GERALDINE ROAD DISTRICT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1732, 3 May 1888, Page 2

GERALDINE ROAD DISTRICT.

ROAD BOARD.

A meeting of the Board was held on Tuesday last. Present—Messrs W. Postletbwaite (Chairman), P. McShane, J. Kelland, F. R. Flatman, and W. U. Slack. MINUTES. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. CORRESPONDENCE. Correspondence was read and dealt with as follows: From the of the Bank of New Zealand, Geraldine, enclosing filed deposit receipt for £250, placed on deposit for three months at 3 per cent. From Mr 0. E. Shermt, Returning Officer, advising the Board that only Mr F. R. Fiatman and Mr J. Kelland were nominated for seats on the Board. He had therefore declared them duly elected as members of the Board.

T*—■ Froin Mr Andrew Reid requesting permission to gather and stack the stones at ' he side of the main road leading to Peel Forest at the rate of 6d per yard. Granted conditionally that the stones are j icked as directed by the Board’s Ovorsear, ACCOUNTS. Accounts amounting to £3l 8a were massed for payment. [The meeting then adjourned till after he annual meeting of ratepayers, and on ■ turning the following business was '■'ansacted,] INMBVISW, Mr Geo. Batty waited on the Board and iked for a terrace to be eased, and plank placed across the creek near his residence. —The Overseer was instructed to get the work done as early as possible. ORARI BRIDGE ROAD. The Board then considered the offer of Mr C. Hewaon of land for a road at the North of the Orari bridge, when it was decided that the Chairman and Overseer visit the place on the following Thursday with Mr Hewaon, and make the. best arrangement possible. The Overseer was authorised to call for tenders for willows for planting near the river encroachment. DATE OF MEETING. It was decided that in future the day of meeting be the second Monday in each month ; the same to be advertised once, INSTRUCTIONS TO OTKRSEMt. The Overseer was also instructed to write to the Geraldine County Council about the bridge over the Eakr.hu River; also to report on the road near Mr Cochran’s.

