WAIMEA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Wednesday, 17th March, 1880. Council met : Present, all tbe members. Minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. It was ordered that a copy of the electoral roll of the several ridings when prepared in accordance with the provisions of the 43rd section of the Counties Act, 1876, be kept for the time prescribed by tho •46ih seclion of the said Act at the undermentioned places, and thafc public notice be given in due time to that effect :— Riding of Wangamoa, Hill-side School ; Stoke, Messrs Hodder's store, Richmond ; Wai-iti, Mr Curran's store, Wakefield ; Moutere, Moutere lun ; Motueka, Mr Jordan's (saddler) store ; Motupiko, Mr Stanley's store, Motueka Valley ; Wangapeka, Mr Phillip's store, Sherry. The chairman read a letter from tbe manager of the Union Bank of Australia, Nelson, dated February 17th, informing the Council that the Banks had agreed to discontinue the allowance of interest on current accounts, (aud stating the future interest on fixed deposits). A letter from the Colonial Treasurer was laid on the table with a treasury voucher and cheque for £382 4s lid, being the subsidy due to the County Council under the pro visions of the financial Arrangements Act for the half-year ending 30th June, 188 n , after deducting the proportion of expen di ture on account of charitable aid for the year ended 31st December, 1879, amounting to £555. On the motion of Mr Shephard, seconded be Mr Phillips, it was resolved, That the Government be requested to furnish the Council with the particulars of expenditure of the sum of £555 deducted for charitable aid. Also that the Government be requested to make provision for the regulation of the future expenditure for charitable aid, in accordance with the terms of the 6th and 7th section of the "• Einanci.i.l Arrangement Act, 1878," as proposed in the letter of the Chairman addressed to the Colonial Secretary dated 22nd March, 1879. An application was read from the Waimea Highway Board for payment of .£ll7 lis 6d (making with the sum of £45 already advanced by the County tho sum of £162 lis 6d) for work just completed to that amount on Spoonei's Range on the road from Nelson to Westport as authorised by the Council. On the motion of Mr Bird, seconded by Mr Shephard, it was resolved, That the sum of £117 lis 6d be paid to the account of the Waimea Highway Board in accordance with the terms of the application now made. A petition from the inhabitants of Stanley Brook was received, reciting that out of the sum of £1000 voted by Parliament for making a dray road from Stanley Brook to Dovedale, £300 had been banded over and expended on that portion of the said road within the Upper Motueka Highway District, and that the remaining £700 had been paid to the Waimea Highway Board for completing the said road up to the line bouuding that district and Upper Motueka ; but that the Waimea Board bad left 65 chains (which the petitioners "believe to be within the limits of tbat district) unmade, and asking the Council to take some immediate steps to settle the question, so that the public traffic may not be stopped from the iucompletion of the road as described. On the motion of Mr Shephard, seconded by Mr Bird, it was resolved, That the Parliamentary vote, concerning the alleged misapplication of which the petitioneis complain, was never irder the control of the Council, and the Council recommends that application for redress should be made in the proper quarter through the Upper Motueka Highway Board, to whom the interests ofthe petitioners are in this respect confided. Mr Phillips stated tbat the Chairman and himself had, pursuant to a resolution of the Council of the 26th November, 1873, investigated the question of the boundary between the Upper Motueka Highway Board and the Top House outlying district, and that they were of opinion that the interpretation put by the said Highway Board on the ambiguous proclamation of tbe late Provincial Government which assigns limits to the Upper Motueka Highway district, was, in their opinion, the most tenable, aud that consequently about six and a half miles of the great road passing through the southern extremity of the district (including about one and a half miles of the Roundel 1 road) should be regarded as within the outlying district aforesaid. The Council, pursuant to a resolution passed at its last meeting, then proceeded to take into consideration, in accordance with a request conveyed in a Government circular, a Bill intended to be introduced into Parliament at its next session, for the management of hospitals and charitable institutions and for the distribution of charitable aid, " with the yjew of offering suob remarks or sugges-

tions as to amendment oi: its provisions as iiiight occur to it." Aftei- considerable discussion of the several provisions of the Bill before them, the Council agreed to certaiu suggestion*?, which were ordered to be embodied by the Chairman in a memorandum, and again discussed at the next meeting of the Council. o*9 the rriotion,bf Mr Macmahon, seconded by Mr Denckeif, it wd.9 i*eßol*ed^ That; When replying to the circiilar having reference' to a Bill proposed t,o be introduced at the next nieeti-rig of ilie A.sserHbly ior the purpose of providing for the inaintenatl-Se of public hospitals, the Chairman be instructed to stale that unless the subsidies be continued the Council would be unable to undertake to provide the amount of contributions suggested for the following reasons: -1. That the Council has not been favored with extensive blocks of land as endowment from Which a permanent fund could be obtained. 2 That voluntary contributions cannot be on. 3. 'f hat the people ate already too heatily 1 burdened to impose further taxation for tbe proposed purpose., The shift of MIOO waS ordered to be paid to tbe Nelson Hospital account to meet a similar suai already paid by the City Council, aud a sum of £25 to be paid by the Collingwood County Council, and an equivalent to the aggregate of these sums (£225) to be paid by the Government. On the motion of Mr thillips, Seconded by Mr Wells, it was resolved, That the Chairman obtain a list of all the public reserves within the County with a view bf theii*- being as far as desirable vested in the Cottfaty Council. Notice of Motion by Mr Phillips Tbat application be made to the Governor to appoint a competent person for the purpose of defining all rights of roads that may yet be legally claimed within the County according to " The Crown Grants Act, 1866." Council adjourned to Wednesday, 21st April, 1880.