Kairanga County.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7901, 31 August 1904, Page 5

Kairanga County.

The Rating Question.

- A meeting of about 30 ratepayers v;as hold at tho Kairanga sehoolhouse la„_. night to consider the Comity rates ouerstion.

Mr Balsillie, having been voted to th« chair, read a comparative statement of the valuations and rates of the' tvo ridings, and also a list of the proposed expenditure in a the Taonui Riding ,vs supplied by Councillor Were, which hp ; already appeared in the , Stand \t.d. Continuing, the Chairman said, seeing that the Taonui Riding account had haproved -so considerably,..about £800----being taken from the ' debit account during; the year, he did,.not see why alarger rate need be struck; The: Fit/.herbert'Hiding, however, proposed spending £1800, and the total rate collectablethere was only £1500. He did not see howthey were going to.do.it. . (A voice : Take it from us). He then read tho Standard's reports of the meetings which had taken ■ place at Taonui a.ud Kelvin Grove, and the meeting decidedly approved of the resolutions carried at those meetings, and the remarks adverse to the proposed rate.

In answer to a question the Chairman said the amount of subsidy received from the Government w-as £902, but the;Premier:threatened, that if localbodica. did not rate themselves to the limit,, which in this.' case was 3d hi the £ on. the capital value, the subsidy would be discontinued.

Mr Thomas, in the course' of some remarks, mentioned that Councillor Bryant's opinion was that a fd rate wasnecessary, but then his interests wore now in Fitzherbert.

/As this was considered to be hardly just to Cr Bryant a good deal of dissent was shown, tlie meeting considering that Cr.Bryant was a thoroughly conscientious, man, and though his interests were now undoubtedly in Fitzherbert, still as arepresentative of Taonui he would, knowing the feeling of;the'ratepayers this_ side tho river, vote in the interest of his constituents on the question. Mr Thomas considered that the office expenditure, which was now equally divided between the ridings, should ho apportioned pro rata on the valuation basis.

Mr W. Stubbs having addressed trie meeting, pointing out in the course of his remarks that though the valuation had been so greatly increased ratepayersfelt that, having sensible men at-the-, head of affairs, the rate would be struck so that the aggregate- would not be'in- ".'-. creased, - the following resolutions were " -,< put and unanimously carried :-^-'•'■'".. A.- ". That Messrs' B. Thomson,, Gower, ''.' Tattersall, Burm'cister,'and W. Sttibbs re- 7 present this meeting on the joint deputa-.. tion, and that the deputation endeavour' to get a 9-16ths of a penny general rate adopted."

" That this meeting consider the Taonui riding is under represented on the Council, and that the representation ought to be adjusted to suit the valuations of the two ridings." " That this meeting considers it wrong for any member of a public body to retain his seat after having sold his interest in the riding for which he to elected."

The meeting closed with the. usual vote of thanks to the chair.

A meeting of settlers was held in tbe Schoolhou'se, Bunnythorpe, last night iv connection with County affairs. Mr J). L. Smith, of l.infauns, was voted to the chair.

The Chairman in explaining the object, of the meeting, pointed out. that there was an increased valuation in tho Taonui riding of £'34-I.Bo_, and an :ia- • crease of rate of upwards of £1000, making a total rate for Taonui this year for roads and bridges of £3692"3s 7d again._ £2462 Ss-for last year. .In looking at tlie estimates" he could.bnly see about .£2_o of -this immense sifhi allocated ie:. expenditure between Rangitikei line and the Railway road'and -practically that was half the riding. This was the result of insufficient representation from the Bunnythorpe district, consequent, upon the abolition of the ward system ■': and the apathy of the settlers at election time. He also pointed out that the ratefor the Fitzherbert' riding amounted to £1539 ISs 7d and the estimated expenditure was nearly £1900, making it perfectly clear that an additional special rate should be struck for Fitzherbert sufficient to make the revenue and expenditure balance ; also that Mr Bryant, who was elected'to the Council when residing in Taonui riding, was now a reai- . dent of Fitzherbert and still holding his seat,■which he thought was wrong. "'■'".'• Mr R. Were, who is a member, of the. Kairanga County Council, said fie eamo to the meeting to. give any information that lay in his power; and gave them details concerning different -roads and bridges, similar to.'. that which appeared in the^STAXDARD report 'of the Rangitikei Line nieeting on August 30th, Mr D. Madden said that seeing Bunny.thorpe.was not getting its share of expenditure, and considering how important aplace this was becoming, he thought the time was at hand for forming a Town. Board, the suggestion being well received by those present.,-

'After a good deal of discussion on the foregoing subjects the following resolutions were carried unanimously ":— That this meeting considers the Taonui Riding should be;divided;into, two," the Rangitikei Line to be the boundary: That this meeting -is.; of ' opinion thl at Fitzherbert is not- contributing a faUshare of rates. -: ''..'.

This, meeting considers Mr Bryant; should retire from the Council seeing ho is how a resident ofFitzherbert, whereas he- was elected for Taonui. 7 A. A

A deputation, consisting of the; Chairman and.Mr Ross, of Railway-road, was appointed to wait on the Council, along with other deputations from.all over the Taonui;Riding, on Thursday, September Ist. ": ■ . '■-.'..■.;

A hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr.R. Were for his valuable information, and also to the Chairman. -