The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1880.

Temuka Leader, Issue 236, 21 February 1880, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1880.

When the County Council Ordinance was passed, we expressed regret that a clause was allowed to remain in it>aving it optional for any Council to bring the Act into force, or otherwise, as it might think fit. We predicted that this per- = .:i--sivc clause would cause trouble and ■.-• nova nee. Our prognostications have = ..-jve.J.but 'wo true. The clause referied

toh?»s prevented the Counti-.-s Act being fairly tried in many counties, and has led to much dissatisfaction. In the County of Geraldine, om- of the must important counties in New Zealand, it has c uised much strife and division where peace had j hitlurto pr.vailed. At thf fu\sl meetin of tin Geraldine County Council, held in Tim'aru, there were present: —Mr \\ . Pcst'.ethwaite (Chairman j, and Messrs Mendelson, Wilson, Russell, Cooper, Acton and Mcintosh. The qivstion o f the place <i future .neetin :* wa-; brought up, whei there voted for Timrini Messrs Acton, Russell, ,i!id Mcintosh ; for Temuka—Messrs Postlelhwaite, Wii" son, M!enue!s"-n and C >on-r. It was consequently decided by a m ijority that t'.:e Connci"s nvje tings should be held at Temuka,atKl ever since then they have been held there. The question that the whole Act should be adopted was introduced by Mr Acton moving for a special meeting to consider the clause. There voted tor ihd motion—Messrs Wilson and Acton ; against it, Messis W. Postleth waits, Russell and Cooper. This led to all the complications and heartburnings which followed. Mr Wilson warned the member for Temuka and others that they were sacrificing the last chance that they would have of establishing the Council in a way that would enable Lie country districts to protect their own interests. His warning wa g unheeded, and the Act made unworkable Some of the members of the Council said that Mr Postlethwaite, shortly after this, was in favor of bringing the Act intofofce. Had he carried his resolution to do so into effect, a majority would likely have been got, and the County Council's meetings established in Temuka ; but he never made a proposition to the Council to bring the Act into force, and as he soon after resigned the chance was lost. After the next general election {Mr Wilson was elected Chairman of the new Council. This was the signal for the member for Geraldine to take up an argument in favor of a division of the county, and how well he worked the oracle is known to every elector in the Geraldine electoral district, Mr Wakefield has, ever since apparently studied more the interests of Timaru, and the Tirnam Herald than tne interests of his constituenls.Strife was engendered by his intermeddling, and the smooth working of the Council put an end to for ever. Had the Act been brought into force at the time, we would have had the meetings in Temuka (the centre of the county) where they ought to be. The first Chairman's vacillations were imitated by another member, who signed a requisition to call a special meeting for the purpose of proposing that tlie Act be brought into force ; but who, when tha Council met, refused to vote for it ? Shortly after Mr Wilson (the then Chairman) resigned, and Mr Tripp was elected Chairman in his place, this member again changed sides, and went in for bringing the Act into force. Whether the present Chairman is an improvement on the last ifi not for us to say; but to him belongs chiefly the honour or the blame of the meetings being removed to Timaru. The action of the Chairman at last Thursday's meeting is beld to be irregular. At a previous meeting the Council unanimously adopted a code of rules for the future guidance of its meetings, and at Thursday's meeting confirmed their adoption, as required by the Act. The Standing Orders were then in our opinion law, and by these Standing orders two thirds of the Councillors present must vote in favour of rescinding any resolution. Notwi.hstand--ing this the Chairman backed up by the members for Mount Cook and the Levels Riding ruled ;that the standing ordera were not yet law. We regret to. have so often to point out the inconsistencies of several members,but we are bound to say we have never seen so glaring an inconsistency as this. Here we hav-e a set of gentlemen met together to conduct public business, and to prevent disputes or irregularities they prepare a set of rules for their own guidance when iu Council. Nor was this a hasty measure. A sub-committee was appointed at one meeting to prepare a form of Standing Orders, to be submitted at next meeting. This sub-committee fulfilled their duties and pn scnted the result of their cogitations. These Standing ordcrs,aftersome slight amendments, were passed unanimously, and, as we have before said, were unanimously confirmed at Thursday's meeting, at the very outset of its business. Indeed, the) could not do otherwise, but nnmodiatjly after the business of the Council is conducted in a way contrary to the laws just passed for its guidance. We do not know what to make of such oroceediiu;s However, the

mailer in ilisj ale (the question wheie the meetings ;uv to be held) is now sottied, and we suppose there ia no use in orgumg the point any more. Wliatwilj turn up next ■ c are unable to say. On one hand, the Mount C >ok Hiding

threatens separjttio:;. Our ohjYet in advocating the m e ings be ng held in a i country town rras to protect the inland townsh'ps from being destroyed by the centralisation policy of Timaru. It is well known tlint public institutions f.tiinula te the growth of these townships, while on the other hand every additional institution which belongs to the country towns, which is cstublishel inTimaiu tends to deteriorate all town and sub_ uiban } roperties, and thus cause a great lessening in the value of such property . Oiten have we pointed this oat, ami we could not understand the tactics of certain gentlenun, who were supporting this centralising policy, which is fraugnt with such serious consequenceo not only to themselves, but to the districts in which they reside.