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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 708, 4 March 1881, Page 2

(To the, Editor of the Daily!)

SiR,-Mr Buchanan's, letter, which appeared in your issue of. the 24th instant, has naturally attracted much attention, it being felt that, as a personal friend, and a very warm supporter, of mine at the last general election, nothing but a strong senseof publio duty would have led him to write it and to condemn in such a decided way my administration .of county affairs, I, of course, freely admit the right of every settler in the district to criticise my actions in any public capacity, and am glad that Mr Buchanan knows me well enough .to feel that no fair criticism from him could be in any senao personally offensive to me, I have been advised by Borne- friends not to reply, but it fippears to me not to do so would be discourteous to Mr Buchanan, and would be unfair both to my colleagues 'in the Council and the electors of tho' County. The matter is in no sense a private one. If Mr Buchanan is right in his views, lam clearly unfit to remain in ! my present position as chairman of the Council, and the publio have a right to expect riie to resign it into abler hands, I must therefore either do this or shew that Mr Buchanan is mistaken in what he has stated, ' I propose to do the latter as briefly as possible* and allow the public to decide which ia right. From tho tone of Mr Buchanan's letter, it is clear that he throws the whole of the so-called mal-admiriistration on me personally, rather than on the Council. lam quite willing to take my share of tho responsibility, and to admit that the Council has shown its Confidence in me by attaching weight to my opinions; but I must protest against any assumption that the other members have been soled by me as to make me solely responsible. It would be an insult to thorn (though I am Bure not meant as one by Mr Buchanan) to think so. I can only say that every important step taken 'by the Council has been very carefully and intelligently discussed, and though not always quite unanimous on all points few public bodies have worked so long together with so little difference of opinion.. ■ '

If, therefore, the Council 'as a whole is responsible for what has been done (which I am sure they will readily admit), what Mr Buchanan attempts to show is that a body of, certainly .not the least intelligent men in the district, have'been acting together against its best interests—" have donethose.things which they ought ilot to have done, and left undone those things which they ought to have done" And all without any definite object. Surely the electors of the district will require strong proof before they are prepared to admit this to be the case.

Mr Buchanan, if he looks at my first letter again, will see that he is mistaken in saying I " admit the popuiar impression with regard to County administration to bo that of partial if not .total failure," Ido not admit anything of the kind; what I said was that newspaper articles and _ paragraphs had tended to convey that impression. It does not at all follow that the Press correctly reflects public opinion,

It is unfortunate that before proceeding to criticise my letters Mr Buchanan did not read them all,' He clealy could not have done so, or he would not ■ have accused me of" discreetly" failing to redeem my promise to state what the Council has done. He has clearly mljied my second letter by some aocident, and will, if he has read it since,.have discovered his error.

As I regard the whole letter as a " Bill of Indictment" against my administration it is unfortunate that Mr Buchanan did uot explain that my responsibility ouly dates from Nov. 24th, 1878, when I was elected Chairman. A reading the letter would think that Jam responsible for the Act not being adopted —for the state of things which rendered necessary the appointment of Mr Beetham as Commissioner, &c, I am elearly entitled to disolaim all responsibility for anything prior to my election as Chairman, because, as is well-known, I differed entirely from Hie viows taken by the previous Council, and one of my first acts as Chairman was to show that the Council had been acting illegally in dealing with the main _road as a County road, no resolution having been passed declaring it ono. Until the Council thought fit to pass-such a resolution the control of the main roads \vas vested by law in the Boards, and bo it has remained till now, as, though various motions have been proposed, it Has beon found on consideration that such a step as declaring county roads was undesirable, To give the reasons which, influenced the Council would occupy too much space in this letter, suffice it to say that in. my opinion thoy were good ones, And while I. can see a clear and direct gain from the oourse adopted I defy anyone to show that there has been any loss. The apparent weight of Mr Buchanan's letter, however, lies in the figures he quotes, which, though he guards himself, by saying may bo only "approximately correct," he offers as being sufficiently.so to serve as a sound basis for his condemnatory remarks. Mr Buchanan being well known for his painstaking accuracy, any figures quoted by him are likely to be accepted without question, I much regret, therefore, that before writing his letter, he did not ask me to instruct the county clerk to furnish him with the full particulars he required, which I should have been most_ happy to do, Instead of this, he has written without access to the books, and I have the somewhat unfair advantage, in answering him, of being in possession of information which he could only obtain from them. As figures are always most readily understbodin a tabular form, I append a statement of receipts and expenditure as compared- with the imaginary one furnished by Mr Buchanan, It will be at once seen that the charge made that "at least £2OOO of right belonging to the ratepaying portion of the district has been swallowed up in' the Forty-mile Bush" falls to the ground, as the £2OOO never existed, except in Mr Buchanan's imagination, This error is a very pardonable one, as, through various difficulties with the Government, the accounts have been very complicated, and therefore the bfist accountant, without careful examination of the books, might have fallen into it.

