PUBLIC MEETING AT WOODBURY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1333, 28 April 1885, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING AT WOODBURY.

A meeting of ratepayers was held in the Woodbury schoolroom on Saturday evening to consider the action of the Geraldine Road Board in refusing to open a road on the north side of the Waihi Bush. There were about 30 ratepayers present. Mr W. U. Slack, and Mr F. R. Flatman, members of theEoad Hoard, were amongst those present. Mr John Thatcher was voted to the Chair, and read the advertisement in the Geraldine Guardian convening the meeting. He then called upon those present to express their views.

Mr Thos. Taylor said that he and many others were at present put to great inconvenience because of the road through Mr Donkin’s property being closed, [t was making a difference o' two miles a day further to cart wood. The Board thought it would be less expense to make Finlayson’s road passable than to open the one asked for. He (Mr Taylor) would undertake to open the road through Mr Donkin’s for less money than the other work could be carried out for.

In reply to Mr J. Noble, Mr Taylor said it would make a difference of Ss per cord in the rate ho would charge for for wood, owing’to his having to cart it further. Mr Noble considered that in this on# point it would be a benefit to everyone. The traffic over the road would not bo stopped for over twelve years. Mr T. Taylor said that if it would cost the ratepayers more he would be willing, for one, to give it up. He would do it himself, however, for £lO less >ban the Board could get the one done they proposed to shingle.The Chairman said there was no doubt that the lino of road in question was laid off on purpose to be opened when necessary, and he thought that time had now arrived. Mr Noble asked whether in the event of a body of ratepayers sending in a petition to the Board, the objectors should not send in acounter-petition. Mr Slack replied that there was no necessity for one. The Board were supposed to have ful power. Mr R, Taylor said that when they took up the property in the bush it was understood that this road was to be their outlet, MrJ. Webb said that when the bush property was for sale they naturally look this road line, laid off on the map, as their nearest outlet. The Board had been petitioned three times to open this road, and he wanted to know on what grounds the petition had been refused. When the matter was brought before the Board their Overseer had said there were about two miles difference between this road and Finlayson’s. Mr Slack : The Overseer was asked to scale the map, and he found it to be 90 chains. Mr Webb considered that anyone buying a property with a road line laid off to it would naturally suppose it was the road. Each one studied his own interest, and he did not see why people should bo forced to go round by a certain road when there was a more direct one laid off. He believed he would bo quite justified in

