The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 1889. The Masterton Park Trust.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3103, 14 January 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 1889. The Masterton Park Trust.

I A STATUTORY MEETING of tllC Mastei'lon Park Trust takes place to-morrow afternoon which Js open to the public, and as very many in the community are unawaro of the past , history of this body, it may be oi - service to briefly recount it, showing how it has been helped and how it has been hindered in its career. The original Trustees appoiuted under the Act of 1875, were Messrs Vile, Hosking, Williams, McCarclle, Woodroofe, J Eenall, Hare and Feist. From time to time several of these; members retired from the service of the Trust or left the town so that Messrs fienall, Feist aud Hare are the sole f surviving members of the original office bearers. In the j ear 1880 two of tho retiring trustees were replaced by Messrs Fayton and Boddington, and to a very large extent the work of ? carrying on the affairs.of the Trust for the past eight years has been discharged by these two members. In proof of this we might point out that Messrs Payton and Boddington have attended, without a single miss, the thirty-four Trust meetings held during that period. Mr Feist, who was • present at eighteen out of the thirty four gatherings has been of material help, and Mr Hare who attended fourteen times has done good service, but Mr Eenall has only been present on half-a-dozen occasions, and has certainly not been of much use to his colleagues. The task of maintaining a quorum and carrying on the affairs . of t)ie Trust year after year has virtually been undertaken by Messrs Payton and Boddington, who Lave usually depended upon either Mr d Feist or Mr Hare for a third man to it make a quorum. These facts are of & some public interest because the , r Park Trust has from a pecuniary ' point of view, been administered J under exceptional difficulties for a ! long period. In the year 1878, Mr Eenall, who then occupied tho chair, decided with his colleagues to go into debt by issuing £4OO worth of debentures, and a widow resident in the - neighborhood actually advanced that r sum of nionpy'tq, them', In 1888, • when theso debentures matured, Messrs Boddington and Payton, the 1 new members of tju Trust, were j astonished to find, first, that not the slightest provision had been inado to ■ repay thjs large sum, ■ and also that •. the security gjypii to the widow fori the money advanced, viz,, the corporate signals of Messrs Epnajl and bis colleagues, was not worth sixpbT ne ' M this trying period, Mr who hai! b ßen in the chair when the extraordinary*?fWgfli«en' was initiated, did not apparently!?™ sufficient interest in the affair to attend the meetings, or in any way assist the Trustees out of the .difficulty. Messrs Payton and Boddington, with the consent of the other Trustees/ arranged for a renewal 'of the debentures,- whioh otherwise would havo beeu dishonored, and : decided that every sixpence that could be spared should for the future be set aside as a sinking fund to liquidate this burden of MOO, which ■ for the honor and credit of the Trust had to be paid, The policy laid down five years ago, has been subsequently adhered to rigidly. Already onehalf of the debt is provided for, i and, by about the year 1898, the whole of it will be, liquid- ! ated and a liability wuich threatened ' once to becomo a great public, scan- j dal will be altogether discharged. , To carry out this policy the. cost of | management has been reduced' for i some years past to a very small sum. j The'total expenses" of tho Trust hi- ' eluding secretary, ranger, stationery, j and advertising, ;has been under ten E isu/idsa year. : More recently seve- t raine? truces have been appointed B who are 'known io" (je.excellent men i of business and who a$ \M] 'W I assist in continuing to carryjut tq a i> successful issue the policy; on which s , the Trust is administered. It has . been recently discovered thatiuider, „j tho Act,. 1875, ■ certain: statutory a meetings have to be held aud that,an »:

extended expenditure in the way of announcing tbem is 'desirable but till;JtLe. J8400.. iußubuS ;is removed, even' ttiouglvthe people iundev 'the guiding voice- ofMr to denounoe>tbein,;it is-very/ unlikely that' the" Trustees will allow their management to be materially increased. The ;rnistaken financing of Mr Eenall and his colleagues in 1878 is being Bhwlybut. surely retrieved' by' the improved arrangements rhade-i by - the newer members' of'the'Trust;"'lt must also be borne in, mind that: notwithstanding this great burden of debt the Trust hasiiot'been idle in malting improvements.''. Its/income during the years ranging from 1881 to 1887 aggregated to about £7OO, and no less than £BOO of this .amount has been'expended in improvements. Of the; balance, about £2OO has disappeared in interest, au'd£lso has been applied to sinking fund, the modest margin of £SO representing the total cost of the management expenses for some seven pears. The sources of income have been Town Lands Trust grants' £BSO, Borough Counoil grants, £2OO, subscription and sundries £l5O. Unfortunately during the past year the small annual grant paid by the Borough Council has been killed through the instrumentality of Mr Benall, who apparently deemed it his duty to call the AuditGeneral's atteution to a legal quibble it could be disallowed,, Thus Mr Renall; though he was of material assistance. in > bringing about the burthen of debt which has hung ijike a millstone- round the neck (of the Trust, has subsequently . distinguished himself byrecording absences from five meetings out of six, by not putting his shoulder to the wheel when means were beiug raised to carry out much needed improvements and .by cutting away a slice of the Trust income which was urgently needed for making a prevision for the debt which he has been to so large an extent responsible. These explanations are perhaps necessary, so that those who from time to time make use of the Park, and fancy they ought to get suqli use on more liberal terms, may understand that the Park Trust is not in a position to be liberal; that it has all its work to do, harassed as it is by enemies within and without, to keep up the good name of the Trust, and extinguish a debt incurred ten years ago; In four or live years time, the Trustees will be freed from this encumbrance, and doubtless be glad to hand the Park over free from debt to a popular Oommittee; but at the present time the peoplo, who owe a debt of gratitude to Messrs Payton, Boddington, Feist, Hare, and other members who have assisted hi retrieving the affairs of the Trust, will have to bo satisfied to leave matters very lnuchhufato quo, unless they are prepared to coirie forward, and pay tho debentures which areßtill outstanding.