Public Meeting.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2427, 16 October 1886, Page 2

Public Meeting.

The meeting convened by his Worship the Mayor last night was attended by about four hundred burgesses. Mr A. R. Bunny whs voted to the chair and explained the object of the meeting which was to hear the result of Mr Caselber/s stewardship over a thrivinejiind progressive population. He asked a fair hearing for Mr Caselberg.

His Worship the Mayor on rising was received with cheers. He would, he said, have liked to have been presentat the meeting convened by Mr Eenall, but it was through no fault of his own that he was absent, having been summoned as a witness in a case at Wellington in the Supreme Court. As the night was wet and cold he would study their comfort as well as his own by coining to the point at once and explain the object of the meeting which was to give an account of his five years stewardship as Councillor and Mayor. Some years ago he received a

LARGELY-SIGNED REQUISITION asking him to come forward as a candidate for the Mayoralty.- It would be fresh in their memories the result of the contest between himself and Mr Bish. He was defeated, Mr Bish beating him by about ten votes. He did not like defeat, but at the samo time thought perhaps it had done him good. He met with powerful opposition, and coupled with the fact that while his opponent canvassed, and had a strong committee working for him, lie neither solicited, nor allowed anyone else to solicit, a single vote. Ho had, therefore, every reason to feel grateful to the very large number of burgesses who had given him their votes unsolicited. The then Council and many others at that time opposed him because lie had not served his apprenticeship, and lie thought porhaps it was presumptuous on his part to aspire to the,high position of Mayor of the town without having first served his term as a councillor. On the declaration of the poll, they would remember, ho had thanked them, not for tho proud position in which they had placed him, but for the expression of Confidence in him by a large number of his fellow townsmen. He came forward in a sense of duty, and when a vacancy occurred in the Council he would again place himself at their disposal. In January, 1882, an opening occurred, and he camo forward, with the result that this time he was returned at the head of the poll as a •"''''''"'Mmber of the council, • Mr. Bish and the Council gave him

their hearty support on this occasion. (Cheers.) He would now come to the real business of the meeting, viz., to give all account <i his stewardship, and in doing so lie would ask their indulgence as he was placed in the delicate position of having to blow his own trumpet. He might inadvertently uso the work "I" instead of " we" and if he was relating anything which deserved their praise they could take it as meanin? " we," while on the other hand, if it was anything with they did not agree he was prepared to take the whole blame- During the year 1882 underjMr Bish's mayoralty (to whom he paid a high compliment) a great deal was done. He had the rospect and confideuce of his- fellow councillors, who placed him on nearly all the Committees, and he was proud to say that he still retained that confidence as their Mayor and Chairman.

ME WAffOUA OVERFLOW caused them a great deal of anxiety and was the subject 'of considerable correspondence between the Council and the Government, who were about proceeding with their public works. This matter was settled satisfactorily and the next question to claim their attention was 'the IMMIGRATION COTTAGES. At that time these were in a dilapidated condition, and wcro ft disgrace to the Borough a refuge for questionable company, and ah eyesore. The Borough Council tackled the question in a spirited manner. They sold ,a portion oE the houses, as they were too close together. The remainder were leased by tender, renovated, and were now a 1 valuable endowment, bringing in a rent of £3O per annum, with every prospect of returning a much larger sum at tlio termination of the' present lease. Another subject to which he wished to refer was.

CONNCILLOItS AM'IYING FOR BIUETS. He did not wish-to attack anyone, but simply to give a plain' account of his action. On the very night lie entered the Council two Councillors left their seats, having applied for billets under the Borough, one as engineer, and the other as poundkceper. Ho thouqht it rather against propriety that a Councillor should apply for a billet, and was out of the ordinary course, It gave no opportunity for others to compete for these positions. Now a resolution had been passed, of which ho was the mover, that for tho future no Councillor should be eligible for any post of profit under the Council until he had ceased to be a member of tho Council for a period of not less than six months. The resolution was passed unanimously, and removed any suspicion of jobbery or partiality, and thus placed the actions of the Council above suspicion and pressure. For the sanio reaso.i a resolution was passed that when at all practicable, all work of the Borough should be

