The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1893. GERALDINE COUNTY COUNCIL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1118, 14 June 1883, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1893. GERALDINE COUNTY COUNCIL.

The Geraldine County Council, after a miserable and sickly existence is, wc arc afraid, drawing towards it end. jfc is on its last legs, The death rattles are in its throat. It is attacked from within and without, and cannot live long unless some extremely clever medicine mans tarts up and administers to it a pill, that will reinvigorate it, and brace up its shattered constitution. We thought that Mr Talbot's irrigation scheme would put new life into it, but it is since its more serious symptoms have developed. Mr Postlethwaite condemned it to immediate demolition in his recent Geraldine speech, and also at the meeting of ratepayers, and Mr Moody has sine* l attacked it in a manner that was near cooking it. It is something to see Messrs Moody and Postle thwaite fighting ' shoulder to shoulder' iu any cause, and we regret it is not a better one they have engaged in. We have frequently pointed out that the Council was a very useless body, but that it was not the fault of the institution but the fault of those who hold its destinies in their hands. The Counties Act never got any fair play in this district. It was for a long time allowed to remain a dead letter, and since it has been availed of, its members seem to do everything calculated to destroy its usefulness. They seem to be working it under protest, and making no use at all of the machinery flinch has worked smoothly and advantageously in the neighboring counties. It is no wonder under such circumstances if the Counties Act has done no good in this county. It is no wonder that people are.getting tired of it, but the fault does not lie in the statute, but in the way in which it, has been administered. So far as we can see—and we have intimate knowledge of similar institutions in this and the North Island—the County Council would have done good if it had been looked after properly. It is all very well to any it is expensive, and point out that it has spent so and so, and has done.only such and such work. That is not a fair way to look at the matter at all. The Council does yery little work ; it is not a working bod}', it is a distributing body, and gives all the money to the Rom] Boards instead of spending it, But though it

does not spend the money on actual work, ithas tD keep up a certain position. It lias to keep a clerk and officers, pay for advertising, and for everything else connected with its functions just as well *s if it had been a body that expended :ts own money. It has all the dog ees, but it must pay for their collection md for the advertising ; it has all the ,i«euse fees from the publicans, but it nust pay for die advertising, the reluming officer's fees, and the many other sxpenses incidental to the cumbersome Machinery by which the Licensing Act s ad mistered ; it has slaughterh >use icenses, but it must pay for all these, md whei> it has paid all expenses it lands over the balance to the lload Boards. Now under these circumstances, is it fair to drag out of musty )lue bo r >ks figures to show that it cost Jig Council £552 to distribute £BO in iliaritable aid. That is the way Mr Postlethwaite represented the County Council, but it is not a fair way. If ioad Boards had the administration of lie Licensing Act, the Dog Tax Act, nd the Slaughtering Act, and had to ollect the fees accruing from them s the County Council does, they ould not do it for the same amount f money, and it is therefore bsurd to, say that the oniiey has been ( pent and nothing done tor it. There , re five or six Itoad Boards in this /'

county, and if each of these had to

collect tlieso fees, they would have to provide separate books, separate officers, separate everything, and there is no doubt but that they could not procure them as cheaply as one body could. Besides there are the expenses of the various Licensing Committees, to pay and many other expenses that we know nothing of. Now, is it fair to charge the Council with spending money, and doing nothing for it ? So far we think we have shown that the Council is not so black as it is painted. It has spent money, but if the Road Boards had to do the same work they would have to spend money also.

And now we will show that it would be unwise to abolish tha Council, There are two proposals. Oua is that the Chairmen of all the Road Boards should constitute the Council. If ever * the game of grab' was played it would be in such a Council. There would be nothing but wrangling and quarrelling amongst it members in their efforts to best each other. The other is that the Council should be altogether abolished and extended powers given to the Road Boards. Those who travel the Road from the Rangitata station to Peel Forest might possibly realise what 'it '■*• to have tyorks it- dilute between two Road Boards. The Geraldine and Mount Peel Road Boards in 1877 entered into an agreement to keep this road ; a couple of years ago the Mount Peel Board declined to do any more to it, and as Mount Peel would not, Geraldine would not, and so the road lias been reduced to a state that is a disgrace to civilisation. Mr Flatman said the reason the Mount Peel Board kicked in the traces was because Geraldine had " bested " them in several instances. If there were to be no County Councils there would be a great deal of this '' besting " going on ; every Road Board would be trying to get the best of its neighbor, and works between them would be just in the same way that the Rangitata road is. For years the Levels and Temuka Road Boards were discussing the question of constructing the Opihi Bridge, and they would be discussing it still if the Geraldine County Council had aot stepped in. Ifc is to us ov ident, therefore, that a body such as the County Council is absolutely necessa.iy, but it must not be the Council we have had in the past. It ought to take charge of bridges and other important works which are beyond the power of Road Boards, and step in wherevei there was a dispute between Boards. If such a body existed it would be a great boon to the district, and the sooner steps are taken for securing so desirable a thing the better. The present Council will not do it; we want fresh blood in it, and the best way would be for those who are so tired of it to resign, and give room to better men.