CASTLEPOINT ROAD DISTRICT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1989, 13 May 1885, Page 2

CASTLEPOINT ROAD DISTRICT.

The annual meeting.of ratepayers was held in the Board's office on Saturday last, some twenty ratepayers being present. Mr T. Mackay, Chairman of the Board, presided. • The Chairman said the object'of the meeting was to place before the ratepayers for their consideration the Balance sheet for the financial year ending 31st y March, 1885. The auditor had not yet passed the accounts, but he trusted they would, as usual, prove correct.. He would submit a copy of the balance sheet to the meeting:— ■ . : is. I Receipts to 21st March, 1885 1775 14. 4 Expenditure ...1462 12' 4' Balance .„ ... ... 313 2 0 Assets ... 89811 4 Liabilities ... ... .... 4fi410 2' Excessof assets over liabilities 434 1 2 These figures showed the Board to be. in a solvent condition, and that after all liabilities were taken into account it was worth £434 Is 2d. This amount included the value of buildings, tools, and plant. He thought that at a meeting of this kind other matters besides the balance sheet should b'e dealt with, Ratepayers often complained that the roads iii which they were interested had not received their due share of expenditure, aud in order to place the position of affairs in this respect before the meeting he had instructed the clerk to prepare a sfcatoment showing the amount spent on each particular road. This statement lie would read and explain :—

£ s d Akiteo River Road ... ... 303 5 0 Aohanga-Pungaroa road ... 46 12 0 Adams' Peak road ...... II 0 0 Blairlogie road ... ' ... 87 0 0 Black Hill track ... ... 27 10 0 Mataikuna-Pakowai road ... 39 0 0 Manawa-Annedale, subsidy

from Mr Beetliam ... 7019 C Makirikiri road ... ~, 7 OfJ Main roads, Cashpoint ... 236 8 S Tinui Valley road 56 4 C Uriti road, Waihora to Mungapakeha junction

nearbridge 61 2 7 Waimimi Rock.horsetrack ... 17 14 6 Whakarora road 24 3 0 Road from Telegraph Office to Mr Millar's, £l4of this subsidy ... ... ... 28 0 C LlOl6 4 10

The expenditure on all roads was £lOl6 4s 9d. Of this, £236 8s 9d had been expended on the main line to Castlepoint, being appropriated for that purpose out of the funds of Ngs 3 ant} 5 sqb-division. These partjcujar subdivisions had.» very snmll amount of district road to keep up", and the Board deemed it best to assist fhe County qn the main lino. The item £7O 19s for road tQ 4nnec|ale mjgju) seem ei: cessive, but of this sum Messrs. Beetham and Williams had subscribed £2O. Exception had been taken to the expenditure of £2B between the telegraph office and Mr Mill's. The principal part of the work had been dono m lowering the road in front of the Tinui Hotel. Of this sum the owner of that property had subscribed £l4, If the work had not been done there would have been great inconvenience caused to the ratepayers and the general public, Deducting L 236 8s 9d from the total expenditure on roads, a sum of £770 16s remained, as the amount expended on purely district lines. This should be a guide to the ratepayers in suggesting what amount of rate be struck for the ensuing year, He thought tho ratepayers should express an opinion an this sitbjeqt, but before asking them to do so he would explain the position in which they would be placed with regard to County taxation. Ratepayers would rcgollect that the County had incurred a liability of £I6OO, The expenditure of tho money had been for the general benefit of the whole county, and it was decided to levy a general rate' of 7-ltiths of a penny to liquidate the debt. Tho work of maintenance of-the main roads had also to be provided for. Mr Bremner had prepared a careful estimate of the works required. The Works Committee of the Council, after having gone into this matter carefully, reduced the estimate several thousand pounds. 11l this riding the money required Would be £1532. By the Counties Act the maximum amount of rate that could be nupased by way of general and separate rates was f in the£, and this limit would be exceeded to lind this Rujiiig's share of the £I6OO liability, and tlie'£ls32 for maintenance previously mentioned. It was 1 therefore propuseo! to levy a r.atej offj-jCthVof a penny',' mak.e tlje 'jjd. allpwe| tjy' ki, '% would yicJ4 QUly £ss, leaving a hajan'c'o of £B].7, To pi'qviile this, last mentioned amount was the question, The only way OUt of the difficulty was by imposing a speial works rate qf sin tho £; and it was the nature of this rate that he desired to explain to those present, It had, by the Act, to be levied on petition, i.e., the ratepayers had to give their special sanction to it by signing the petiion, and unless 8 sths wero in favor of it, it could not be imposed, He wished ratepayers to keep this in mind when the petition was presented to them for signature. The monev was for the maintenance of main roads, and unless the ratepayers were in favor of it being raised, there would only bo LCIS to keep these roads in order. The total rate required by the County would lfd in the pound. By striking a Road Board rate of fd, as last year, and he did not see how it was to be obviated, the whole local taxation to be borne by the ratepayers would be l|d in the pound, This was a heavy rate, but there appeared to be no other course open tjjan tq levy it. Ratepayers should recollect'fhat |fie roads in the' country though not gooij, were'in s'ucji' a condition as to have materially reduced, the cost of carriage. Roads were one*of the greatest improvements', to properties, and he would, if'settjera were pushed for funds, suggest that tljey 'should curtail their expenditure jnbusjjfailuig,: grass seed sowing, or other improvements on their land, and put the mqney into roads. A Road B.oard rate of |d in the pound wquld yield, in round numbers, about L9OO. By the statement of expenditure on district roads last year it was' shown that about L 779 had been absorbed, and there was no prospect of the repairs being lighter in the future, and in all probability the Board would have to supplement tho L 1532 required by the