I'UUIiICLY I'EN'DIiUBD I'Olt. Tins decision was partly due to the manner in which the contract tor the maintenance of the roads was arranged with Hoimslow, under the mayoralty of Mr llenall. During this time soveral fatal accidents occured, and they felt the want of

A C0110OT„ residing in the town, as the only one in the district resided in Gioy town, and lie was an old man. Mr Bisli, then Mayor, took an active part in this matter, and also that of erecting a morgue. They had several communications with the Government, with the result that tho Resident Magistrate was appointed a coroner. A resolution was moved that the Borough should erect a morgue, but it was negatived, and it was still a requirement of the future.

Til B INSTITUTE at that time gaye a great ileal of dissatisfaction, the management being in a very unsatisfactory state. U e gave tho ' early history of the institution, how public subscriptions wero raised, the cost exceeding the original estimate by a considerable amount, to meet which certain gentlemen had become guarantors to the Bank for an overdraft, how it was brought under the Library Act and a rate struck, the proceeds of which went to pay interest on the overdraft, leaving very little for the purchase of books and periodicals, and the building came to be looked upon as a " white elephant," how a portion of the building was let for amusements such as dancing, which interfered with the public attending the readme room, and how the premises, through indifferent workmanship, became leaky and got into a most dilapidated state. He took an active part to alter this state of things, and became unpopular with some people. The Council appointed a committee, of which he was chairman, to qo carefully into the matter. The report of this committee recommended the Council to raise a loan of £4OO with which to pay off the overdraft and reliovo the gentlemen \vlio had become responsible to the bank for it. Tho Town Lands Trust was asked to contribute £SO a year to pay off principal and interest, so as to make the institution popular and become of real value to the town as an educational factor. Tho Trust did not require much persuasion, and agreed' to this. The report also recommended that the ratepayers should elect their own Committee of Management, and that the Mayor and Chairman of the Town Lands Trust be ex officio members. It was decided to recommend that dancing should not be allowed during tho hours when the reading room was open. He was glad to say these recommendations were carried out, and a change for the better took place, but not to the extent which they anticipated. Tho committee was elected, but it did not work well, a good deal of apathy being shown. Tho Council looked upon it a, good deal as a foster child, and some of the members thought they should not spend any more than they could possibly help on it. From the rate tho committee received—about £6o—they were expected to carry oil and not infringe on the Borough funds. They had a legacy which they could not curtail, and tho building being wooden becamo leaky and dilapidated. Cr Muir moved that the Council take over the property as belonging to tho ratepayers, which was carried, Four or five yearß ago he had suggested something similar, but had receivod no support, They had taken over the building, and now, instead of meeting in a place which was quite unsuitable for the purposo, they held their meetings in tho Institute, The had had the place fitted up comfortably—some thought too much so. A good deal had been said about tho amount spent in furnishing the Council room, but ho would tell them that this only cost £36. By meeting there they saved about £25 a year in rent, Tho other expense had been incurred in fitting up tlie reading room upstairs, which was about £2OO. The building was now a credit to tho town, and would compare with any other in the colony. It was the intention of tho Cnuncil to make

THE LIBRARY FREE to ratepayers upon tho condition that they received an amount from the Town Lands Trustees equal to that now raised by subscriptions. He thought the Trust would meet them as proposed, as one of the objects for which that body was created was to provide for the educational requirements of the town. Tho next question ho would touch upon .was the : DIVISION OF THE BOROUGH INTO WARDS. In looking through his notes he found that in 1882 Mr A, W. Ronall presented a petition to the Uorough Council asking it to take steps to have the Borough divi-

ded into wards. This was considered premature and it fell through. He, thought the time had now arrived when it should be carried into effect, Mr Renall deserved credit for being the first to bring it forward. No doubt his experience as a.public man had enabledlliim toseealong way ahead. He wbb glad to see • Mr- Renall present, though he had no intention of attacking hitn. He simply wished to explain lus action as a representative of the people. He had been accused of mnning away from Mr Renall's meeting but he was | summoned to Wellington. (Mr Renall; I stated that to the meeting.)