The figures do not require further com* meat, beyond the explanatory notes attached to them, and I think prove beyond a doubt that there haa been'no wasteful expenditure, which, is confirmed by the latoly-published returns' shewing thai County West expended £11,639 in the year, and in- doing so, salaries amouhtot only to £373. I doubt whether so.mal a proportion of salaries to expenditure'cai be shown by any other large public bod' m the Colony.. Mr Buchanan, in statin! the/amounts Masterta Board from " Oearioil, goes ; V~'

At least £I4OO of the above ontlay waa ty direction ,of the Council expended oil the/Foriy-Mile Bush road-beyond the damp.". This a most singular and unaccountable misapprehension on hin part. I ; have no recollection of such a direction being given in any shape or form, and a--careful search through County "correspondence and resolutions passed has failed to disclose anything which could be : bo interpreted. The toad-being by law vested, in the Highway. Board, the Council had no wish to say in which part of ' it any money they might grant out of the Board s share of subsidies should be expended.' The only conditioii made by.; the Council in giving the grants was that the money should be expended on the main linethat it, anywhere between Waingawa and Manawatu. The Board appeats to have eipended .tlie grsater portion iti the Bush, but because they did bo, it w not fair to blame tho Council for neglect of the.Waipoua and Waingawa .bridges: in . fact, this neglect is apparently, only im- ■ uuted because Mr Buchanan thinkd these works should have been attended to: outyj of his imaginary I am far from wishing to blame the Board for expending t the money they did in the Seventy-Mile Bush. They recognised, as ; the Council did in aanctioping the expenditure, under the then existing circumstanoea,\ and until the House met and a vote " could' be obtained it was: necessary. . to keep the. road open for traffic. . There was, therefore,; an agreement .• in opinion between the two bodies, instead of the one acting under compul- :. aion of the other, "by direction," aj' . : assumed by Mr Buchanan.. To sum up., I now ask where is the maladministration ] where has money been .' ■. wasted? what,wrong has been done! What I claitri for the Council is—That we . have carefully and judiciously: expended.' all monies received, That, instead of entering into useless contests with the Government, and, asadvocated by many, ' " let the roads be closed" to Bhow how firm we could be, we have given them every • ■ assistance m our power in a friendly spirit, and have, by so doing, up to this time,' had nearly all we have thought it right to ask given to us. That during a time of severe depression we have ao arranged matters that it has not been necessary to levy a County rate, and that without ; doing so the roads, as a whole, have been . very fairly maintained. And, finally, that tho Council has not been committed to any irrevocable step, but is now free to consider what course it is best to adopt under the altered circumstances of subsidies being withdrawn, complicated by the ' late action of the Road Boards, which, it' persisted in, will compel the' C&uncil to employ an increased staff, and necessitate the levying of a County rate/. ■' With ao apology for the length of this letter, and requesting a careful .-study of the annexed figures, which will, I am sure, remove muoh misconception, '■ Yours, &c., . C. Pharaztn.

' Abstract of Receipts and Expenditure Wairarapa West County general fund,; ■•' from September 30th, 1878, to February. : 25th, 1881. ■ ' .■"■ ''"" . ' ; Receipts. .- '. : £ s. d.'' Subsidies ,„ 6341 0 0 Proportion of Land Revenue 26416 0 License and othot fees, fines, •/ : and sundries 1105 10 2 Refund from Government of ■'■ amount charged for main- ' tenance of Gorge road .• ■' (not being a County road' charge was illegal).,, ~,. 80 8 9 ' Contractors' deposits (to be refunded) ..;; ~, ,'„ 6813 8 intal from all sources..,£6Bso 8 7 ExfBNDIIOBE, • Masterton Highway Board, to July, 1879, roadmen's wages,-as per pay-sheets ■ presented to Council ~,.970 X i • July, 1879.—D0., Subsidy be expended on main line 342 0 0 July, 1880,—Do, do., eluding Taueru road ~, 200 0 0 [lt was understood by the Council that this, was all . ■ ' '•. . spent on latter road.] Featherston Highway Board subsidies for main roads 1194 1110 Do, do., for Burvbya ; of new roads ,„• ,„ 78 0 Q t< " Taratahi Highway Board, " . subsidy for main road, in addition to £360" from toll-gate ... '..;.;,.., 24017' 5 ' Featherston Local : Board t subsidy for main road to Railway Station ... „ 333 4 3 Waiohine River Board, sub-. <%..< ... ... ... 160 0 0 Te Ore Ore Bridge proteotore works... 100 13 I Hurunuiorangi road, special •vote... ..,, ;,. ■„, 45 18 9 Salaries, rent of office, &c, 809 12 -3 Sundry expenses, elections, ' .. valuations, &c, .;, „, 23713 3 Hospital and genevqlent go'- '' • cieties ■„'. .;,' .„ 316 Q 8 Printing and advertising ... 189 19 8' : Stationery, office fittings,sc., 103 4 8 Paid East County on' account Hurunuiorangi Bridge ... 100 0 ft ' Ferryboats, tools, and.re- - -:•'--■- fund Waihenga license fee 05:14 2 Sundries not specified ,;■, §); 8" 0 Amounts paid andojeing by ' - Boards .',.,' , 1( ' ? 51 3 j.. Balance in hand (partly voted - . but not paid). . ..,. ..-, -liflg '&, % Total Expenditure ..,£6850 1" 1 These figures are not strictly aceurat*, as books have not been,balanced: but they are sufficiently so to show total expenditure,and instead of "at least £2OOO ' swallowed up in the 40-Mile Bush," there has not been, a penny spent there out of the fund, except by the Masterton Hiffh. way Board, •■" -