county for the main;.roads,, for hefehV suro that sum would not suffice. He would refer to the Black Hill line of road. Through some error tho taUng of the whole of this road had not biffldone legally, aud Messrs Elder and CoV had threatonod to close it against traffic. The Council had passed a resolution asking this Board to find tho necessary funds to pay Mr Elder compensation'. The;. ' Chairman of the Council and Cr F. v ' Maunsell were deputed to arrange terms . with Mr Elder, and the latter hp agreed tc accept LBO in full. for all -cairns. At' the meeting of the Board that morning the question of finding this sum of LBO was considered, Two members were '' opposed to the Board dealing with it, and V' suggested that it should be relegated ■ta •'•''" this meeting to give on opinion on, bin? .'• the majority of the ; Board had decider".- : otherwise. He (the chairman) had voted- -'' for the Board deciding the question. •" Time was an element that must be taken'' v ' into account. There was another subject-^ 1 he would mention as of interest to the settlers here, viz., the Castlepoint Jetty,'' : Accompanied by Mr G. Beetham, he had ' " waited on the Hon. the Minister for Public _ Works to urge the necessity of this work -being, gone on with;. Mr Blackett, who was inj&en- -- •'" dance, stated that he had hearcnM ' • Captain Campbell had a plan to suggest ; that differed from that prepared by the :..' Government, and he should like to consult him before taking any further steps. It was arranged with Mr Levin that ■ Captain Campbell should interview Mr.-:-Blackett atim early date, and explain hiß„> -'••'■• views.. Action would then be taken to ' -"■•'•- proceed with the work. In conclusion •«»>' ,: ' : he would be glad to explain any matters in connection with tho working of the '' Board during the past year. ■ Mr R/Maunsell wished toJtnow if the .'■.'• credit balance of L 313 was available for expenditure during the coming year. tL The Chairman explained that it was tlfT '•" credit balance as on 31st March, but had been reduced by. about one-half since ••; that date.. At the same time it was - not ~ ovailable for general 'expenditure, being '■ v to the credit of one or two sub-divisions '" ; ' only; ~. Mr R. Langdon said the' Chairman had referred to the good roads. He wished to know if he was aware of the state.-iktlie road from' Tinui to Mauawa, and wMher there was any prospect of gettingportions ■•■ of it improved.

