THE MEETING AT GERALDINE RE PECKHAM'S ROAD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1069, 10 February 1883, Page 3

THE MEETING AT GERALDINE RE PECKHAM'S ROAD.

TO THE EDITOR. Fir,—ln reading over your widely c'rculntcd iaper to diy re 'the Public Meeting at Geraldine,' and comparing it with the report, I presume, of the same meeting which appeared in the Timaru Herald, I could scircely reconcile myself to the belief that the two reports coald possibly be of one and the same meeting, 'although I wi! give you credit f>r reporting the meeting very fairly. Y<>t I cannot an lerstand why certain gentlem-m's speeches wre omitted altogether in tha Timaru Herald, notably where certain manif *stntions of temper wre rented npon the poor Clerk of the Board ; bat rigat glad was [ to find that the latter person named, was, by his coolness, more t iar» \ mitch for his mnorior. More than once it wa«s endeavored to attach b'nme to the Clerk with reference t'> o mmnnicatirig the decision f'f the B *rd to Mr Mundell and others r; P-ckham'B road, but with the Clerk's •tatpm-'nt and Mr Mnnde'd's corob>ration the worthy Chairnnn of the Board was Again, when the Clerk, who ! by no means is a f.wl in road-making, j referred to the road, and wished to off"r a suggestion gained by his long experience in the art of road-making, it was painful in the extreme to listen to fc'ie remarks of the Chairman of the Board reflecting in sach a cut ting and sarcastic manner upon what he thought to be failings of the poor Clerk, when he, the said Clerk, was Overseer, long be'ore thj worthy Chair man of the B«ard came from Home, But I was overjoyed to listen to the remarks ot the Clerk in reply, when he stated that years ago the Board was not so rich as it is now, and the estimated cost of his reports upon the yarious applications that came before the Board were greatly curtailed—in some instances to 75 ver cent less thai, his estimate of cost—and, therefore, he confessed that he could not do as he would have don", being hampered for want of funds. I know the Board at that tin.*, and the ratepayers, can bear him out in this : that it was no fault either of the Board or of its officer, but ! fur want of funds. But the thought occurred to me when the Chairman and tha present were reflecting

so unmercifully upon what they supposed to be the shortcomings of Mi Sl.erratt, Wa< there any difference in the circuniKtances of the Board when the two Overseers took offic? and 1 was reminded of this tact (iiving in the district at the time when the Geraldin< Road Board District was formed) that these two gentlemen were ap| licants for the same post, and whilst the present Overseer's application was so much less, the former Overseer was accepted at a much higher rate, owing to the firstclass testimonials he had. The expenditure for tlie'first year did not reach £IOOO, and the roads at that time were in an infinitely worse state than when the present Overseer took office ; therefore the demands from ratepayers were greater and more urgent, and the fund* being so very low it was surprising how the first Overseer managed so well to hring the roads to such a state of perfection—so well, that when he left office many ratepayers expressed themselves that the roads in the (Jeraldine District were second to none in Canterbury, But. when tha present Overseer took iffiee I am given to understand the Boani had a credit balance of upwards of £3J,GDO, and a C erk to look after cor- : ence, minutes, accounts, rate, etc., which the former Overseer had to do alone with £SO less salary. Now, Sir, taking all the»e matters into con the present Overseer mu-t have an easy time of it wtien compared with the former one, and in addition more than three-fourthu of the formation was done before he came, and the pr*-s-nt Overseer's work has consisted chiefly in repairs, improving, and gravelling. In returning to the nieettinsr, I must say Mr Sherratt deserves credit for the manly way he spoke of. the coating of gravel put on PeckbamV road as b"ing a waste of ior never would 1 have expected that any man would have put a coat of gravel on a river bed, as is the case trom Elis's corner towards the Orari. I am of opinion, th >ugh not a practical man, that if his suggestion is carried out; that is to widen the road sufficiently to give an uniform crown and width to the road, taking care that the black soil is used in filling up hollows and backing up next the gravel, and the loam, sand, or clay met with is spread evenly over the whole surface of the road, and, if circumstances require it, take out a small drain on each side of the road (this mat- rial out of drain will make grand blinding*! Mr Mundell will have ag< od road in no time, and things will take their wonted course of smoothness so characteristic of the ratepayers in the Gerald ine Road District. Apologising for troubling you with such a lengthy epistle,—l am etc., Smock Frock. Raukapuka Downs.

[We did not pretend to give a verbatim report of the meeting, as we thought that to convey an intelligible idea of what transpired to our renders would be sufficient. The Tirnaru Herald is published a great distance from Geraldin 1 , aid as it has large demands on its columns it cannot be expected to giro very extended reports of meeting* in country districts. Geraldino ought t > hare a paper of its own, and then the wishes an I aspirations of its people would get full publicity.—Ed T.L.]