HAMILTON BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Waikato Times, Volume XII, Issue 991, 29 October 1878, Page 2

HAMILTON BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Sib, —lt would appear from the report of th» nroceedings at the Council Chamber,

upon the Borough for expenses which * had been put to during my term of office. In justice to myself, I feel bound to put the matter before the Burgess's m its true light. Firstly then, I may state that I never made any charge, or sent m any account to the Counoil, but, m a private converHation with Councillor Potter, I showed him a hst that I had dotted down of the expense I had been put to since I had been m office, not thinking, for a moment, that he would make use of it for sinister motives. The expenses to which I refer, are not trifling matters or the natural outlay incumbent on a man holding the position which I have the honour to hold They are expenses which are not likely to occur frequently, viz., the reception of his J^xceuency the Governor, Sir George Grey, and Members of the Thames Valley Katlway Conference, together with my expenses to Auckland on several occasions, upon Municipal business. There is also one item of £5 which I feel bound to touch upon, for professional services of JJr iJeale, and a nurse to attend upon a poor man ma dangerous illness, making a total of £81, and not £87, as reported The case I refer to, happened m this way Dr Beale and the Sergeant of Police, Mr Mcb-overn, reported the case to me. I asked Mr McGovern if he had any power to send the man to the Hospital. Ho said he had none, but he would commumcate with the relieving officer, m Auckland. I then asked him to telegraph, which he did, and the man was aUowed rations, I think, to the amount of ten shillings per week, but m the meantime he had to be looked after, and as the Doctor said, it was not safe to ronove him to the Hospital, I became responsible for the sum of £5, for medical attendance and a nurse, considering that it was part of the duty of my office as Mayor, to see that none of her Majesty's subjects within our Borough were loßfc, for want of proper attendance, as we have no poor houses m this country. I mentioned what I had done to several of my Councillors, before one of our meetings, but they were generally of opinion that we had no power to use the funds of the Borough for such purposes. (I differ with them upon that point). When I found the Counoil of that opinion, I did not bring the matter before them at the meeting, but merely said the next best thing would be to subscribe amongst ourselves, to which Councillors Gwynne and Dawson assented, and it is utterly untrue that I made any charge m the Council for that, or any other amount. The Burgess's will easily ace the purport of this accusation, if they consider that the time for the election of Mayor is fast approaching, but if Councillor Potter had known my intention on that head, he imght have spared himself the disgrace of stating that which he knew full well to be untrue. One word upon the letter m your columns of the same date, as the report of the meeting headed, Hamilton Borough Council. The expenses therein mentioned, with the remarks upon them, are merely the result of reading the report, with the exception of the statement that one of charges was for dinners for parties at the banquet who had failed to pay. What I stated was, that there were gentlemen m the room who, if they had paid their subscriptions, as they had promised to do, I should not have been so much out of pocket. The latter part of the letter, I do not consider worthy of notice, as it is the outpouring of a disappointed man.— l have, &c, I I. E. Vialcu, Mayor. [At the Hamilton Borough Council last night, the report of which is neces- 1 sanly held over, the Mayor withdrew the ' account for expenses incurred.— Ed.W.T.] |