ANNUAL MEETING OP RATE. PAPERS, The annual meeting of ratepayers in the Geraldine Road District was held in the Road Board office, Geraldine, at noon last Tuesday. About 12 ratepayers were present, and Mr W. Postlethwaite, chair* man of the board, presided. MINUTES. The Clerk read the minutes of the last annual meeting, and on the motion of Mr Flatman, seconded by Mr Brophy, they were confirmed. ANNUAL REPORT. The Chairman then read the annual report as follows: “ Gentlemen,—ln accordance with the usual custom, the Board has prepared a short report, »o as to enable the rate* payers of the district to see how and where the funds of the Board have been expended. By so doing it will allow any ratepayer to judge |for himself whether during the past year the elected members have done their duty as wise stewards in dealing with the funds. During thoyeai we have had work done as follows; 33 contracts have been let, and all have been completed with the exception of one. During the year six miles and twenty chains have been shingled, and two and a-half miles of new roads formed, as well as a large amount of work done in ordinary maintenances, such an repairing river crossings, numbering 50, which have cost, owing to the frequent foods last winter, close upon £aoo ; frequently as many as thirty additional men had to be engaged to satisfy the wishes of the ratepayers. It will probably not be «miHw to point out to you that the district will always be liable to this serious expenditure, which must always be a, heavy draw in upon the Board’s income. In dealing with the finance, the Board has decided to do as hitherto, and show the amount expended in each district, as there appears to be a good deal of misunderstanding, owing, your members think, entirely to the ratepayers in some d’strlctaiimaginiag that they get nothing, and that their neighbors are securing the lion’s share. There appears to be another grievance—tifat the Beard are not spending the funds lavishly enough. Some have said that we have only expended during the last 12 months £IOOO, whereas the balance-sheet shows the actual expenditure to have been £3066. Now if we go back seven years we shall find our expenditure was £8362, but with that expenditure it must ba borne in mind that we held! capital to the extent of £32,567, on which, owing to a Lieh rate of interest, the sum of £1632 was netted to the Board’s fund ; whereas last year our capital stood at £11,330, and owing to a low rate of interest only realised £631. Now these are important facts, which your Board is desirous of impressing strongly on all who are liable to be rated, because it must be apparent to all that we must either be content with moderate luxuries now, or in a very few years feel a heavy burden in the shape of taxation, which cannot possibly be averted, as a certain; number of roads, and all the river cross-inge must be kept up under any circumstances, besides the inevitable bridges and charitable aid. The Board com. raenced the year with a credit balance of £H,33OJSs4d, and its receipts bare been m follow To balance to credit April Ist, 1887, £11,330 18s 4d; from rates, £969 13s lOd , interest on fixed deposits, £631 ss ; sale of abolished roads, £2B 7* 6d;; rents and material sold, £B7 4s lid refund County bridges, £32 6s 4d; total, £13,466 15a 7d. Expenditure—By contrasts, £1323 7s sd; hone teams, day labor, etc., £720 10s 6d; timber, cement, and pipes, £l3B 10s 8d; ironwork, wire, etc., £7O 4s 7d; destruction of birds and eggs, £125 13s 2d ; charitable aid, £234 4s; salaries for 13 months, £243 16s; purchase of land and gravel pits, £42 ; v printing and advertising, £36 12s j insurance on buildings, etc., £lB 10s 8d j horse feed, £2l 16a 2d; legal expenses, £l7 17s 4d j compensation to late pound* keeper, £l6; election expenses, stationery, etc, £47 4s lid ; balance to credit April Ist, 1888, £10,410 9s 2d; total, £13,486 15s 7d. These accounts show that the Board’s capital fund has been intrenched; upon to the extent of £920 9s 2d. Now, in dealing with the items plaeed against expenditure, the Board wishes to draw your attention co what will be a yearly drain upon your funds, and then we shall be able to see what residue remains for the maintenance of roads at present in existence, numbering 860 miles, and Romany bridges. The items are—Charitable aid, £234 ; salaries, £225; incidentals, £225 ; printing, £36 ; insurance, £lB ; and elections with stationery, £4O ; making a total of £578. At the present valuation of the Road Board district a half-pamiy rate realises £969 13s 10d, se if/wo take the first charges upon the rate as shewn above, £678, it only leaves *391. This is under the aasuinpiionthat j'e have spent our present capital of £10,400, What will ba the position of our affairs then : When we strike off from the -present receipts £631 for interest, nod

£386 for subsidies, total £lOl7, and then r Is the same cry for expenditure as at pn ■ant, and we have only only our income derived directly from rates I This is t matter calling for onr serious consideration. At this point of our report we have much pleasure in saying that through the efficient manner in which oar rate roll has f been prepared there is at the present tuns uncollected only about £l2. Most of this amount is owing from persons eli 1 on the rate roll no longer in the district, or financially unable to pay. ft 11 Wm. Postlethwaite, “Chairman.”

He concluded by moving the adoption ‘ of the report. Mr A. Macdonald seconded ' l Mr Lewie .aid he »oald like to te.r how much bad deec spent on day labor. The Chairman said £720 had been span on team work and day labor. The two W Mr P Leiiß ße tho e iiht a good deal done by day labor ought to have been done by contract, as it would be done cheaper in Chairman said all that was possible was done by contract, but crossings deployed by floods, could not be let by contract, as they required to be done at * ° D |tr Lewis thought they could by letting their maintenance by the year. Mr Shiers said the day laborers gave far more work and trouble than contractors, and any work he could do by H contract he did. People could not wait for contracts to be let for crossings when fch*y were ewept away, Mr Lewis said they migiit effect retrenchment in that way. The Chairman said the ratepayers could ■•e the Board were retrenching as much as possible. They had only intrenched to the exteit of £920 last year on their funds. ' , Mr Slack said that when people were hemmed in, and could not go to market on account of crossings having Wn away, it was no time to wait roi 1 letting contracts. Mr Lewis said they were not all hemmed Id. He did not fee why the contracts for keeping the crossings could not be let. Mr Slack said there were about 50 crossings, and therefore it would not be •asy to let 50 contracts m a few days. Mr Amos Sherra't said that be could not see any good that could be got by letting them by contract. The work cou d not be done cheaper, and no one would take such a risk as to keep the crossings In repair. It was not possible sometimes to contract for these works, as they bad to be taken in band before it could be Men what was required. Tbe work would be far better done if left to the overseer, who would doubtless do it at as little expense »s possible. Mr Flatman said tbe Board had years of experisnee m the-mat ter and found the day-labor system the cheapest. Ihe Board wished tbe work to done as cheaply as possible, but had found no cheaper system could be adopted The Chairman said that perhaps Mr Lewis would contract for keeping the crossings in repair for twelve mouths. Mr Slack said they had tried the experiment, and found they paid more by contract than by day labor. Let them look at the amount spent last year. Would anybne undertake to keep ike crossings id repair for that sura 1 Let them look at the number of miles they bad to mamtain. Who would enter into a contract to Maintain them for the money 1 Mr Flatman said they had spent £1 per