STREET WIDENING. ! About this timo there was considerable correspondence between Mi' Renall and tlio Council, with reference to widening Renall and Chapel-streets. The first he knew «f the matter was Mr McCardle (who was then a member of the Council) p ropnsed him as one of a committee to investigate Mr Renall's claim. He did not know why Mr McCardle put his name on the Committee, unless he thought he was L'oud at (laughter), He consented to act, and became. Chairman of the Committee. They went through the minutes, &c., to see what had been dono by their predecessors, and what was required from Mr Renall tor street-widening. It reflected on the past management of tho Borough that there was no record preserved to coincido with. the statements of Mr Renall, Ho had asked some of the oldest members of the Conncil what had actually been done, but so far as he could gather, there had only been verbal communication between Mr Renall and the Council. They had agreed to certain things bofore Mr Renall went to England. He did not wish to doubt Mr Renall nor the Council, but their versions did not agreo. Unfortunately there was nothing in writing. Ho supposed Mr Renall had pointed out iu a casual way what he had required to be done. Mr Renall estimated tho work he wanted dono would coat £IOO, but lie understood otherwise, and the Council decided to offer him £2OO for the land, about four acres.. (Here Mr Renall interrupted tho speaker several times and was severely brought to task by tho Chairman.) His Worship continued: He had no desire to have aii altercation with Mr Renall. Ho wished to put himself right with reference to his own actions, The Council paid Mr Renall £2OO for 33ft land for widening Renall Street, and this improved Mr Renall's frontage in spite of anything he said to the contrary. (Cheers). The Council had offered Mr Renall the money, which he took, but had not yet given the title. (Mr Renall hero again interrupted the speakor amid cries of "order.") Mr Renall was always writing about the title, He was tellin? them tho plain facts as they occurred. In .1 uno 1886, they instructed a solicitor to get a title from Mi Renall. The Borough was entitled to a conveyance. (Or Gapper: We havo some titles.) Mr Renall would give one reason or another for not giving the title. Only

the other day he lud taken exception to something which had been said, and had threatened to block up Chapel Street, although he was paid for it. (Mr Renall: No!) His Worship re-iterated his statement- that he had been paid. He got £ll for widening Chapel Street. (Mr Renall: I did not get that from the Council.) The speaker said it did not matter from whom Mr Renall had received the money, but he had been paid; and if lie had agreed to do a thing, he should carry it out. If he had a grudge against an individual, ho should not attempt to make the community at large suffer for it. If Mr Renall had blocked the street it would have been a di&grace to the Borough. Mr Renall had thought bpttor of it. Ho could not do it even if ho had wished. He had made a-virtue of a necessity and cooled down. He had, no doubt, made the threat ill the heat of the moment, and I had never intended to carry it out. He had intended to speak about the widoning of Renall Street, but as timo was limited ha would get on to another question. In August of 1882, lie moved a resolution that the ratepayers be asked to sanction a LOAN OK £4OOO for road making in outlying portions of the Borough, for the purchase of a steam fire-engine, and providing a water supply. Tlie resolution was carried in the Council by a large majority, but oil being submitted to the burgesses it was rejected, the reason being that the borough was too large and those living in the outlying portion would not support it as they had no interest in common with tlio residents in the centre of the Borough, The Council went into figures and if they had been empowered to borrow the money they could have made a considerable saving by makiug all the roads at the proper season of the year, and the rates could liavo been reduced as they would only require sufficient for maintenance works.

