PUBLIC MEETING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 563, 8 September 1880, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING.

A PUBLIC meeting was held in the Town Hall, last evening, for the purpose of enabling the burgesses to meet the candidates for seats in the-Masterton Borough Council. The meeting was a large one, the Hall being orowded. The Mayor, Mr Feist, being elected chairman, read the advertisement convening the meeting, and explained its object. He stated that lie had received a letter from Mr Oorbett.oneof thejpersons whose name had been signed to the advertisement, stafing that he would be unavoidably detained from the meeting and that if he had-been asked in ..the first place to sign his name to the advertisement he would have suggested another night than the present one, as he had to at.eud ft iother meitiing, He ( he chairman) thought it'a pity . that all the -per.

sous whose names had been placed to the advertisement had not acted in : unison and befai) present to state tlieir views on municipal matters to tha burgesses assembled. He would call upon Mr Bentley, the convenor of the meeting to addrefls them.

Mr H. Bentley, who was greeted with applause, said he had caused the advertisement to appear in the paper; as he had been unable to see all the candidates mentioned in it, he had taken it for : granted:that:they could not possibly have any objection to come before a public meeting and explain their views. He would, however,.apologise for his presumption—(Cries'of '' tioiNo 1") He came before them that evening as a very old settler who had had a good deal to d<. with the district both in road board' and school matters. He thought that a good deal of the present working could be amended and a good deal saved to the ratepayers. He did not intend to make a long Bpeech that evening. If he was elected, he would do his duty conscientiously and honorably. He would do his best to see that the money raised would be spent generally and satisfactorily to all parties', he thought they could all get what they wanted by and by. He would like to mention the state of the Public Park. He would be in favor of the Council subsidising the money raised for improvements of this object, and make the Park a place of public resort. He would also be in favor of a reduction in taxation. He thought at the present time they were too heavily taxed, and he would be entirely opposed to any further taxation, such as a river board. He thought •something should be, done to euable every person to have a good road to walk on, and he would be in favor, if it was found necessary, to have an overdraft for this object—(Loud applause).—Now was the time to do work such as this, owing to the cheap rate of wages. As he was opposed to long orations, he would only say that if elected he would do his duty to them and they would see how he would represent them.—(Loud applause.) The Chairman said he was glad to see that Mr Bentley had not brought any grave charges against the Council. He thought Mr Bentley had made a fair speech, If no burgess wished to have any questions answered by Mr Bentley, he would call on Mr James Russell to address the meeting. Mr Russell then ascended the platform amid applause, and cries of " That's the man we want. 1 He said he was before them that evening to give an account of his stewardship. He said he did not think he had missed more than four meetings of Council since he had been elected to it. He thought they had done the best they could with the funds at their disposal, and he thought with Mr Bentley that now was the time to get work done cheap. He wouM like to see ratepayers attend the meetings of the Council. He would not he able to remember a tithe of the works that had been undertaken by the Council, (A voice:" Kuripum. ) He thanked the speaker for reminding him of this work, and he would also mention the work done at the other end, viz,, Akura. There were a good many works also in progress. He did not, however, see that the Council could do a great deal of road work, as, unless the persons benefitted bythera helped to make the roads, the present state of the finances would not permit. .He would not detain the meeeting for any length of time, as 110 doubt there were other gentle, men who wished to address them. He thought the Council had acted in as fair a manner as possible with regard to the Park and the Fire Brigade, as the Council as a body were cognisant of the fact that they were important objects. Mr Russell concluded an able speech amid applause. .Hie chairman asked if any nemn wished to put any questions to the last speaker. He was-sorry other candidates f eS6llt ' a8 > although they repudiated the signing of the advertise rfieir views. ° ' to be to state

