MUNICIPAL MEETING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1057, 25 April 1882, Page 2

MUNICIPAL MEETING.

A meeting of ratepayers was hold in the, Town Halt, Mastefton, last evening to consider the proposal to borrow £4OO in .connection with the defy)on the Institute. jHis Worship the Mayor oooupied the 'chair, and about a dozen burgesses constituted the meeting. The chairman explained that the meeting was convened in accordance with seotion 141 of the Municipal Corporations ■ Act.: The proposed loan,waß.virtually4t present' a legal "liability ~pf the Borough though the, debt rested 011 the. shoulders of three or four people. Taking the step they proposed would not in any way increase the present maximum rate of one penny in tho pound, nor could the interest in the proposed loan exceed 7 per cent. The rate would be the only seourity given foe the advance, and the arrangement waß proposed in accordance with a recommendation of a committee of the Borough Council appointed to report upon the debt. Mr Caselberg said he was pleased, considering the state of the weather, _to se%» so many persons present. The raising Sam tne £4OO loan waa a •inere.-nomhSPl; matler in order to comply • with 'the, Libraries Act. Both the principal and ; interest on the loan would be'found by the Town Lands Trustees, who had voted ■ an annual grant of £SO for this special purpose. All that they were asked to do was simply nothing! The result would be to enable the Borough Council to take a valuable property into their hands which has cost £I,OOO, and on which there iB only a liability of £4OO. This debt was one which had been incurred on behalf of.. the ratepayers of Masterton. It was only right that the Borough Council- ■ should step in and relieve those gentlemen who had become ■ seourity lor the debt. He pointed out also that, the present Library rate of on 3 penny in the L would not be used in connection with the loan, but would be expended ou the general purposes of the Institute, He concluded amid applause by moving that the proposal of the Borough Council b approved of. Mr J. Vile seconded the resolution. .

Mr Woodroofe then addressed the meeting in the following terms:—Mr Chairman and fellow electors, what I have to say on this question is that I.do not approve of the action taken by the Council, and I do not approve of the action of the seconder of Mr Cnselberg's resolution. When I was un tho committee Mr Teskle came forward and askod a hundred or a Hundred and twenty pounds, and I proposed two hundred pounds should be given. Hadjhave known the disgraceful way that the Institute would be carried on.l would never have proposed it. I could tell you tales most disgraceful, and I could prove them. I reqret that the L2OO was given, I have come to the coaclusion that some of these individuals if they only had wings thej would fly. They sunk themselves in debt, and as long as persons can get the piblic to pay extra we shall have extra in all departments. I consider the present committee, the best one-we can have. I think Mr Caselberg will render good assistance while I differ with him in respect to money. (Mr Caselberg, Hear, hear!) I don't wish to see these men relieved. They cut a lesson from a bank once, only another bank came to their assistance. Ido not wish to show any hostile front, but I for one, will vote against it on the ground that the ratepayers are much oppressed. That the valuation is excessive—in some cases twice too much. I myselt am a viotim. (Hear, hear I) If some Councillors'qould get a ten shilling rate they would have one. Burgesses should - stand together to resist suoh extravagance, Some persons who had taken an active part would have been better by hundreds and thousands of pounds if they had novel' been born. When I was in the Trust what was my object 1 I said there could be a museum, which would not cost the Borough a shilling. I advocated starting one, hut could not gef any assistance. I hope tl)e few retqarka that I have made will not do any harm.—(Hear j Hearl) Mr Vile said that most of the gentlemen present would take Mr Woodroofo's speech for what it worth. He took a personal aspect of the question rather than discussing it on publio grounds, They all knew Mr Woodroofe, He took upon himself to backbite his neighbors—peoplo who had tried to do their best for the town.—(Applause.) Mr Woodroofe denied that he ever backbited anybody. He always spoke tu their faces. The Mayor, before putting the resolution, reminded them that the Institute had been placed under the Libraries' Act by the wish of the ratepayers. It was, when this deoision was given, the duty of the public to have Been that the Institute was properly conveyed to the Borough. The gentlemen who had in the interim borne the liability hai, in his opinion, conforred a boon on Masterton,. but they were, he considered, bound in honor to reliove them of further liability. The question was then put and carried, only two, Messrs "Woodroofe and McKillop, voting against. The Mayor announced that the day for taking a poll would be . duly notified through the press, - .