TOWN LANDS TRUST

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1977, 29 April 1885, Page 2

TOWN LANDS TRUST

A-meeting was held at the Temperance Hall last night, to give candidates for seats on the Town Lands Trust, an opportunity of expressing their opinions. Mr W. Rapp, who was voted to the chair, called upon the convener of the meeting to speak first.

Mr Girdwood then came forward and said that when he became a candidate an article adverse to him had appeared in the Daily, and as lie did not think that he could express his views through that paper, he had thought it best to convene the meeting. By so doing he afforded every candidate a chance of speaking, He did not profess to know much about the Trust, but, if elected, would make it his business to become acquainted with it. He had a very decided objection to the way the money received from the sale of the land at Groytown had been invested. He was in the hands of the voters, and if returned would do his best for them.

Mr Woodroofe mounted the platform and said he had been connected with the Trust since it started. The Trustees had done many good things, and many that were bad. One of the latter was that they had made one of their own servants .Returning - Officer. He liked Mr Brown, and gave him credit for the greatest integrity ; but with a little management he could place all his own creatures on the Trust. Such a temptation should not be put in the way of anybody. In these days of freethought and spiritualism they had to be very careful what fchdy did (laughter). It was wrong to let the money gojt for the 40 acres at Greytown go to it loan society. It should have been invested in land. It was wrong to fjispogepj: thj? property in the first instance. When the Town Hall was built, some £BO .or £9O was got by private subSCriptioi), anijonthat'accgiintj "if on no, other, they should have reerejs'ted it with the insurance money, They should haye a separate Trust for the Town Hajl, and chargo no more than would pay for light? ing and cleaning it, The Trust had gone a little astray in various ways, and should not have brought Acts of Parliament to bear on them without consulting them. Mr Hogg felt gratified to see an attendance {jhat was so large when compared with that" at the annual meeting of the Trust. His reason for coming forward was that"'lip' considered "It" the duty of everyone to take a turn 'at' the'helhi, Ho had been .told that it was improper for new elementi'jip,'come forward, blithe did not' believe in that.' He Jflpked'uppn .the Trust as a ,of the highest' value t,p the .cpmnvUrnty, It' was'one of tile nobjegt heritages .pf the people, ahd"it l r^ r fleeted the highest credit pi/ the founders. If they Wfluf only'fajjfl' pppr .cap.e |h,ey puld'materially 'increase tffe yca'llh' of the .plage, He would npt refer'tp'% immediate past, but Jet by-gones ho by? gones. He considered that the property should be held intact, and thai -it the oxt piration of their term they should, be in a position to hand over every acre to their successors. It was their particular duty to see that if the value of the Trust did not grow, it should at any rate, not '(S|injn|sJ), He thought Acts of Parjjaufenji" ajlflr/jefl many undue facilities to p.spi'upn ; !ps! individuals to deal with public the people being consulted, He hag tripjj % prevent the sale of the land at Oraytmyn, but had been baffled, and the Act was passed. He should like to seo an amending A.CJ; passed that would prevent any further ijeiilfijlt ;s}» their land, unless at. loust three-fourths of'th/'p fttepay.cr? consented. Their several institufio'ijifslwu'ld be fairly endowed with the funds of the Trust.. The original object of the Trust jyas chiefly to provide for the education of tei'.cjii^freji; jbtit, .since the State had so" fcjlxorp.ughly iakeji' o.dw.caf),op jj) Jiahd; they wore almost'entirely relieve'd of afry chargo on that head.' They 'should, 'jm'weyerj still rondel' what assistance thpy could to. jihp scliop], siicli for ptanco" as prqyldiijg a 'small suiji fpr' salary, am} payjiig for-39'iontj/i.c apnar'ajuß, They Bhould do more fpr their ppblip Hlwwyi which was really another .srlip.ql for them, TlicyglipuhlendQwit nswe]j as they could reasonably fiffoi'i They should have a Town Hall in connepiipn with the library, and. a publlo leciuro room was an urgent necessity. They could then havo a debating club, and suitable lectures at intervals. He did not see v/)w # museum should not be estab-Islie'd'-jnfjie 'upw rpom of the Institute. Park, he had been accused pf being flf Jjayjng ft tupnqij jnfcp a sheep jyallf ,(laughjer|l Before the Gyat was m'ade jje Was ''of thai opinion, because the tfark was simply a disgrace to the town. Tjiey shnijijl' fak'p a little income out of ft, He yas as much inclined as any one to see it improved; but they should make it thoroughly self-supporting. Since the oval had been made he should like to see it further improved. He should object to Ijaye |i'|»h4ed pypp to any club or society. It was'aij jnsjilj; |p % public to. let it for » single flay'. 'lf crjckpplg fetecj it .they ahouidiiaygit as long a? tlioy'sd'n6i abuse it. 'Hioie iHmM Up' jw'flarik trustees at all, though lie did not object to the men on.it. Thejpark belonged -to the public, and the' public should have entire control. He objected to the .cemetery being so close to the''park, and advocated that the, ty/,9 §hpuld'be divided by a high fence, Jfe 'pb]ecte| to, the Town Lands Trust taking pyer tjjp deljfc pf the Park Trust, If they rplieyed tJiem pf one debt they wouldhayenoguarantee fet they would not run into further^oxti'ft gance. They should be offered an opportunity of paying off their own debt. If elected, he should see that the Park .Trustees gave a proper account of their actions? • ge jhould endeavor to let the whole of the'"Trust lands for useful purposes, as thereby they would inofease ,-. ;'•••> - . •■•■ -. ..: ~.' '?

