A WESTLAND COUNTY ROAD BOARD.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 230, 27 June 1872, Page 5

A WESTLAND COUNTY ROAD BOARD.

This is the Grey mouth Evening Star's account of a scene at a recent meeting of the Paroa Road Board :—: —

Business commenced by the reading of the minutes, as is usual at such meetings. The narration of one of the minutes, stating that the name of Mr Dowling with others appeared on a committee for the purpose of having the road repaired from Saltwater to Peter White's store, was made tbe first bone of contention. — Mr Dowling objected to his name being en the committee. — Mr Butler considered Mr Dowling should have objected at the time. — Mr Dowling then felt himself bound to say that anyone insisting upon his name so appearing was himself a "cur" or a " puppy. "—To this Mr Butler retaliated that the last speaker was a decided "cur," without a doubt on the subject. This was followed by, what is known in common parlance, a general set-to in fisticuffs. Both fought, and others in the room fought. The chairman's cry of order was unheard. A regular "mill" went on for some time until the Board adjourned in a manner devoid of anything approaching order or decorum. The next day the same paper had a leading article commenting on the Board's proceedings, in which it enlightens us a little as to the history of that body. — The Paroa Road Board has certainly been an unfortunate institution since its creation, and has] managed better than any of its kin to bring odium on itself. At the same time, its members have been blessed with a happy ignorance of their deficiencies, and have aired themselves as martyrs in the public service. They had a defaulting secretary to begin with, who paid his balance with the topsail sheet, and they have been stumbling from one trouble into another ever since. Only a week or two ago the W<esl Coast Times trod on the tails of their coats by saying that members had swallowed brandy duringtheir deliberations, whicb was charged as kerosene in the public account, and after solemn deliberation it was resolved to prosecute that libellous journal. How our contemporary has since fared we have not heard. In the meanwhile verdicts have been recovered against the Board, and the creditors only wait the deposit of some money in the bank, either through the exertions of the Kate Collector, or by a windfall from the General Government, to lay an embargo on it. In the face of this danger the Board has ordered their Collector to cease his labors, and in the meantime one of the members has ventilated a proposition that creditors shall accept bills at two and seven months, bearing 12 per cent, interest, for the amounts variously due. Should such a proposition meet with favtr, the Paroa Board will virtually declare themselves bankrupt, or, in the words of the Act, " unable to meet their engagements." A respectable position indeed for a public body to hold !