PROPOSED BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1086, 22 March 1883, Page 3

PROPOSED BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The following is a report of the meeting to consider the advisability of bringing the town of Temuka under the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, held last Monday evening in the Oddfellows' Hall, and of which we have already given a short report. It was expected that Mr John Talbot would take the chair, but that gentleman deeming it incompatible with his position as Chairman of the Road Board to do so, proposed that Mr K. F. Gray take the chair. Mr Gray, on taking the chair, said he was obliged to them for the position to which they had elected him 3 and hoped hia duties would not be very onerous. He then read the advertisement calling

the meeting, and proceeded to explain -i~4!w,t it was not out of any discourtesy that Mr Talbot had declined to preside, hut that he did not consider it consistent with his position as Chnirmon of the Road Board, He had no doubt but they would all agree that the time had now arrived when some definite stops should be taken for bringing the town under the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act. It was patent to all that as the population was increasing, and the Road Board could not do municipal work lame local form of government was necessary. They would have a great advantage of having a

system of drainage, Thers was no drain-

age at all, and this wasa matter of grave importance. The younger portion of the

population was rapidly increasing, and the

great necessity for drianage must present ,ltself to everyone. The question of drainage was not a new one. Several years ago.a proposal was made to bring in water to flush the streets, and if it was necessary then how much more necessary it was now when the population had so much increased, The children, were onethird greater now than then. Tbey had now a population of over 1000, and it was time they should look out and manage their own affairs. It may be 3aid it would increase the expenses. He thought it would not. All that would be wanted was a town clerk. It was not necessary to have a lot of officials walking up and down boking at each other. Mr Lough in Timaru did all the duties connected with that borough in the beginning at a salary ot £l2O. There was another im-

portant matter. If this town wai de-

clared a borough the Mayor would be a J.P., and that would be of considerable advantage because they frequently had a good deal of trouble in getting affidavits signed. The town would come into notice, and the streets would be better kept. They did not find fault with the Road Board; it did its work well, but they admitted themselves they could not do municipal work, and consequently it was the duty of the town to look after itself. He would take up no more of their time, but call upon some one to move a resolution. Mr Franks saidhe had been asked to move a resolution because he"had been so long living in Temuka, and because he was one of the largest ratepayers. It was time something was done. We are nobodies, and if we wast anything done there i 3 nobody to do it. There was an instance of it. There wer* efforts being made to take the R.M. Court to Winchester. If the Council was in existence this would be put a stop to. He did not believe it would be done, but there wera people

trying to do it, and it was necessary to

look after it. It was necessary also that they should look after the cleanliness of their streets. Sometime, ago when the subject was first mooted he had disapproved of it because he did not believe in being taxed. He had a horror of taxation, and only that be belived-now that the taxation would be less than under the Road Board he would not have supported i\ in looking over the probable revenue he found they would have over £4OO more than at present without taxing the ratepayers at all in the shape of license

fees etc. He did not think they need dread

•xpenses. He ad been in Palmerston * Whaa it was formed into a borough, and

' they carried on without raising the rates. There was no reason why'the same thing might Mot be done in Teniuka. Mr OHivier and himself had gone over the subject, and discussed the various sources of revenue, and they might rest assured he would not have countenanced the movement if he did not believe it would be for the good of the town. The boundaries of the proposed town would be Paterson's road (o the nsw railway bridge, down to the then along the railway, taking in Mr Brown's private residence lo "Dyson's corner, then down the road taking in Sod Town across by the cemeterv, and up along by the park near his own brewer's to the river, then along the river to the starting point. Within that area the property tax valuation was £72342, the ratenble valuation of which is onesixteenth.and would yield to the Council an annual revenue of £ll3 Os B£. He would state the probable revenue as follows :