cutting through the fences on the roid line. Mr Tripp, when he was on the Board, could get any amount of roads. He looked after his own interests. Mr Kempster said the road to be shingled by the Board would be impassable for traffic, as it was liable to flooded. He had to pay 3s more per cord for wood than he would if there was a more direct road. Mr Slack : Are you paying 3s per cord per mile. Mr Taylor said there was a difference of 5 miles. Mr Slack r I do not think it should cost 3s for carting a cord of wood one mile. Mr Gook said that instead of taking him only three hours to fetch a load of wood from the bush it took him a day. If the road had been through a poor man's paddock it would have been opened long ago. Mr Webb asked Mr Slack why the Board had taken up the position they had done. If anyone took up property on the understanding they were to get a certain road to it he only thought it fair the road should be opened. Mr Slack considered Mr Webb was labouring under a delusion. If a man were to purchase 20 acres of land, and it would cost the Road Board £IOOO to make him a road to it, he did not think the Board would be justified in making that road. Mr Webb said they were not asking for a costly road. The- Charman asked the meeting if anyone -could inform Mr Slack the probable- cost of the two roads in question. • Mr Noble said no doubt the Board’s overseer had given him estimates. He contended the road through Mr Donkin’s land was the most convenient for taking wood from that part of the bush, and there was wood enough to last for years. Mr Noble then showed that it cost the people on the north side of the bush—who lived closer to it—more for their firewood, than it did those who lived on the south side and much farther away. Mr Flatmaii said that being a member of the Board, he felt some diffidence in addressing them. He was, however, pleased to see Mr Slack, as Chairman of the Board, present; and he had received a letter from Mr Kelland apologising for his absence, but expressing his sympathy with the ratepayers in the matter. Mr Flatman went on to say he had done his best to explain to the Board,that the petitioners had a right to the road. He had also explained to them that as soon as the other road was shingled, which the Board contemplated, doing there was every chance of Finlayson’s creek scouring it away, and rendering it dangerous for traffic. Mr Slack could bear him out in that he had not misrepresented the matter to the Board, and, as member for the district, he would always do his best for it. Mr Slack said he would like some definite proposition put before the meeting. Mr Webb then proposed —“ That the road in question be opened for traffic.” Mr R. Taylor seconded this. Mr Slack said he had received a letter asking him to attend, and it gave him great pleasure in being present to explain matters and give information. This was one of the few matters that had ever been disputed with the Road Board, and he had no hesitation in opposing the opening the road in question. The Board had over and over again refused the application, and they were now of opinion that the road they proposed to open was quite sufficient. He did not see that the ratepayers would suffer by this road being formed, as it would not coat 6d per cord more to go round by it. If there were four individuale owning properties near one another, and three of them applied for a certain work which would be a benefit to them, bat a greater loss to the fourth, were those three to be considered at the expense ot the other? Would not Mr Donkin suffer to the extent the others would be benefited 1 Would they, as a body, be justified in spending money on a third road when there were two good roads already ? He (Mr Slack) maintained this was not a similar case to those that had been cited in reference to particular persons, getting roads to their properties. This was an individual case. In making roads in agricultural districts, they were justified in opening up roads which they would not be justified in making for carting timber which would be carried only one way. Mr J. Harris: There might be grain grown there some day. Mr Slack.doubted it; it was, however, too far to look forward to. They should look at the financial side of the question. The capital of the Board was now reduced to £12,000. If they carried out the wishes of the ratepayers and spent their money in this way their capital would only last three years, as they were now spending at the rate of £4OOO a year. He asked how they were going to raise £4OOO ,a year to carry out the wishes of the ratepayers and make every road asked for. To raise £IOOO a year by rate meant & tax of 4s in the £. If such a tax were levied the people would leave the district. He could endorse what their member (Mr Flatman) had said —that he had always worked well for this district. He (Mr Slack) had lately been going into figures in preparing his annual report for the ratepayers, and he found that £I2OO had been expended in the Woodbury district, and £6OO was the most spent in any other. If any independent person were asked to decide upon the question at issue he would say the Road Roard were quite justified in taking the course they had done. Mr Noble understood that Mr T. Taylor had offered to make Donkin’s road for £lO less than the Board could make Finlayson’s road passable. He considered also that three owners would gain more than the fourth would lose, and, leaving the owners out of the question, the ratepayers would be the greatest sufferers id having to pay more for their wood. Looked at in this light, Mr Slack’s arguments would fall to the ground. He (Mr Noble) wanted to know where the fourth individual would lose ? Mr R. Taylor thought Mr Donkin must have been aware that the roid was laid out through his property when he bought it, Mr Flatman said there had been nothing to show that Mr Donkin had any objection to the road being opened. If the money was not spent in one part of the district it would bo in another. There had been a road formed at Kakabu to a paddook of wheat, and it bad never been,

used since. The Board would be economical if they formed the shortest road, as it would cost less to maintain it. Taking a broad view of the question, the road would be a benefit to ibo whole district. If the Board protected one individual they should make him pay a higher rate. Mr Slack ; I simply said that the fourth individual should be considered, not protected. Mr Webb said Mr Donkin, when he bought his property, must have known that this road was laid off for an opening to the bush. There would bo more traffic from the bush in ten years than from a farm of the same area in .100 years. The discussion lasted for a considerable time longer, when Mr Webb’s resolution, amended as follows, was put and carried unanimously—“ That the road in question he formed and opened for traffic, and that the Board be asked to reconsider their former decision, it being the unanimous wish of the ratepayers assembled at the public meeting in the Woodbury Schoolroom on 25th April, 1885.” The gorse question was then discussed at some length, and it was the unanimous feeling of the meeting that the owners of property should clear their own gorse from the roads. Votes of thanks to Mr Slack for his attendance and to the Chairman were passed, and the meeting terminated.