COUNTY EXPENDITURE.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2845, 28 March 1878, Page 2

COUNTY EXPENDITURE.

(To the Editor of the Evening Star.) Sib, —The last subject under discussion on Monday evening at the public meeting is by no means of the least .importance. The audience, ho werer, was tired oat by the preceding long speeches, it was, there* fore, scarcely touched upon; but, never* theless, there is bat one feeling among the public at large, and that is— that the Council is recklessly exirarageat with the money entrusted to their ccxc. What with increase in salaries, trarelling ex* penses, champagne luncheons, horses, carriages, Premiers, lire Gorernors, and the " Satire labor," ugh! (this last is a ; rery comprehensire item, I ■ beliere) it's enough to make the rery seme of County Councils stink in the nostrils of the people. Oars, especially, seems to be a true and feithfcl reflex of that late abominable Vogel- Atkinson Gorernmeat; their impudence, extravagance, md other qualities are exactly copied on a smaller scale. There ia also too much of the Artemas Ward style of—"You scratch my back, and I will scratch your back." We must put a check on these kind of things. (1.) The Council must be elected ! acnually. (2.) All Councillors to be disqualified if taking employment under the Council. (2.) Representation to be. in! proportion to population and rateable! property, llliie'conditions, I take, are ! absolutely necessary, as everybody remembers these honest trustees inrited themselves and other snobocrats to a chanrcagne luncheon at the opening of the llauaeranga bridge. They feasted at the , expense of the poorer portion of the people. A more scandalous mis* appropriation of ratepayers' money I cannot conceive. Just fancy if the Superintendent and his executive had done such a thing, what a howl of indignation would hare been raised at the Thames* and from these rery men in particular. It would hare sealed the doom of Provincialism before its time. But of course this is a local body, " the perfect system " of gorernment. Can't do wrong. Well, we shall see at the next election. More than half of them will find "that the'places which know them now shall know them no more,'for erer." Mr Brodie teems to be of opinion that they are responsibleonly to ratepayers in the County. My idea is different, for inasmuch as the County is subsidised from the general revenue, to which all.contribute, every person has an interest in seeing that the money wrung from them by an oppressive taxation is spent for necessary and reproductire purposes only. Neither, is it an argument to tell a ratepayer: " We)!, this feast of ours cost, say £80, you hare therefore contributed 4fd, which amount we will refund to you." Our answer to this would be " No; we desire' to hare oar affairs administered fairly, honestly, and economically. We wish to hare this new system of Gorernment inaugurated in a ?oper, just, and impartial manner." on are now laying the foundation for the new edifice; don't lay it in the tricky sands of folly and corruption; but on the 'rock of wisdom and integrity, as befits wise Councillors, or the structure will, in a brief space of time, be a ruin in which you will t)e buried.—t am, ke., J. E. Hihbbk. Pollen street, March 27th.