That would leave £SOO to be spent annually in the town. He had been told that the town clerkship of Timaru had been done in the beginning for £72 a year, and he saw no reason why it should not be done here for £6O. The speaker then moved a resolution to constitute the town a borough. Mr Pearpoiut seconded the motion. Mr John Talbot was very glad to see aDy movement on foot to improve matters. He had intended to suggest that they should not go on too hastily ; but perhaps his advice would not be necessary, as the Act provided that out of the 250 householders 100 should sign the petitioD, and it should be two months in '.Wlnsrton waiting for a counter petition. In mo meantime the matter could be Loked into thoroughly. Aa for the pound, the rent of which was put down at £3O a year, it had cost the Road Board £SOO, and he believed it would take the £3O a year to keep it in order. The hotel licenses might be right enough, but they were less than stated at present. The cottages belonged to the Government, and whether they would be handed over to the Council or not he did not know. The Road Board never looked upon them as any source of revenue. It was very well to put these things on paper, but it was doubtful whether they would be a source of revenue after all. The nest question was, Was tiiere any necessity for this at all] Probably the population was increasing ; there may be 1000 people living in Temuka, but would all these pull together ? The people in the main street might go in for it, as it might suit them, but he did not believe those in the outside districts would. It weuld not suit them to ba taxed, because they would not be benefitted. If they wished to have a Borough they ought to keep in the centre of the town and uot bring in the places they proposed. He did not believe there was any necessity et all. This was a mere village settlement ; it was no more, and never would be a business centre, as it waa overshadowed by Timaru. If a majority was in favor of this, it would carry the sway, and outsiders would have to pay for it. He believed they would all agree that the Road Board had done well for the town. The streets were well attended to, and that was all the Road Board could do. There was never a request came from the town—and he might say the town was never backward in making requests- that did not receiye attention. Speaking of the question of drainage, it was once proposed and it was found that it would cost £6OOO. If they went in for any large system of drainage it would cripple the town instead of improving it. It was too much of a village settlement, fit only for cottages for working men, and if they raised the rates these working men would not live in it. He had come to the meeting so that the matter might be gone into fully and fairly, and that fie matter might be argued for and atraiust, and it appeared to him it was nothing more nor less than a farce to make this town a Borough, He had no doubt but that others would would see it in a different light.

Mr Pearpoint pointed out that M r Talbot had omitted mentioning one thing, and that was that the Road Roard would have to hand over to the Borough Council a share of its reserve fund. He did no*, tell them that the Road Board would have to hand over £BOO or £9OO. Mr Talbot said that would be a question of arrangement. If the Council took over the pound it had cost the Board £SOO, and they would charge the Council with it. There were good metalled roads in town, and he did not think its claim on the Board would be much.

Mr Pearpoint said that country cattle as

well as Hie town cattle would have to go in the pound.

Mr Twomev said that if tho Road Board

would charge tho Borough with the cost of the pound they would have also to give the Council a ahais in the Road Board office and dwelling-house. T; it was a part of the real and personal property of the Board, and they would have to s'lare it with the Council, Probably that would very nearly balance the cost of the pound. He thought that no better argument could be brought in favor of a Borough than the fact that tho Chairmau of the Road Board had come fbrwurd there that night to offer it such a strenuous opposition. It was quite evident that it was of interest to the Board to keep the town in their hands, or else Mr Talbot would not have offered such strenuous opposition to the movement. There was one point that should not be overlooked. In a short time, when the Board had spent all its reserve [fund, it would have to strike a shilling rate--it could not possibly avoid doing so—and this was all the rates a Borough Council could strike. If they brought into town the greatest enemies of the ratepayers, persons whose, interest it was to crush tho people with rates, and made Councillors of them, they could not levy a heavier rate than. Is in the £, because they were bouud by Ac*; of Parliament not to levy more.. The Road Board before long would have to levy a shilling rate, and would it not" be better for the people to have the Borough Cornell spending that in the town than to have the Road Board spending it all over the country? It was true that speciil rites could be levied, but the ratepayers would have all that in their own hands. Before any special rate could be levied the Council would have to call a meeting of ratepayers, explain to them the object for which the special rate was to bo struck, and then take their votes. This was the

way the waterworks rates were struck in Timaru. They might remember that a few weeks ago the Council of Timaru wanted a system'of sewerage established in Timaru. They called a meeting of the ratepayers, took their votes, and the majority was against the proposal, so the

sewerage system was knocked in the head. The ratepayers 6f Temuka could do the same thing. There was not a single ratspayer who would not have as much power

in that matter as the Mayor himself. And why then should they be afraid of it when it was all in their own hauds 1 But there was a stronger argument than all

these. There was between £4OO and £SOO going out of this town every year to the County Council in the shape of

icense fees, Court fees, dog tax, etc., and

this money was lost altogether to the district. The Temuka Road Board could not get it. It did not belong to them by law. and it »vas lost altogether to the town and district. He would ask them now would it not be better to keep that in the town and have it spent in it, than to allow it to go into the coffers of the County Council to be spent on the top of Mount Peel or some other out of the way place. Were they going to keep that money in the town or not 1 That was the question. Mr Austin thought, the advertisement stated that it would be cousidered whether it should be turned into a Borough or a Town District. He would like to hear something about the Town Districts Act.