Mr Lewis thought it would do good to divide the district into wards, for then each district could elect its own member. The Chairman said the same thing nan bean discussed Several times, but it did ooUMm that many of the ratepayers ware in favor of it. Would Mr Lewis move » resolution on the sublet I Mr Lewis ; It would be of no use. Mr Slack said it had all been discussed, and very few were in favor of it. it would only cause unnecessary expense Tud bad feeling. If a sum of money had been spent in one word, the other wards would want the same. There would have ‘ to.be a separate election for each ward, separate accounts kept for each ward, and greater expense would be thus incurred Mr Lewis did not think the extra expense would bo great. .. The Chairman asked wba u grievance Mr Lewis had. , . Mr Lewis was not prepared juetthen .Me them, but when they wanted to elect a member from their end they bad the dieicuUy in doing it. They Vo to work in earnest to do it. ” «°f£°i said if the svstem were Mr Flyman lose their earnestness, ‘i'f sheet to show that Mr Lewis’s its fair share of the money spent. Mr K. Brophy said there was a deal o. 1: dissatisfaction With regard to the Om- :. Ws salary, and as it had been spoken ■ -of pretty freely outside he thought it-s ■ .well to speak of it at the meeting. Ho • lhad no fault to find with the Overseer Ho one could do the work belter, but it ■was generally said that his salary was too

Mr Poslletb waite said that in 1879 tl'iey wore paying £330 for office work, bint now they were paying only £225. Tlier must bear in mind that Mr Slnere h»d to make out the rolls, and do a good . deal of which outsiders had no knowledge. Be knew a district in which there were £1590 arrears of rates, but in Geraldine, owinc to tii* efficient way in which the rate-roll hadf, been made up, almost every ' penny had been collects Mr Bbien I thoroughly efficient officer and he \ would venture to »y that not a single - Sixpence was spent by him hat could bo .Voided. Ke would ask them wou d it Jly a farmer to employ an inferior ploughman at lower wages ? It would Sovand they would prefer to employ the beet ploughman they could. It was always better to pay good men liberal j r «d fairly, and it would be found it woulc , v nay best in the end. , .. V Mr Brophy said ho had not the slightest fault to find with the Oversear and would be very sorry to lose him, hm it was a generally-expressed opinion thal he yras too highly paid. Mr Platmin would nke to know iron the Chairman whether the district ir which there was £ISOO of arrears o c ' sites was divided into wards ? The Chairman : I think i 1 is. Me Flatman said Mr Brophy was quit! rioht in bringing the noa ; e ! b fore th meeting. There ware a great man; cackling about the district who had no

the courage to come to the annual meeting and speak their minds as Mr Bropby had done. People ought to come and speak their minds, or shut up for the remainder of the year. The Chairman said the Board only met once a month and consequently il was most desirable they should have a trustworthy officer on whom they could depend. Mr Shiers said the Levels Road Board were giving £2OO a year to a Clerk, and £2lO to an Overseer. They had just called for applications, and out of 50 applicants selected the only man in Sou'll Canterbury ho could heartly recommend, and he was pleased to say lie had something to do with getting him the position. He had no doubt they could easily have got a man for £l5O, but they appointed Mr Annand at £2lO and he was quite satisfied he was cheaper at that than others would be at half the money. Mr Eelland had no doubt they could get a cheaper man than Mr Shiers, but would the work bo as faithfuly done f In Temuka they had a clerk and overseer, whoso combined salaries came up to what they were paying, yet Temuka was smaller and had not near so much money to spend. He felt that he could speak with great freedom of Mr Shiers, because ho often disagreed with him, and he would say that if his salary was fully high enough he well earned it. He was an excellent clerk and overseer, and they could not get a better. Mr Shiers said if he had to work for nothing ho would workfor himself athomo on hie own farm. He certainly would not work for the Board for nothing. Mr MoStirtue thought the salary out of proportion to the amount of money spent. It o&tne to nearly 12 per cent. No ane could find fault with Mr Shiers. His work was always well done and he had spent the money of the Board well and judiciously. The Chairman, in answer to Mr McShano, said that five or six years, ago they spent £330 on office work, now they spent only £226.

