THE HIMILTON BRIDGE. The Meeting of Burgesses.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1262, 31 July 1880, Page 2

THE HIMILTON BRIDGE. The Meeting of Burgesses.

The meeting of burgeoacs which was held *on Tuesday night, was attended by about fifty ratepayers, and on the motion of Mr John Knox, seconded by Mr W. Gumming, Captain Steele was voted to the Chain The chairman having read the advertisement in the Watkato Timls calling the meeting, said he hoped those who intended to address the meeting would speak to the point ; that they would use argument and not go out of their way to abuse their neighbors. Mr Potter then rose to move the first resolution. He expressed his pleasure at seeing the meeting presided over by the gentleman who occupied the chair at a similar gathering a short time ago, when the burgesses met to discuss those questions which affected their interests in the Borough. He regretted that the burgesses should have again felt it necessary to come together to protest against the action of those gcutloineu whom they had placed in oih'ce to preserve and conserve the interests of the Borough. He wished it -to be understood that he in no way desired to interfere with the functions of an elective body. He considered that all possible scope should be given to such bodies : but there was a limit. He thought he would be able to show them that the Borough Council hail not used functions in the interests of the burgosocs. The Couuedlois had perhaps done their best, aii'l he would not aociise them of doing wrong wilfully ; but if they had acted to the bo^t of their ability, then their ability fell very far short of what was requiied for the benerit of tho Borough. [A Voice : It is enough for their o\\ n benefit.] He would not say that, although he would admit that in some things the interests of the Councillors stood out very prominently. He then read the report of the emergency meeting of the Borough Council on Friday last, from the Waikato Times. The meeting would see at a glance that the resolutions passed at the former meeting of the burgesses had been set aside. He admitted that this hud been done at an emergency meeting, a means of doing business to which he had always been opposed while iv the Council. At these meetings held in ji hurry many people having- only crude notions of the Matters would commit acts that they would not do at an ordinuy meeting, lie would show them that the Borough was rot responsible for tho bridge approaches ; the Government as the present Council must bt aware was solely aud wholly responsible for uuy expense that might arise He then ievl the rc-olution lie was to movo as follows : — "Tint this meeting 1 views with surprise nnd abrm the resolution passed by tin Borough Council on Friday evcirng last, stating 1 tint it ay.is desirable to build a stone retaining' wall for bridge appioach, and thi- meeting is of opinion that such resolution, if carried ou<, would be impolitic and. altogether contrary to the arrau /emcut entered into with the Government, in borrowing 1 the money. " He then proceeded to p'Mut out that had tho bridge b^cn erected where it was originally intended to be, no claims for dannge such a* Mr Sedclon's would have been entailed. The Borough had no voice in the mutter at all ; the work was carried out by the District Engineer, and the sub-titution of the embankment for two land f^p.ins susr^cstod by their own enguicer w'is adopted by Mr Stewai t and carried out. Th<^ Council had nothing to do with it. He placed (.he whole blame on Mr Stewart. But even now, had the present Council lalceu the mo->t ordinary precautions thp difficulties .staring them in the face cjiild have been avoided, but they could nor, agree even among themselves. Ho believed tlv.it tho stone retaining wall which the Council intended to build would c>t,t at least L-100, basing his calculations upon the cost of that at St. Peter's Church. Some people had said it could be built for L4O or L.lO, but even were it so, Avhere was the money to come from ? The Mayor iv his telegram to the Auditor General had stated that a retaining Avail was absolutely necessary and a^ked that the balance, L'22o, remaining in the Bank to the credit of the bridge fund might be devoted to the work. If the balance only amounted to L 220 he would like to know w hat had become of the rest. From what he knew himself there ought to be a much larger sum th-Mi that. He then stated the steps which had been taken to raise the L2OOO loan. He pointed out that the Council having failed to negotiate the loan, a commissioner had to be appointed a\lio succeeded in getting the L7OOO from the commissioner of Trust Funds, on the security of a special rate of Is in the ,-C, on all rateable property in the Borough. The Council therefore iv attempting to allocate the special fund to other purposes than that for which it was intended, actually rendered tho Borough liable at j any moment to be rated an additional Is in the pound in accordance with the Trust Fund Commissioner. The Mayor had telegraphed to the Colonial Secretary to interefere in a matter with which he had nothing to do. He said it was very evident that the present Council could uot perform their functions. They lacked even the element of administration, (Hear, hear.) Mr Gumming seconded the resolution. He had very little to add to what had already been stated by the mover. Ho did not think that a stone wall was at all necessary, aud the Council might easily have kept tho embankment iv lepair, had they taken the precaution of calling for tenders for its maintenance. It might have been done for one-fourth of tho cost of what was at present being dono. They were carting «, lot of giavel ou to. the em-

