads could nave been kept in ropiir, it it could not do that it should have gone to tha ratepayers and askrid for means. The new Council had to do this, and it had to put on tolls. Now the roads were in fair . order. Bridges had as far as possible been put in order, though a Humber yet required renewal. Cement piers, . etc., had baen built,'and he hoped to sue iron girders usad in future, so that works* would be permment. Wnile , expressing regret at Mr, Horrocks' | retirement?, aad admiration for his i tjraip of tha fininoUl position, Mr. Okey said he could not agree | with that gentleman's bridge loins ; propagate. Mr. Horrocks proposed , to barrow; £12,000 for bridges and . strike a bridge rate. The scheme , would show a credit balance of £l3O at the end of 26 years. But there were . £25,000 worth of bridges to maintain, I and tbe £l3O would of course not suf- , fice for that purpose. ( Replying to questions, Mr. Okey said he would oppose shifting any gales from their present position.*, as it would upset ratepayers, and cause endless trouble and confusion such as had been caused by the Oinati affair. A voica : You doa't mind upsetiiug ratepayers where the gates are 'i Mr. Okey : Well, you're getting usad to them (daughter), Continuing, he favoured grauting subsidies to roads that did not tauch County roads. There were only three—all in the Omata Riding—and these had, up to the present yeir, reoaived a graut of £3OO aunually.

Mr. Hopssn: What about the Wortley, Liuo-Jn, and York roads ? They should alsi get subsidies. Mr. Okey : People using those roa,ds had to us* the Couutj as well. '

Mr,.%.i(«i then addressad the ineo og. The impjrtanoe of the questioi oils or no tolls, hinged upon the diffei nee in the numbers of those who use. h„m and those who dii not, Inter nediate traffic -that between th,e gates -did not usj tbe gatos. Qaty about me-fqurch id the ratepayers passed ibr Jugh. A!l should contribute equally. But, to mike tjlls reach al;, gic t s shojld be put on all roids, aul then perhaps a very small Oaunty rate would b« sufficient. For the last two yearo the rata had reduced, aud £IB3B was lost to the reveuue. Four

jdis ricts—Camngton, Frankloy, Elioi and Barrett ro*da—did not pay toils.] Toe gates had bom put up whore th»y did not catch thes.9 people. Why, ho sskad, should one ilistviut pay and uui another ? Another phase of the toll question concerned cattle traffic. These, in most cases, did not pay colls. AJ'.Qtey was himself a, ea/.tla-d'jaler, and tie couid buy stook at Stony river, tak.them to Wai.vakaiho, then to Waitara, Inglewood and Stratford, and not pay a penny toll -simply by going round a corner (laughter). And still the poor toll-keeper wae expected to pay up hie rents 1 The ratepayers bad to pay tolla while cattle went practically freu. In hia (Mr Price's) opinion ths focrcuaed valuations in the Qaunty should produce, sum.cie,at revenue. Every man should pay his share pro rata, but unfortunately tha one on the wrong side of a toll gate had to pay double. If Mr Okey lived on the wrong side of a tdl-ga'e he would not favour its retan,tion. Co.ning to tha question of finanoe M l ' £ r l ca considered the inoreasad valuation ef land would add about £I2OO to the revenue, or an increase of 25 p : r cent. The valuation of the whol.) County gave £1,618,182, on which a g nonl lata of fd yi Id £5056. Tho valuation if tho }&oj.

1 .Ut-Jing (xc.ed.Qi any athar, betn> £573,471, on which a |d rate wouk KiveA'l792. Rents would add £ll* to ibis tjsal, aud th.ro were other inci,'djutal iems of income. Xne Counci j mady a grave mistake when it kept thi i toll.* on ; a |J rate would give a direct j i ovenue sufficient for alt purp The : Moa was ujt to be cojjpired to o hm tiding.*, ai it compact in shipe, and the bridges were all in pcetty good I repair. Wooden bridges would btind jas long as any others, as, they could be e sly lepairei. K ifewiog to machinery, h§; flong.dar the present pjaut was good enough. It could turn ou; 60 yards of b.okon stena p«r day. Hy >vas so.ry, with Mr Okey, thit Mr Honveks had not come foi ward again, as that gentleman was ''straight, and would nos shuffle." When he (Mr Price) got a mo ion carried, by five vo'-ed to three, to ab. lish sqaa of the g tttts, Mr Hjitocks congratulated him. (Appliu-e). One gate hal baen sold privately, when no o«e tendc-rsd for I, just as Mr Okey sold his cattle after a « le wheuno hi i hid received, but ',' ( s Peakor) "goo wind of i?, and iur Ok.-y as once s ruolr. his flag, jus'j a- aomo of the B, Jlt generals haj done! i" -Q-'h Africa !" (Laughser and bjci- j phu.,e.) As ono of tha oldest unbeiteui O-.iuicilloid m iS T t-w Ze.il-jnd (he htld :i ! I'cod ( ,f -a yea.sunbrokoi; se.vic) Jl '; ui;j ™* '■■» w.ihi «g, to i,, I'" "OGli tll>. 'c..|t.' : l; ,-i „.- bcioo «,« to t; e (i'oVn"■';., 'PL'"'"- .) . 1;,..m-v,- i >o Mr. Corso-.UiOcainU 1 to bdm.tt d t-ot UiJ dog tax li«.i .e.a Uuudcd o\ov to t-,{.• r, a t h ards. Mr. Heuwood asked whether Mr,

