Masterton Park.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3105, 16 January 1889, Page 2

Masterton Park.

A meeting of the Park Trustees was held in the Institute on'Tues. day, January 14th. Preseut—Messrs J. Paytou (ohairman), E, feist, J. 0, Boddirigton, P. G'; Mooro, and A. W. Benall.". ' r The minute of the previous meeting were, read and confirmed. The Treasurer read a statement of receipts and expenditure of the Trust for the past year., . The Chairman said the statement of receipts and expenditure was prepared : for presentation to a public meeting convened for that day. In respect to the items there was not much to say. Last year the grass fetched £6 6s wbib' this year it only realised X2. They had also lost one source of the revenue in the Munici? pal subsidy, but as there was np help for this it was not .worth while goiug iutothe question."' Had tberg been any ohance of doing anything to avert it he would' 4 have called a special meeting of the Trust to oensiderit. Mr Benall doubted whether he had the power to call a special meeting, lie did not remember seeing -it in the Act.

The Ohairman said he should have token .the usual course, ■He Lad interviewed iaoml?or'a of the Trust wd there-ms naocoatfonfoiit, ...

- ■Mr.jFeist -moved the adopfcion of the balance sheet. Mr Henall had no objeotion' to they; balance sheet. Ho ought to have paj« more .attention to the business of tU Trust. Ho'lmtl not paid muehattenW' to-the Aet,li.but if ho had been r Chairman-ho should havo.known a little mora.about it..There hadbeon an.-unusual amount of blundering amongst them, more than he had seen during-the whole course of his forty-five years of public life., ; . The Chairman said aomeyeara ago:■ when Mr l{enall'if^ f Ghairn]an','precisely the same course was-adopted ; as at.present in vogue, and from year to year his precedent hadbeen followed, They hadcomplied with the' spirit of the Act— (Mr. Repall: Yoive;a. large- spirit tlion)— if-■ they had not strictly koptj to the letter. ■ They had made it a practice to publish, the balance sheet ■ eaoli- year, Their action Lad been, called into question, and this ■ year ; lhby would ; present it to the-public meeting* but. ho doubted whether the public woulM be as well suited, In publishing tM balanco, sheet thoy had • merely lowed the lines adopted by. their predecessors, ;rr -V; Themotion was then put . and car- > l'ied. ■■ ■■■.■; ■ ■ •'* - Mr Reuall said tho Chairman was wrong in stating lie had occupied the' chair formerly, They had got the Act they were working under passed since 1876 or '76; that was when he' was away, in England, and he-had not been Chairman since his return.... The Chuirman begged to correct this statement.' Mr Benall had been Chairman since the new Act came in force as .the minute book would show. The ; ;minuie ' book was referred to • and found, to contain. Mr Kenall'a signature as Chairman on 6th June, 1878, and many subsequent dates.. - Mr. Itenall said hs,must aclmowledge that to be correct if the miniw book said it. He could never get thr Act when he wanted it at any meeting lie attended. Mr Boddington said a copy of the Act was always on the premises available for reference when required, Mr Reimll said they should have hid their own copy/ Ho did not believe they had got one .now. • m -The Secretary produced a copy of? the Act from amongst his papers. Mr F. G. Moore said Mr Renall Beemed.to be finding fault after ton years'wrong doing, All this: concerned the past only. After some further discussion correspondence was read from the Town . Clerk , stating that the Council regretted it could not continue the annual .grant "as. it was illegal,, theAuditor General having stated that it'■ was against the Act . to subsidise foreign bodies over the expenditure of whose money, the Council had no • control and in which position the > Park Trust stood. - A letter was read from Mr Holford,

Secretary of the Fire Brigade SportiCommittee,, applying for a' refund . tho money: paid, for-.the use of the' Park on the occasion of holding their Annual Sports.. ..i. Mr Cavanagh, one of the tenderers for the construction -of the walk L round the Park Oval, who kd for- ; ' ; feited his. deposit rather than carry ■ out the work,'wrote asking for a refund on. 'the ground that he had . : made a mistake in his tender. Li referehce tb the letter fcbm the Town Clerk, Mr Renall asked the Chairman what he called-a "legal J quibble." He said Mr Pajton Bat * on his three-legged stool in his office •' ; and wote a lot of "rot" in the Daily,' (Cries of chair, chair.) ' , The Chairman called Mr Renall to ' order. He was there ; hot as repro- , senting the Daily, biit as Chairman . of the Park Trust. ." . ■ ; Mr Renall asked what the Chair- < man objected to in his language. Five times stronger expressions used in the House ofßepresentatiwT' ■ He continued his remarks in reference to what had appeared in, a recent : article in the Daily stigmatising it as a "lot of rot." Mr Moore rose to a point of order. ' Mr Renall: Sit down I You sit down Mr Moore, don't interrupt when I'm speaking, . . K , Mr Moore objected to Mr Renall introducing foreign matter into the discussion. . Mr Renall said Mr Moove should sit down and listen to what, he had to say, as ho might'learn something. What was the' point; of • order ? They did not know what a point of ' order meant. ,

