CAMBRIDGE HIGHWAY DISTRICT. Annual Meeting.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1567, 20 July 1882, Page 2

CAMBRIDGE HIGHWAY DISTRICT. Annual Meeting.

The annual meeting of the ratepayers of the above district was held at Camp's Hotel, Tamahere, yesterday afternoon. There were over forty ratepayers present, and the chair was occupied by Mr R. H. \ D. Pergusson. The clerk read the following balancesheet for the year ending 30th June ;—; — ' Expenditure : roads, £502 3s Id ; material and tools, £91 15s lOd j legal expense**, £12 los 4d 5 deposits, £14 ; engineering, £12 3s ; salaries, £20 ; miscellaneous, £20 0s 2d ; rents, £20 ; 1 interest, £3 0s 2cl ; commission, £18 Os 6d ; sale of land expenses, £1 Is ; ! bridges and culverts, £200 ; valuation, £7 7s ; advertising, £23 13s Gel ; books and stationary, £1 11s 9cl ; pound, £8 3s ; total, £905 19s 2d. Receipts : deposits, £5 ; rates, £358 2s ; Government subsidy, £230 15s 2d ; county snbsidy, £70 ; special grant, £200 ; contribution, T>. \V., £5 ; sale of land, £30 ; balance debt account, £13 3a lOd ; cash in hand, £33 2s 6d ; miscellaneous £9 15 8d ; j total, £955 19s 2d. Mi* Forrest said he noticed that on the 21st June and 21st September £10 had been paid to Mr W. A. Grahnn. He would ask what were these payments made for. — The clerk replied that these payments came under the head of rent for gravel-pits, these being rented at the rate of £10 per annum. This expenditure was covered by a minute of a board meeting in September, 1878. — Mr Forrest asked to be enlightened on the matter of subsidy for the Nai-rows road.— Mr S. S. Graham said the subsidy for the Narrows road had been obtained from the county council for the special purpose to which it was devoted. — Mr Forrest : well, are we indebted to the council for any sum of money on account of that work. — Mr Graham : No. No money has been hypothecated for ; that work. — In reply to Mr Runciman, the clerk said one of the grayel-pit items was for June, 1881, and the other for June, 1882. — Mr W. A. Graham, speak- I ing in reference to the matter of gravelpits, said he very reluctantly gave the piece of ground to the board for the purpose to which it had bsen devoted. The board had not fulfilled the terms of their lease. — Mr Runciman said there were numerous pieces of roads in the district advertised to be closed which might be suitable for such purposes. If they were going to be charged such a heavy sum for a small piece of gravel land, ho thought it was near time the ratepayers looked to their interest and have these closed roads reserved for such purposes.— Mr W. A. Graham said in respect to his interest, if the board would put the piece of gravel land referred to in the condition in which they origiaally got it, he would only be too happy to relieve them of their lease. In fact he never would have granted it of his own free will. The conditions of the lease were that the board should plant thef round, but these conditions had not een complied with, and he had to do the planting himself. In fact his property had been made a complete eye-sore by the numerous deep holes on the main road frontage.— Mr Selby wanted to know if the outgoing board had any liabilities to bequeath to their successors. — The clerk replied that there were about £20 due on the Narrow's contract; in all about £35. —Mr Forrest said the board had hypothecated £10Q, on account of the Karapiro Bridge, which should come to the board for the eneuing year. Mr WeHs had told him thaj; the Cambridge District Board owed the 1 county council £100.£-Mr Selby thought this was another jfiabUity. — Mr W. A. Graham objected to this £100 being put down as an additional liability. The Karapero Bridge was* indebted to them instead of their being indebted to the Karapiro bridge. — Mr Runciman moved "That the statement of accounts as read be adopted. " Mr Hoaking seconded.—Mr Forrest dealt at spmelength on the administration of the outgoing board. Inobe year 'had been -wasted, 1 or squandered awayl 'The money jspeht 5 on ,the pound had beeriuselessly squandered, and the board had been repeatedly warned about spendingjmbney there., "As to the .culvert .at.EesjfieV'Gully,* ja' jbridge/had done service there for many, years. I*/ the iVoard^hiM;, pufr^that ibridge^tliere,- knew abont^ but v jfch%;; boarjl Ith'at^g^? it away»-«lid^ no.t'^krio^lwK^t 1

Smith- contradicted the statement. — Mr -Forrest maintained that the bridge which had been removed would have done service for thirty years to come, and consequently by removing it the board had recklessly squandered money. Mr Wells, of Cambridge, was entitled to the thanks of the ratepayers of ,the entire district for having been successful in securing the money for the work at present being carried out. He thought gravel-pits should be opened in various parts of the district. The board had got a^ grant from the Government "for a road to"*the coming —, railway for the, convenience the district, and he hoped in' the carrying out of this work the general interest of the district would- be considered.- He would ~ draw special attention to the unseemly condition of the cemetery road, which, for the honor of the district, he hoped would soon' be 'repaired.. — Mr Ruricifnan's'f motion that the statement of accounts^ as read be passed, was put and. carried. Election of Tkostees.— The following are the names of the gentlemen nominated, with the number of votes polled by each :— Jas: Taylor, 92 ; Forrest, 90 j AUwell, 86 ; Jno. Ruuciman, 86. Jno. Douglas, 84 ; S. S. Graham, 75 ; Maine, 74 ; Martin, 73; and J, Smith, 68. The first five % were,duly, declared elected. Auditors^— Messrs Jas. Hally and Clarke were unanimously appointed auditors for the ensuing year, and Messrs H. Fergussoh and Jno. Brown fence , viewers. This was all the business.