Pi ice would favour to!Is or a whaol-tar if • lie ordinary rate did nnt provide si suflic ent revenue.—Mr. Prica *aid the 1 la-v provided for the widening of tyres and licensing carriers. He oppas:d a general wheel tax.

In reply to further question" Mr. I Price admitted that he had included in a notice of motion, given at the Coun-1 cil meeting in January, a supgaetion | that steps be taken to institiro a wheel tax. "But that was only a flank movement, you see," ho continued, " if I had carried the abolition of all the gates, the wbeel-tax wou'd never have been mentioned." (Liughtor.) Ho contonded that when the old Council let its contracts there was revenue to m>et the expenditure ; but the new Council did not know how to use it. Tie newCeuucil had .£3OO more when it entered office than at the end of its term. Referring to the Junction road, towards Tarata, Mr. Price said the Givernmont had voted £IOOO towards the work. This was expended now, and tha Council could go to tha Gavevnment for another subsidy.

A voice : Gm yon tell us why th'j dog tax was not collected last y« ir ? Air. Prico (pointinj. to Mr. Okey) : Ask Harry <h*t ! (Laigbter). Mr. McDonald thou spjke. Ho was averse to tills when they were established, but he now saw that the ordinary revenue would not hive kept the roads in repair. He would tharefe.e favour tolls for another 18 months or two yeirs. Mr. Price had stated that the Council had done eothing to the Junction road, beyond Matiganui; but he (Mr. McDonald) could say it had spent money there. He quotsd a letter written to the Press by Mr. Price o» the ere of last election, proposing to make the Junstion road to Tarata a County ro*d. Mr. McDonald said he opposed this as he was afraid the Conncil would find the road on its hands, and receive no Government subsidy. After a great deal ef trouble, however, the Council had obtained a subsidy for the work. Mr. Price advoct»:ed removing the tolls at on.ee j but Mr. McDonald painted, out that contracts for a year were let, and the Council would have to pay compensation t» the collectors, I'he Mountain Road gate would,, \<a a more convenient position, bring in three time? iw present rental, and he had msived to hava it shifted. A proposal was at once submitted to place the gate oear In;'lewooJ, which he bad never intended, and he had to vote agniost it. The original position was better than the present one. He estimated th* expense of collecting tolls as about 35 per cant, of the. total.

Mr. Hopsen opposed tolls, but he believed ia passible roads, and go whs afraid tolls would have to be kept ou for a time at any rate. The revenue would not bs sufficient without tolls. As to the crusher plant, the present one was out of date.

Mr. Morton fallowed, and traversed Mr. Price's statement* as to finaiee. He believed that the increased valuations, would not increase tbe rate by more than 5 or 6 per cent., and hn fail"d to see how Mr. Price could make bosh ends meet without tolls.

Mr Trimble agreed with Mr Morton's views, and wouji practically support the policy of the late Council. He believed the majority of the ratepayers would oppose an increase of rates.

MrG. V. Tato (Waitara) spoke at some length, and referred to the largo »mount of work the n«w Council had dju« to pus ifi'ti'S iu O'dsr. Through certain agitatioDS ail'aira wore now drifting disorder again, and, dep'orabb as it w.is, he' thought tao

Council's resignation was unavoidable As to tails, any taxation was obnoxious whora a hardslr'rt wis imposed, but [tolls cau«ht Maori •( nni non-ratepayers, aud if done aw.y with the full rata 'would hava to bo s'ru, k. Tho C-.v: a ty b;)Killi:S:i W,.fl now C'l'Uml out ye !>• -a i-t'aetji'jjy, excepting in ihu l'ai i hi»ka Ridinjj, r,ud he sympathised will the effort o form a c.muty in ;.he sjuth. Bridges costing .£IOOO were equired, and the only way to get them *as for settlers to raisa a spocul loan. \ A ne.v road-making plant was a necessity. J

Mr Tate answered several questions, and the meeting clcsod as already reported.