\ The Chairman said the word ■ 1 "rot" was objectionable, • j v Mr .Eenall said this was no point •, I of order. The Chairman would get , i something Btiougey than word % i "rot" in future ifheeat : them. He said the Borough CouiMrf , had no right to vote money to the''' i park, and all money voted previously i had been illegally so . i The Chairman aslccd if any one i had a. proposal to bring forward upon i the letter. ■ - i Mr Eenall: Yes, I havo a proposal ( that the Borough Council be thanked . i for having called attention to tho , illegality of the grant. , This, proposition found no seconder and tho letter was passed on, i In reference to the application from i W. Holford, the Chairman said it had i been stated that ho hadjiromised a refund of the money. had givei} no pledge to do so, aud in the face of losing the Municipal grant lie did not see how the refund could be made to the Municipal Brigade, Mr Eenall thought it would be an act of grace to grant them a refund of tho money. They did good to the community for which they got no - pay. He moved that the sum of L 5 paid by the Fire Brigade for the use /V . ; of the'park oval be refunded to thomjA' The Chairman asked if anyonofj would second tho motion, . Mr Eenall asked how it was that the Chairman' required: a : seconder.Money votes in the Committee of the House required ? •- The Chairman said lie' should' : follow the usual mode of procedure andl|e4uire a-secondeiv ..They were not in the House then, Mr Eenall said he had'better read 1 the rules and'.regulations of the House and then he would know better.

Mr Foist said he had been given to understand that the Brigade only," used the Park for some two hours'to ' complete the programme. of their.' sports whioh liad been commenced elsewhere and adjourned on : account of the rain. Ho- would second the ' njotion. . = •

Mr Rpnall said he had been told, before ho oame to the: meeting that' ;the Chairman wouid support the - proposal. : The.Chairman said'ho had given « no pledge on behalf of the Trustees. The Brigade had been given tho 0f.£25 to:expend;.- They had'takeni the Park thinking- good gate money j would be made, : : and. the speculation • iadprovedafailure. Hewould have voted for a rebate Jwd it not beon for the loss of the Municipal grant. ;' • Mr Mdington aek&J wWstbW" it

was the Municipal; or Volunteer Brigade tuuL was informed that it was the former. !The motion was then put and lost on a- division. Ayes: Messrs Feist and Beimll, Noeg: The Chairman and Messrs Moore and Boddmgton. Tho Chairman -said if thoy had been in a favorable position.tho refund of one half would have beon amplo. ' In reference to the application for a refund of depositmoney Mr Renall asked for information upon the subject; and was informed that tenders had been caW for certain work in the park, that applicant was the lowest tenderer, but declined to go on with the work. His deposit money wat forfeited and the tender given - to the next abovo him. ,> Mr Kenall thought it would be a dangerous precedent to establish without the applicant came there and showed the mistako was not his. . After some further discussion it was unanimously resolved to decline to grant the application. Mr J. C. Ingram the Park Ranger, I reported that a quantity of broken glass had been left on the ground after the sports. That very little damage (if any) had been done to the trees, that the newly-plauted wattles.i were in most instances thriving, and that the gates required painting. He further reported that the broken glass has sinc.-jbeen removed, /It was resolved to carry out the recommendations of the ranger. Mr Eenall asked what they were going to do with tho metal wasted on the road round the oval. Did they intend to plough it in and sow it down in grass. It would never bind, The Chairman said that 6ome unpleasantness existed with all new roads. Tliey might rake the big stones off ana in winter roll the track, He would be glad to have authority to get it done. y Mr Kenall said it wa3 a great blunder putting metal on at all. It should have been levelled and grassed. The Chairmau said the next meeting would be time enough to arrange for its being rolled, when that was done it would be a good promenade. Mr Kenall took the opportunity to refer to Mr Valentine Smith's action with respect to seotion 29, and the Town Lands Trust, but the members rose and left him to talk it out. \ PUBLIC MEEETING. \ At 4.80 tho Trustees resumed their seats, their being no outsiders in attendee. •On the motion of Mr Boddiugton MrPayton took the.chair. ■ The Chairman, "I call upon the Secretary to present the balancesheet in accordance with the terms of the Act." • The Secretary presented the balance-sheet. The Chairman: The balancesheet having been presented I declare the .business of this meeting ■ closed. r