THE HURWORTH RIDING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 96, 20 May 1909, Page 3

THE HURWORTH RIDING.

AXD ITS Ij'IXAXCES. y Tlic apparently evergreen topic of th V llurwoiTh riding ami the comity over u. draft was aired again at yesterday'a County Council meeling, the' diseussioi |. being waged principally between Conn I- cillors llopson and Carter. For a loin ). time pant the Council ll.is looked witii A some soil of awe at Air. llopsoii )n ■- Ills expounding ol' the laws whbii govern '- local bodies. .So one else bothered very lnucii about quoting law at all. .Mr. Carter, however, has proved himself a v "regler terror '' for legal phraseology, i! and the "Counties Aer. - ' jails lrom Jum e in chunks wiien he gets up to speak. - These two "learned friends," as tliev - say in tin- profession, sit side by side at the Council table, and carry on som vigorous argument now and again, xhe - endeavour of the Jlurwortli riding to • escape what Councillor llopson termed its just liabilities, but what the llur- -' worth member seeni.'d to consider an » illegal and unfair imposition, drew these 1 two gentlemen into wordy conflict yesterday. The question at issue was whether or 1 not tile Hurworth riding should be coni- | polled by resolution of the Council to burden itself-with part of th'; heavy! 1 debt of the Omata riding, of which llur- ' worth had until recently formed a part. 1 Councillor llopson couldn't see how the Hurworth riding could legally or morally evade the liability. ; Councillor Carter was surprised that a councillor of such long standing as Councillor Hopson should be so illinformed upon the matter of adjustment' of accounts. The Counties Act luads no provision for an adjustment upon the formation of a new riding. Supposing the Hurworth riding accepted an adjustment now, and then in the course of a few years a portion decided to merge into'tile borough or otherwise secede, the portion seceding would have to take with it a share of the bank overdraft. Tile County Council of that day might choose to ignore the present adjustment and insist on another, if Councillor llopson thought tlicy were as fond of adjustments as that he was greatly mistaken. At any rate, it was ltiir(e that that gentleman gave the Council to understand what lie was after. He bad been hinting all sorts of things lately. Councillor Hopson considered the new riding should b$ treated just as if they had seceded. It nonsense for Councillor Carter and his people to say that no other district had been 1,1 t'iie same position as the Hurworth riding. He instanced the people along the Junction road in the days when that road was administered by the road board, it had to be kept open as a main road, and the county, although collecting rates there, spent nothing on it and allowed no subsidy. As for the idea that Hurworth had been bled, he thought Omata was bleeding itself now by erecting toll-gates to pay off an overdraft to which Hurworth had contributed. Councillor Andrews said he would J never have agreed to the. formation of tho new riding had lie not thought they "would take their sbtu'e ot the umata . debt. If the Omata riding was formed ' into a new county there would be an adjustment of accounts. Why, then, should Hurworth escape? Councillor Carter: We're not a new county. We are as much in the county as ever, He added that tile new riding was bearing its share of the interest oa the overdraft which Omata people had created. Had Hurworth people lormed a new county, as they had intended to < do, the Council could not have arranged | its finance, for the security! of the rest of the Taranaki c-ountv would not have been sufficient on which to obtain the present overdraft. The chairman would I bear him out in that. The Council had assured the deputation last June that if they came into the county all rates collected ill the riding would be spent in the riding. That assurance could not be complied with if this debt were shunted 1 on to the riding. It was late I in the day to suggest such a transaction now. Unless Councillor llopson ceased his opposition, be (Councillor Carter) would take steps that would speedi- 'J ly bring matters to a head. Councillor llopson protested warmly that lie was not going to submit tii threats, and lie was surprised at the councillors allowing themselves to be "driven like cattle." lie couldn't uu- , derstand why people couldn't, see this ' matter as h,.' did. (Laughter.) Councillor Tale said tlie Omata members ought to have been shrewd enough c to foresee this difficulty. There was absolutely 110 claim on the Hurworth riding, which would never have been form- ■ cd had the Council aetnl on bis advice 11 to subsidise the Ciii'i'iiigton, i-'rankley, and Eliot road districts by .t.'ilh) a \ear. The chairman said there was no power il to eU'ecl an adjustment now. The only thing that the Council could do was to , ask the Hurworth representatives to accept a share (on the valuation basis) of the bank overdraft on 31st Marcn Inst. There remained this fact—that Omata had done very well out of the I Hurworth people in the past. Councillor Carter: And we didn't get v a penny of the expenditure. Councillor Hopson: How many thou- 11 sands did you get in subsidies? e Councillor Hill: None. A few liun-j v dreds, perhaps. Councillor Hopson: Those people on the Junction Road were just as badly off, and they got no subsidy. ( Councillor Carter: Tlicy couldn't have had very good representation on the Council.

Councillor Hopson (with emphasis): They hadn't got you, anyhow. With this little passage-at-arms the matter was allowed to stand over. Tin* Council will decide the point, without discussion, at the next ordinary meeting.