The Chairman stilted that he was glad : - Mr Langdon had mentioned this. Tho County, if they got any money under -'- tho application to be sent in on Juno 30, . would expend a portion, on this line of road. Tho .Mungapakelia had absorbed the principal amout of money available in the past, it being deemed by the Council . the most important work in this Riding, Mr ft. Meredith would like to give an account of his stewardship as Warden for No 1 subdivision. Tho chairman had alluded to the Blaok Hill line of toad, and to some of the members voting'against the Board deciding to pay the LSD to Mr Elder. He and Mr Warren had voted against the other members. He considered the ratepayersshould have been consulted* He objected to'his ward having to WyV LlO towards the cost, as somo of the rata- \ payers had no interest in it. The ottier \ members of the Board had hurried/the I .matter on,- and passed this vote,because they had done an illegal thing previously by spending L4O on this road, Which was • not a legalised one. ■ If those, jneinbers " had not voted'.for the road, being taken and paid for, they would have been personally liable for the L4O. The proper course to have been adopted was for this road' to have been brought ujgjjv the Roads and Bridges Act. The GovMment would then have found threequarters of the cost, and the Board would have quly been liable for L2O instead of LBO. ;

Mr Mackay : You are quite in eppqp Mi ; M«v«?ditH. You 40 not uniloratnn4 tUp Act. Three-quarters, in aid js. only : granted tot main lines of road.. . Mr Moreditli: lam not. lam correct. , I know what lam saying. The road is. a county road and the 4gt applies, Mr Magkay: The Aot is hero, you had hotter-read it, .-' '•-.- Mr Mereditli considered that the County should find the money fur the Black Sill road, and not the Board, Now the County was going to levy a rate. to pay. off its debt, it was time the took over tho road maintenance. If the County system continued, thero was nothing to show that it would not get into debt again. He advocated i separate. County, formed of the Castlepoint district. Ho had givon notico of motion to the effect that the Board should have the control of tho roads, ... ■ The Chairman said ho could not *e the statements made by Mr MereditHo go uncontradicted. With regard to the MO said to be expended illegally, on tho Black Hill road-in the first .place the amount quoted was wrong, it being L 27 Ills, and this amount had been mainly expended on the legalized potion of tho road, i.e., betw en the deepcreekand tliu Waikororo, on most necessary work. The statement of Mr Meredith)tliat tho Government would find three-fourths of the cost of making the Black Hill track was contrary to the law in force." He would remind Mr Meredith that three-' fourths was only granted to main lih.es declared so by Parliament, The Black' Hill traok was not on the schedule of- main lines. It might or might not bea county road, it certainly was not a main one. Hel then read the clause of the Roads aiuT Bridges Act, showingthatthe whole, ofthe works on district roads would have.to bo repaid by fifteen yearly instalments. If the money'was obtained, in that way'there ivb'uld be a long delay, ancl in'the mean- 1 ' time Mr Eldw would closje the 'roil'. MrR, Maqnseirhat} heard that a sum of about m !|ad been, 'pxpehdo jin sur' ' yeys, and that th,e! pill useless'and the inmipy wasted He would. al&h,(j Ohalrnian if thjswas corregfe, ".""i^fi The Qhairman: A sum of money amoHnjijlg to about what you state'-' has been expended in surveys for work it was propused to have done under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, Batepayers, however, in some instances being adverse, the work wasnotundertaken. IMb not corroot that the monoy was thrown away. Working plans of the roads are now in the office, and the roads are proporly graded, and in the future' thtf '•■ survey will be of use. This expenditure took place in 18834, and has nothing Wk do with the present balance-sheet. ? Mr R. Langdon asked if some of. the funds of the Board would not be expended on the main road (Tinui - Eketahuna) at at Flag Creek and other bad places. .4. The Chairman: Ther6 is nothing to.'r prevent such a course being adopted, if \ the district roads in the .subdivisions • adjacent do not require all the'-'money, • Tho Council have allocated about L 246 • • for this road, L3O of which will be avail-'"' able to repair meta}lingi'' '.!-.'■ '"''"''' the;erectiqnqfa toll-gate to defray the 1 cost ofacaumm? the Black Hjlf Tcacf. .iprfSJ the stock' which travelled, &e' ! rp'aa» Mrifaokay thought if; woulpl'De'feely wortl] wlu'le to do thia to cqllect'suchi smallsiimas LgO. . • ■ =' '".^ffa'-n . Mr R. Maunsell then moved;■afcffMj R. Langdon seconded, the'"afldptipn "of the balance sheet as read.- ' •'': ;"i>! : -' ! The motion was carried withoutldissenfi' The Qhairman said he' should 1 likY 'm expression of opinion from' the' j&etinfc' relativo to the amount of rate tobe struck by the Board for tho ensuing year. ■-''"""■' Mr John Gross moved, and Mr NichohY seconded, That the questibn'of the'amount' ■ of rate bo left to the Board. -Carried The meeting then terminated,