NEW STREETS, A very important resolution was passed in November 1882, for which he gave Or Gapper great credit. It had been tho custom for speculators to cut up their land, submit a plan and the Council always adopted it; and tho new ( streets were made out of Borough funds. Mr Travers had advised them that having adopted a plan thoy were compelled to make the streets. Eyen great lawyers sometimes mado mistakes, and this was one of them. Mr Renall had told them that Mr Travera was wrong, and ho was glad it was so. Mr D, Donald had submitted a cart load of plans which were adopted. The law was very clear with respect to this matter. Tho owner of properties through which a new street is laid off must make the road to the satisfaction of tho Borough Council before it was taken over, after which they had to keep it in repair. Before, it was only necessary to get tho plan adopted by tho Council. Cr Gapper moved a resolution that in future all now streets must be made before being taken over. He seconded the proposition, which he was happy to say was carried unanimously, and they felt the benefit of it immediately alter. (Mr Renall: How about Worksop road ?) He had heard a ?ood deal about Worksop road, and he would tell them what ho knew ot tho matter. When Mr Eenall was Mayor, Mr B: P, Perry, as ono of the Trustees in tho Dixon estate, presented a plan which was thrown on the table in the usual style and adopted. He was not a member of tho Council at the time. An agreemont was made between the Council and the Trustees of the estate (Mr Renall: No!) in consideration of the Trustees giving 33ft to widen Bannister street, Columba road, and Dixon street, and a considerable portion of other land for £5, tho Borough Council would take over tho streets and make them, This was whilo Mr Renall was Mayor. (Mr Renall: No!) Negotiations were commenced about the end of Mr Renall's term and completed in Mr Bish's year of office. People had said a good deal with reference to the road being done because he lived there, but he had no land there at that tifne. Considering the circumstances he thought he would have voted for it, and he considered tho Borough got a far better bargain in the Dixon estate than with Mr Renall. They had to pay Mr Renall £2OO, while tho Trustees,of the Dixon estate onlyjreceivtd £5.. With reference to tho making of Worksop road, lie explained it had not boon done till two years after it had been placed on the second schedule,- which avoided any partiality. . ; , SANITARY MATTERS. In January* 1883, the question arose;

how to keep the Jt ivvja healthy.- This • most important,' ' The by-laws were nor ..- properly observed, nnd the.- subject',' required to be grappled, with. W'ith'-i k' high pressure aupply . the. inSttet; would be simple oiitiugh,' but they had iio facility for drainage. : If was a- most serious mattor, and the by-laws should - be riiade more stringent. ..These wefe .still unsatisfactory.' . .v : ,•

gasworks." . He gave the history of the gas fffjwtion from 1882 to the present time! Srvfhen first mooted it was - thought the matter should be left to private enterprise, and he was still of that opinion (hear, hear), Rumors had been rife that things not going-on right with the'Vorl s, but sflfl| far as he knew, and he knew as much as, anyone, there was nothing wrong (hear, hear). Tlioy had saved about £()0 interest on tlieiv overdraft, and a like sum by making special arrangements for freight. They had raised £4600, and would require about another £2500. i'hey were taking all precautions to make the works a success, They had enough consumers already to ensure this. The engineer expected to havo the works going by tliir New Year', ', &■ REDUCING TUB SIZE OF THE EOllOUCffl. v Ho,detailed the offorts which had been made in this direction. .He referred to the . MANKAONE ENDOWMENT.

It had been leased for 31 years,- and was now bringing iii a revenue, to swell the Borough funds.

■■■' FIRE BRIGADE, He explained his action in this matter very fully. Ho thought i' was adverse criticism which had killed tlio Brigade. He gt\ve an account of whlHr had been done throughout, and was o™ opinion that the Brigade itself was not a happy family. Many were ot opinion ho was antagonistic to the Brigade, but that was a misapprehension. ' MOD ALLEY. Ho pointed out the position in which tho Council stood with respect to the difficulty. He, along with the,rest of the Council, sympathised with the residents there. There was nothing iu the records of the Council which could be called a promise. If they did anything in the matter they would lay themselves open to bo sued for illegally expending the Borough funds. It was impossible for the Council to take any action in the matter. The -V WAIPOUA FROIiiUriON WORKS. AH' were also touched upon. Ho stated what had already been done, and that the Council iutended further action after the middle of the present month,