Mr Renall then rose and addressed the meeting, and for some seconds could not be heard for applause. He thought ™ a f piece of nonsense on the part of a man to write a letter to the newspaper, to the effect that if he had been asked, he would have come, but as e had not, he did not care to appear before them. He would say that the X' / ld?d t0 into Ponies have a good many things to learn. He was now alluding to Mr D. Donald. If Mr Donald thought it was too much trouble to come before the burgesses that evening weil, they conld get on without him He would now mention with regret that they were about to lose the services of hisi old friend Mr Woodroofe, (a voice: Is he deadT) No, he was not dead, but they were about to lose his services in that body known as the Borough Council. He regretted this step, as they would lose the services of a conscientious man The speaker then referred to the withdrawal of subsidies from the Council and said it would be a great drawback to the accomplishment of works. He had heard, however, that instead of £ for £ subsidy, they would receive about 7s 6d, h t?i a "rn hlt T Id baa oonsMerable loss to the Council,.would enable them to do something m the way of roads. He spoke in High terms of the services of Mr JlpeH, who had saved the Council some hundreds of pounds during the time he had been a member of it, by preparing plans &c., and he trusted the burgesses would recognise Mr Russell's worth and re-elect him They had one vacancy to bll through the retirement of Mr Woodroofe, and he thought the ratepayers could not do better than put Mr Bentley in, as he would ma£e them a good represents ve. The Council had let the maintenance of several streets at a low figure, but he belieyed the work would be carried hrougl) in a conscientious manner, and the Council would effect a considerable saving thereby fl e always advocated 1 the acceptance of the lowest tender, as he believed m doing so he was doina iustice o his constituents If W rk was taken oo low it was the look out of the contrac tor. He did not think the Borough would be a sufferer as long as sufficient was kept in hand by the Council, which according to the specifications/would be i don©. Tho 7s 6d in the £ subsidy would i 2ive them about £4OO, which would enable them to carry on until the end of the financial year. He thought it was the working man who would suffer by the Property Tax, and they vyould' find out that it was a very heavy tax and the cause of all this depression. He could speak for himself, as he had been kept from employing labor through having to pay land tox last year,and they would oneand all find it the same, to their cost. He was sorry to see that there were no other candidates were present to address them- Mr Cor* bptt had Bent them an apology, and he thought the, least the other* cnuld do would be to have done likewise. He again repeated that he wa! sorry L'i Woodroofe had retired. Mr Woodroofe had done a great deal of good for the Borough, and he was sorry to think he should have taken umbrage at anything v*hich might have been done or said at Council meetings. . Mr Woodroofe had labored'under a grievance which he (the speaker) idid not think existed, He hoped to see Mr Woodroofe, at'a future day, come forward to represent them He did not think he had anything further to say,.and w»s now ready to answer any questions which might be put' to him, Mr EL .-Jones said now was his time to iay a few wordi. He thought the

Mayor and Oounoillors had not acted in a proper manner, especially in the matter of carters licenses. In his opinion the whole thinf/ was " rotten.". If the ratepayers paid their money .they should be protected. If carters paid licenses they should be protected from persons infringing the j same. He would ask Mr Kenall why this had not been carried out 1 He instanced the caw of & baker who came up from Carterton and lowered the P«9© of bread frona.lOd to 7d, until the Council had stopped him, and thus caufied' the ratepayers.to pay double taxes. [The speaker was 1 frequently interrupted v b'v' roars of laughter and applause, the latter part of his oration being drowned; The Mayor said he would himself answer the question of Mr Jones, The carters were called together everv six months by the' Town Clerk, and every. . person could see the advertisement in ths i paper. A strict watch was kept that no one infringed the by-laws by plying y hire without being licensed. Mr McOardle said he had an apology to r make, on behalf of Mr J. Vilef for his ■ absence from the meeting, as he had been called away that evening to meet a gentleman on urgent business. He hoped'the burgesseswould re-elect the oklmembera, and spoke in high terms of the services which been rendered both by Mr Russell and Mr Yile to the Borough, ; ,ii\ Mayot u fla n before the meeting closed he would like to make a few remarks. He.would refer to the question of a pubb demonstration on the opening of he railway to Masterton. The matte°r had _ been prominently brought forward local paper, and he agreed with the editor that the event should not be passed over without .seme celebration, and in his opinion the question ought to be discussed that evening, as there was such a good attendance of burgesses, and the time was short. He thought, however, that it should not take place on such an extensive scale as the one held at Featheraton on a former occasion. MrD. McGregor spoke in favor of the subject. He thought the opening of the railway was an event that should not be allowed to pass by without some publio demonstration taking place. He believed ' that such an affair could be accomplished ■ without entailing any cost upon the Oouncilj as he thought those persons who' benefitted by the railway, should payf or the celebration of its opening. He would move that the Mayor and Borough Coun-' ci be a Committee to arrange forapublic celebration on the opening of the railway to Masterton, the Committee to have power to add to their number Mr McCardle had much pleasure in seconding the resolution. MrßenaHthoughHtwouldbeadvisable for the Council to call the burgesses together again on this matter, as it involved a question of expenditure The Chairman said-he. did not agree with the last speaker in calling ratepayers together again, as it was no doubt the hTa °a , move r° f tbe resolution that the Council as a committee could arrange the matter satisfactorily without calhng them together again; and besides Urns ™an object, He was of Mr Renal s opinion that tioketaoould be sold lnnll ° f the 6X P ensea Of- a lunoheon, and the ratepayers would' Hie'

The Cta£ Wa? PUt 0! * K Oorbett m now present, and wotfd perhaps hke to address them. Hewasat liberty to do so.

{ flr <> began to applaud, and call for Corbett," butas Mr Oorbettr did not seem molined to address thfl meeting, the Chairman declared the meet-' ing closed.

After the usual, vote, of thanks to the Unair, the meeting dispersed.