Mr Gray said their functions were much the same, only that under a Town District they would have no mayor,

Mr Talbot said there was a little more. The area of a borough might bo nine square miles, but the area of a town district waa limited to two miles. There would be sufficient in the town for a town district, without taking in the outskirts. Mr Kirk thought the best thing that could be done was to make it a borough. The first thing that struck a man on coming into this town was the untidy look of the streetp : they were a perfect disgrace. Instead of showing anything to the disadvantage of a borough, Mr Talbot's arguments went in favor of it. He had not showu that a borough had failed auywhere where one was started. Lhere was not a town in which it was established that had not prospered. He hadbeeu coming and going to Temuka for 22 years and saw no improvement in it. That would not have been the case if they had made a borough of it long ago. It was a treat to visit Rangicra because it was a borough. Mr Talbot had said this place would never go ahead, and it neve 1 ' would if nothing was done. The state of

the place was euougli to keep people out of it. He did not know how children were to go (o S"hool with the dirt and mire. Sunnier was a much smaller place

than this, and they were going in for a local board, and he never knew a place which failed to succeed after having taken the management of its own affairs into its own lunula After some further discussion the resolution was carried, only one person op-

posing it. ..., J .' j \ j /..... .. Mr Job Brown was quite in favor of

the movement. He hud considerable property outside the town, and which it was intended now to bring within the borough. He had no objection to that, because if the outskirts were not included

they would not have sufficient to form a borough. It was not their own but the interest of the public at large that people should look to in a matter of this kind. He observed that where a borough had been established the place had succeeded,

and why should not Temuka succeed ? It would uuite people; it would make them pull together, and if they did so they were bound to succeed, He moved the resolution to form a Committee. Mr Kirk seconded the motion.

j Mr Mackay said that Mr Talbot had stated our town would bi no good until it va« made a manufactnring plaoe. This wan the beet way to make it go. What wai everybody's business was nobody's business, and the way to push things ahead was to form a local governing body. A system of ssweroge wa a wanted. It was different ;. few years ago, when there were but few children in the pl*ce, to now, when juvenile population was increasing wpidlj. He had seen many Borough Councils start in Otago in places where there was a difficulty iu getting 50 signatures to the petition, and each of these had succeeded. Not one of them ever deairr d to go back to the Road Board. Cromwell was situated between two rivers, apparently in the healthiest spot in creution, and yet people died of fever in dotem there. It was different now when they hid water .brought iato town, and it wa? a pleasure' to see the town.

MrAubtin wai very glad this movement bad b<ien made. There was not a time ho went into bis own back yard that he was not afraid of being attacked is he had been in the bitterest time of his life. He was afraid this town would become a hot bed of fever if nothing was done. They had the finest climate h the world, but it would not do if they had a defective system of sewerage. If it cost a little more it would be money we'l spent. It would give the place a local habitation and a name. He be ieved wheu a proper sjstem of sewerage was established working men would come to live here, and that factories would start up ton.

Mr Essery said town property paid more rateß than thousanls of aores of rural land, while all the rates were spent in the outlying districts.

The motion was then pul, and carried unanimously. Mr Q-ray trusted that the Committer Would work energetically. He might gay that all the arguments from beginning to end were in favor of tbe movement. Mr John Talbot moved a rote of thanks to the Chairman, and the meeting terminated.

Rates £113 0 8A 73 reserves 70 0 6 Four cottages ... ... 52 0 0 Rent of pouod 30 0 0 Auctioneers' licenses 80 0 0 Wholesale licenses 40 0 0 Brewers license 10 0 Publicans' lieenses 160 0 0 Express licenses 4 0 0 Dog tax 50 0 0 Total ifl round uumbers . £600 0 8h The Court fees and fiues which could not be estimated were to be added to this The expenses against (hat would be :— Town Clerk... £50 0 0 Stationery and printing ... 25 0 0 Uoforseen expenses 25 0 0 Total £100 0 0