MANGAPIKO HIGHWAY BOARD. ANNUAL MEETING.

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 488, 6 July 1875, Page 2

MANGAPIKO HIGHWAY BOARD. ANNUAL MEETING.

The annual meeting of the- ratepayer's of the Mangapiko Highway district was held at 1 p.m. or Saturday at Mr Seccornbe's farm, Paterangi. There were about thirty persons present, and on the motion of Mr Sage, seconded by Mr Hall, Mr R. T. Miller ' was voted to the chair, and he read the advertiseI ment convening %he meeting from the WaikJ^ j Times. He.thefa reifcd the. fidloWing balance sheet :— Receipts/. rate3>oUeated^ ]8&&5* 14s 5d ; received from the GenerukGovehnirient, £298 15s ; received from Rangiaohia Highway Board, as half share oi work performed on road between the two districts, £22 Is 9.1, total, £68G 11s 2d. Expenditure, forming roads, and repairs, £339- Os s<\, bridges and culverts, -£'131 9s lOd, commission for collecting, £14 17s 1 Od; salaries and rent, £26 10s 6d; legal expenses, .£lO,- fees under Thistle Act, £19 13s lid, total, £51:1 12s 6s. Amount of rates payable for the year^^aOi^fls %d *Hamount actually received to date, iJ2$5 J£s 5d ; total ainouut of arrears of rates for past years, £202 12s Gd^ rate per £1 upon value to sell of last rate levied, |d in the £, £301 Us 4d. The auditors were Messrs J. Aubin,. and J. G. Rutherford. Mr Germann explained that besides the balance sheet required by the Government he had made out another giving the receipts and expenditure in detail also that the amount of arrears of rates shewn was the total since the Board came into ex-istence.-^H« also s\kl tfrat* though -the balance appeared to •tje large, thei-eVas ;wqrk under contract to the amotmt of £118^1^0 allotted for a bridge at Ngahinepouri, £05 was allotted to buy land to deviate the road at Mr Tisdale's, and £75 was allotted to buy land to run a road through either Mr Gibbon's or Mr Seccombes land. Mr Seccombe objected to a rojid going through his property, as it would leave tntSjdteW tH^ catt^ sHed in. one curner. If the Bo^d l^rced a "'upad^ forough his property he v\ ould bring an- action for damages. The Government had refused to give him the old road. The engineer's estimate of the cost of making a road was .£5OB, and Mr Seccombe would claim damages at £6per acre. Tfc c detailed memoraixla of monies received shewed that £1,08 "i2s l^d was a balance from last year. The principal iteri^ of expenditure were : — paid A. Roche,^br valuing 'cUstrioVr&pO ; 26£ chains draining and fencing, £39 7s 6d. 249 yards earthwork, £9 6s 9d ; 2 culverts, Gibbon's road, £5 ; Dillon and Harper, Te Rori bridge, £9 10s ; J. Higginson r cutting, Te Rori, £26 10s ; Waikato S.N. Company freight. £& 8s 6d ; Carter, bridge, Nga Roto, £81 ; do. 450 yards cutting and fascining, £24 5s j C. Munro, gulv&i't, £15 ; Munro and Croniu, Swamp, £28 19>4 CSmp^ell,\fbNiiing 34 chains, Paterangi, £9 15s\d -WlO chain* fenw^Waddington's, £22 ; tlo. 3 chains leVcing^o" 15s^leepening chain and box culvert, £8 ; Sage, JSTos. 1, 3, 5, and 6 culverts, £11 ss ; do. cutting 322£ yards at No. 5, £13 14s ; Carter, cutting at Vickevs, 530 yards, .£26 10s ; do. 2 culverts, v£l2; Roche, cutting trees, £10 2s 6d ; Car^r, nraJ<jing t fencing culvei't, £10 13s 9 1 ; do culvert £6; Suge", forming along Hall's, £24 Is 8d ; J, Campbell, fdrminjf road Seccombes to Macfarlane's, j£9 15s 6d ; C. L. Perry, commission, £14 17s 10s. Work under contract, Gibson, levelling 200 chains road, £25; Alexander, culvert, about £35 ; Alexander cutting and fascining, about £35 ; Campbell, forming about 10 chains. £21 17sGd ; McCullum, levelling 50 chain of road, £6 j topay, land purchased for deviation of road at Morgan's hill, £15 ; allotted for bridge Ngahiuepouri, <£100 ; deviating road to Te Awamutu, £6£; do, near Alexandra, and Morgan's hill £15 ; land at Morgan's hill, £15. -Qr^th^ mVion of Mr Sage, seconded by Mr Marp^r, T%e balaii^ shsefc^,3Wlopted. %v (JetmannHhett refe^the clause of the Empowering Act regarding the strips of a ratP. R« oairl

last ypar the rate was |d in the £ which was insuffieLut. This year it should be Id. Mr Sage proposed that the rate be Id in the £> upon the value to sell. Mr Hadfield said he would like the absentees got hold of. Mr Germann said a rate of Id in the £ would effect this. A rate of £d in the £ would not be sufficient. The district was large, and it was not possible to get anything from the Provincial Government. Mr Ormsby seconded t^e motion, which was carried unanimously. A large number of trustees were proposed, out of which several declined to act. T/ltimately a poll was taken owy£fi*JPo^howing nam^s ; — Messrs Hall, Harper, Vickelfa, filler, Tr^bXxligj^and Tisdale. Messrs OrmsbyNmd Brabant were appointed scrutineers. Tjhe numbers were as follows : Vickers, 36 ; Harper, U ; Hall, 27 ; Trobe, 27 ; Miller, 22; Tisdale. 21 ; Laing, 17. The first five were elected. The following auditors wsre proposed : — Mr Germann, by Mr Scott ; Mr Rutherford, by Messrs Sage and Laing ; Mr Hall, by Mr Ormsby. Mr Rutherford retired in favor of Mr Hall, and Messrs Germann and Hall were therefore elected. The election of fence viewers was the next business. Messrs Sage and Tisdale proposed Mr Drabble. Messrs Meredith, Smith, and Tisdale were also proposed but declined. Only one fence viewer having been elected, it will devolve upon his Honor the Superintendent to appoint a second.