their income. : Afc present there was no map showing which were Trust lands, and ho thought one should be procured at once! It should give various details which. he enumerated,'

Mr Reese sought the support of the voters in his endeavor to become a member of a very valuable Trust, and if. they elected him he would give it his very best attention, and also look very closely at many things that had already been done, The improvements on the Park tor instance, had not been- made in a fair and square manner. The (relations with the Park Trust were not what they ought to be, and . from statements made, lie believed that a more monstrous piece of expenditure had never been perpetrated in Masfcerfcon than they had gone in for. He could not learn how much had been expended, but believed it was close upon £IOOO. When a grosss job like that was perpetrated it should be exposed. .The money spent upon the Park was all wasted. A number, of gross abuses had ■grown" up, through five or' six persons having the whole management, and these he-would take good care to look into. He had come forward at the desire of a great many electors, and : if elected he would do as well as any man who.had' been'there before him. Mr Parsons said he had never addressed' a public meeting in his life before, and really did not see that there '.was a great deal to say. Mr Hogg had said almost everything that required to he said, and he agreed with a good deal of.it, (laughter). A great deal had been said about what were purely outside matters, that should. never have been mentioned. He did not see how the Park Trustees could do without money, nor how the Park could be made to pay. If he were elected he would see that any Bums granted were properly expended. The Park was an ornament to the town, and presented a great attraction to visitors. With regard to the sale of the land at Greytown, that was a thing of the past; but he might say that he had been all over the land and did not' think that much of a bargain had been made either way.

Mr Kenall.—What! 40 acres for £250 1 Why, I sold a quarter of an acre for more than that in Masterton,

Mr Parsons.—Yes, but you would not like to give that quarter acre for the land in Greytown. (laughter). Mr Muir being called upon said that he had endeavoured to get the money realized from the Greytown land invested in land, but he stood alone, and the money was invested in mortgage, They should not have become money-lenders, but havo invested the money in land, that would give them a better return. Mr Renall asked what had become of the £3OO from the Town Hall, and then explained that the Trustees had down the very best thing with it by buying out Mr Chapman's interest in section 29. ' He entered at length into the history of that section and of other properties. The meeting terminated with the usual compliment to the Chairman.