STONE BREAKING. Thu Council land provided work for nine mon who wore in a state of destitution and had dono great, good. CHARITABLE AID,

'fcas another important question. The Government had passed an Act whijli was practically a pour law. He thought it was rather in advance of the times that men should bo a burden to their fellow colonists in a young country like this, where provisions were so cheap. Provision should of courso be made for the sick and aged, and the victims of accidents. Ho had bean olocted to the District Board, but had resigned that position, as he found it too inconvenient to have to go to Wellington to its meetinns. The Act was unworkable.

• RENALL STREET, He gave the history of this now famnM streot. Ho thought Mr Woodroofo sMflf j contribute as it would improve his frontage. Ho considered Mr Renall had adopted a wrong courso in calling a meeting himself, (Mr Renall: No I) Ho should have asked tlio Chairman ,of the Town Lands Trust to convene a meeting, and by not doing so had treated them with discourtesy. He could laugli at Mr Renall's jokes, although he had heard them nine or ten times. The

FUTURE I'ROSrERITY of tho town depended a good deal on their own selection. If they elected capable men to manage thoir affairs, and paid attention to fostering industries, which required small capital only, such as dairy and jam factories, the progress of the district would be ensured. He had recently travelled pretty well ail over New Zealand, and Masterton compared favorably with any town in the colony. Ho thanked them for their patient hearing, and sat down amidst loud applause. Cries of " now then, Renall," arose, and Mr Renall stood up amidst loud applause. The Mayor asked those present to gisA Mr Renall a fair hearing. Jfif The Chairman thought as it was very late it would be well to bring the meeting to an early conclusion. Mr Renaltaskod the Mayorif'it was truo that £SO had been paid to a person for work which had not been tendered for. -

The Mayor: I know nothing about' it,

Mr Renall asked if £SO had not been paid to Mr Ross for work in connection with the gas works. The Town Clerk explained this was for work extending over a period of nine months. ' . .

Mr Eenall, referring to the meeting which he had called, asked why the chair- • man of tho Town Lands Trust had not convened a meeting. It was an important : matter, and ho felt it his duty to go to the expense of calling thorn together, and they should thank him for doing it., He referred to the Council's deputation to the Town Lands Trustee?, and tho transactions between tho Borough Council and himself He did not like being called stingy, and he would take the Mayor, Council,- and Trustees, and the editor of tho Daily, who supported them, and show that ho had done more for tho town than the lob of them, He went into the history of the negotiations with reference to RenljL and Chapel Streets. He repe itod a deal of what ho had said at his meeting some days ago. He put questions to , several persons in the room, and when the replies were'not what he desired he flatly ' contradictod them. He had never asked the Council tor a favor, _ and he would accept silently their black ingratitude, w They had taken metal, but he had never charged for it, The Mayor: You have been paid; for it.

Mr Rcnn.ll denied this. i The Mayor: The records of the Counoil will show it. Mr Renall said ho was referring to the stones being taken from his paddocks. Tho Mayor: Wo are improving his land by picking tho stones off it. Mr Renall said lie wished to refer to Worksop road. He maintainedthccontract entered into with the Trustees of the Dixon estates was iliegal and tho money spent in making the street was an illegal expenditure. ■ CrGapper rose to explain that ha nad voted against it. } Great uproar, with cries of " platform" followed. ; Mr Renall went on to explain the jprovisions of the Municipal .Corporation's)®® Act with reference'to new streets/:; If' the Council thought they had acted right in the matter ho would make_ a proposal totest it. H a proposed to petition the iGovernor to mako a special order as to whether the expenditure of the- Counoil had been legal on streets generally and Worksop road in particular.. Olaueo 135 of tho Act, provided for things of that sort. If tho Mayor signed, the potition. * f. ho would follow suit.' ; . : : ' The Mayor said that he had been asked