CEMETERY RESERVES. Mr Germann said sometime ago the Board received a circular from the Provincial Government stating that it appeared that insufficient provision had been f^cemete^piqs in>the out-districts, and invitin^tllfc 33Um'c^p%£pje6s their views upon the subject. \RihV reserves^ m any district were insufficient, the^Juperintendent desired the Board to point out where a suitable site was available. He (Mr Germann) believed there was no cemetery between Alexandra and Ohaupo. Mr Hadfield said there was no cemetery between Paterangi and Whatawhata. They would have at some future date to buy a piece, when the Government would have parted with all the land now available. Mr Tisdale suggested that three of the residents down the river should be requested to select a site for a cemetery. Mr Hadfield supported the suggestion. Mr German said there was a reserve of five acres on the hill, which might be available. Mr Hadfield proposed that the incoming trustees bring the matter before the Superintendent, after having selected a suitable site. Mr Sage seconded the motion, which was agreed to. ... Mr Ormsby said that owing to an informality in the grant for Alexandra, it had to be returned for alteration.

BRANDING ACT. Mr Germann said it was for the ratepayers to consider whether or not the Branding Act should be brought into operation in the district. A great many cattle had been lost in the district of late years. If the Act was brought into force, the brands would be registered, and owners would be able to claim their stray cattle. In some districts the brands were very similar, and there was great difficulty in distinguishing one's own. Mr Runcimau at present only registered marks for sheep. There would be little use in bringing the Act into force in one district only, unless it were brought into operation in others adjacent. Mr Sage proposed that the matter be left in the hands of the Trustees, in order that they might ascertain the wishes of neighbouring Boards on the subject, and subsequently bring the matter under f,he attention of his Honor the Superintendent. & Mr Ormsby seconded the motion, which was agreed to.

DOG NUISANCE ACT. Mi* Tisdale said "\a lot of sheep belonging to a neighbour o'Nt.is jvere^killed -tl\e other night, and others on anoil^r^taecasre^n.* > ThSkg was a necessity that the Act shoulcPtoe brought into operation. Mr Ormsby said the Act had been tried in Alexandra, but was not continued. M&Lrermann said the people of Alexandra were going tj^bring^e. Acfr^to opo^tipn. again. M r -Tisdt^fe^s&id* tfiere* were \TgoocJN many sheep in the district now, and it was an injury to the district to allow dogs to worry them. Last year there was a great nuisance of sheep down the river. He movetLthat the Trustees get the Ast brought into operation within the district. Mr Hall seconded the motion, which was agreed to. Mr. Germann said the poisoning of dogs was not efficacious in preventing sheep being worried. It -was the innocent dogs who were killed by eating the poisoned carcases. The mischievous dogs preferred the fresh blood, and would not touch the carcases.

IMPOUNDING ACT. Mr Germann said within the last few years the Superintendent had brought the Impounding Act into force throughout the Province. In the Mangapiko, district however, there was no pound. The Act provided that where there was no pound within a distance of ten miles, the person whose property is trespassed upon, may impound cattle within his own fence or stock-yard, sending notice of the fact within 24 hours to the owner. Mr. Ormsby called attention to the fact that hitherto the works in the district had been undertaken in winter, instead of in November and December. The road he was interested in was not commenced until the wet weather. Another xatepayer : The road lam interested in has not been commenced at all ; there is no road to my place. Mr Germann . The contract is given out. The year before last the Provincial Govern aient had a gum of money to receive from the General Government, amounting to £10,000, arising from the sale of conncated lands. A circular was sent to the Boards asking whether they were willing that a sum of should be entrusted to the Provincial Government to be spent in aid of Road Boards. He believed the money had been paid over to the province, but none of it had b^en spent on the roads. In consequence of this, last year the Mangapiko Board resigned in a body. They were not aware until two or three months afterwards that the Superintendent had no power to accept their resignation, but they did not resume office until some time in January. They brought the work forward as soon as possible, but there was then an insufficiency of labor. The time expended in making the assessments, compiling the rolls, giving the necessary notices, &c, usually consumed three months of the year, and the greater part of the rates were not collected until the end of the year. Mr Ormsby suggested that it would be better to hold the annual elections in October, so that the money might be available for works in fine weather. Mr Tisdale said it was not possible to obtain labor in harvest time, shearing, threshing, &c. Mr Germann drew the attention of the ratepayers to the necessity of paying some one for clerical assistance for the Board. They could not expect any man to do the work for nothing.

Mr Germann called attention to the fact that "the editor of the Waikato Times had ridden all the way from Hamilton to report the meeting, and said that under the new regime the Times had vastly improved, in fact, it seemed to breath a different spirit altogether. Mr Sage proposed a vote of thanks to the Times and its representative. Mr Laing seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. Several settlers then came forward and entered their names as subscribers to the Times.