Mr Shiers said they spent then £330 in paying Clerk and Overseer, and aleo £4O or £SO to collect the rates. When there was a olotk besides himself there was scarcely any rates collected, but since then the work had been greatly increased owing to tha collection of rates. They had already reduced his salary 10 per cent aud increased h s work 25 per cent. There was not r name on the rateroll, even if it was only for three pence, but had to be written for eight times, and made a lot of work. Temukc, which had to money at all was spending as much as Geraldine on offlloe work.

Mr Kalman said the ratepayers ought to look on the expenditure as a whole, and not on one particular item. They mu»t remember they had an officer they could trust, and if he wore to leave he (Mr Piatman), at any rate, would not feel so as a member of the Board, because he did not think they could get a man who could do tho work as faithfully. Mr Slack said It seemed soma ratspayero were under the impression that there was lets work to do, but this arose from ignorance of what the duties wore. It had been shown them that in former years they paid £330, and £4O for collecting rates ; that was £370, while now they got all done for £225. The clerk had been reduced 10 per cent, before, while his work was increased 25 per cent. Mr Lewis said the reduction was not equal to the fall in wheat—from 4a to 2s 6d, (Laughter). Mr Sherratt said people were under a wrong impression. Not one in ton knew what the clerk was getting. Some people thought he was getting £260, house rent free and firing, but the fact was ha had submitted to alO per cent, reduction already. Ho, for one, would not like to see him underpaid. They all knew his efficiency, and he hoped the Board would treat him just as they would had he been employed in their own private affairs. He had experience of men, and he found that cheap men were the dearest. When he was farming ha found men willing to work for their “ tucker " and clothes, and he found them the dearest. He believed in giving a man fair wages, and in getting tho work done properly. Mr Lewis: What is the salary of the Overseer f The Chairman; £226 a year.

Mr Lewis; Is be not getting horse feed ? The Chairman : No; he gets nothing for horse feed, The horse feed was for the team the Board kept at work, and had nothing to do with the Overseer’s horse.

Mr Sherratfc i Are you going to strike a rate this ) ear f The Chairman said he thought the wisest policy would bo to do so. If they were to collect no rates thry would baye to dip deeper into their funds, and ia a few years they would have to pay a very heavy rate. They would get no mom subsidies from G> rernment, and it was, he thought, wiser to s! riko a small rate now than throw the whole burden on themselves’in a few years. _ Messrs Sherratt and Brophy spoke in favor of striking a rate, and the motion for the adoption i f the annual report having been put, it was carried unanimouslyMr Flatman said he would like to say a few words on hi* own behalf to return thanks for his re-election. He felt that as no oppotition had been offered to him the ratepayers were satisfied with his actions, and he could assure them he would continue to do hia best in tbs future, as he had done ia the Mat His motto was to do as much work as ncesible for as little expense as poatible, and ha would do bis best in that direction in futures „ .... . Mr Kelland also thanked the electors for his re-election. He stood in the same position as Mr Flatman, and would only repeat what Mr PI at man had said. Mr Brophy said if the ratepayers had any fault to find they would not have been re-elected unopposed. Mr Sherratt moved a vote of thanks to the Chairman,'which was carried by acclamation. The Chairman moved a vote of thanks to Mr Shiers for the extremely satisfactory manner in which he had carried out the business of the Board. Mr Sherratt seconded it, and it was carried. Mr Shiers said he would do his best to merit a continuance of their good opinion, The meeting then terminated.