b mkment, for what purpose he was at a loss to know, for tho first good thunder storm would wash it all away. !No one ii3iug to f-peak to the moton — The Chairman took occasion to expre-s his (strong disapprobation of themctho'l adopted by the Council in dealing 1 w iti the embankment. The Council had not acted with pnu'eiicp, nor in ar-cordanee with the agreement m ido w it!i the Ciovcrntncnt. The motion was then pnfc and carried unanimously. Mr Knox rose to move tho next resolution, and in doing i-o he wi.-hcd to guaid himself against the charge of being an obstructionist. It was not hi, mtere-t to obstruct the a f Fairs of the Borouyh. It had also been said that he wi-liclfora seat in the Council, but ho Mould tell them that he was not goiny to be a candidate. Tho proposal which he was about to bring before them was a very ticklish one. It was that fchoy should saddle the cost of interest on the loan upon the proper partie3, and declare the bridge free. The number of ratepayer-! in the Borough was 705. Cf these 150 were rated at £20 and under ; 8(J over «iC2O and under £50 ; 42 over £50 and under £100; 15 over £100 and under £150 ; 4 over £150 and under £200 ; 3 over £200 and under £2-30 ; 3 over £250 and under £300 ; 3 at £300 and upwards. The total amount of rates which would be collected at Is in the £ was £450, of which sum no less than £13(i would be contributed by nine pei&om. He contended that, looking at these figures, the burden of the cost of paying tho interest did not fall upon tho large property holders, but upon the woikiug classes, who, in addition to payiug their rates, had to pay the tolls— the latter charge being in a q eat mensu'e escaped by the wealthier people. The extra amount of raes which the small holders would pay in rates would not amounl to what they now pay in tolls. Besides all all this, t'uey would fo ter the country traffic with Hamilton by inducing settlers to bring their stucic and produce to Hamilton, instead of driving them to use the Nairow's, biidgo by the exorbitant charges on the bridge. He then mo v ed " Th.it in the opinion of thi^meeting the interests of the burges-es us a whole, would be bettor .served by abolishing the present tolls, and making the bridge free." Let the Government exact the pound of flesh and make the bridge a free one. His own rates Avould be increased by about £8 a 3 ear, but he was convinced that it would be for the good of the place in the long run. He Haw in the Waikato Times a few days ago a very just article on the neecs-ify for declaring the bridge fiee on fcJuud iv ; but they should make it free altogether. He felt sure that by so doing they would largely increase the trade ot Hamilton. He put it to them in a business form, the majority of them would not piyaa much for tho bridge in rates as they are paying now. Mr Gr. Heed seconded the resolution. Mr hotter supported the resolution quoting figures in support. He said he had always been of the opinion that the bridge should be free and hid movel in that direction white in the Council, but he had been successfully opposed by the large ratepayers. He could not sao why the cost of the bridge should not coma equally out of the pockets of all those ,whoMs piopevty benefited by the pi osspei ity of the place. The lirge propeity holders were shelteicd at the cost of the working men . The motion was put and carried unanimously. Mr J. K. McDonald said he was sor y to see that none of the Councillors were present; a cheum&tdnee which might be taken to show that they reg.uded tho action of the burgesses with contempt. It was a meeting of great impoit.ince to the rate/tiveis and the Councillors should have been present to defend themselves. He would move :—": — " That the burgesses have no confidence m the Borough Council as at present constituted, owing to the emergency meatiug on IVidry night last ir tho biidgc approaches."' Hg wished to state that he d-<l not seek re-election to the Cc until. His reasons for moving the lesolutiou were these : In the firt>t place, the Council had committed a very giavo blunder in purchasing Soddou's allotment without a reference to fie burgesses. They were committing tho burgesses to an exponditme which would render a special rate necessary, and they had alicady plenty of rates to pay He quite agreed with tho pro;_»o^al to make the biiduc free, but in so doing thoy would e-.cape the toll, which they would not under the of her coirlii ion. The land lequirod might have been taken under the Public Woiks, or, at the wor-,t, the Council could have tried the quo>tion at law. The next piece of folly of which the Counc il was tnulty was t ikins a poll of the bu'-go-ses and allowing the \eiy stupid ami foolish address of the Mayor to bo published at the expense of tho Borough. Next, he had to condemn the action taken leg.mling the retaining wall. This was utter nonsense. Another re ison why ho moved the resolution v.as that eight of those persons who composed the present Council did not together own propel ty of the annual value of £200. Ihey had little .st ike in the plac, and did not care to what expense the Borough was put becau-o they could lo.se nothing. Tho Mayor had no property, and any other in in in his position would have resigned at once. These were some of the reasons why he thought tho present Council not de-irving of confidence. Mi 1 P. Colemin, son., seconded. Mr Knox supported the resolution. Ho was sorry the Councillors had not the courage and pluck to come to the meeting. JLhey had postponed the meeting to allow of their being present, and then they found the Council meeting adjourned in order that the Councillors might hear what the obbtructionists had got to say. bul after all that they had treated them \\ ith contempt. Thero was no money in the Tiea^ury, the Borough account was overdrawn, alid yet they wanted to build a letainiug wall. Did anybody ever see an embankment that did not sink a little for a year or two ? The Council had taken no precautions to preserve the embankment ; they had let tho water drain on to it. Their Engineer who, next to himself (Mr Knox), was the best belied man in Hamilton, had advised them what to do; but they had disregaided him. One of the speakers, Mr Potter, had aske 1 how the special fund had been reduced. Well, the reason was that the Council ! since the last meeting of burgesses actu- | ally picked up o/ic debenture. (Laughter). He would not deny that there were some good men in the Council who were not afraid to say what thoy meant, and he would instance Cr. McGarrigle as one of them If the Council had bought the aero from Scddou what did they want with a wall. He had come to the conclusion that tho Council, as a whole, had no brains and could not reason. If they would not resign, then it was for the burgesses to put in good men, with sense sufficient to look after the interests of tho Borough. The resolution was carried unanimously. On the motion of Mr Knox, it was resolved that the Chairman of the meeting forward a copy of the resolutions to the Council, and a vote of thanks having been passed to the chair tho meeting terminated.

A neav local industry in Canterbury is grain poisoning. One firm ailvei tises that all gr.iiu poi^one 1 by it is guaranteed to kill sparrows.