THE PROPOSED AUXILIARY CHANNEL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1360, 2 October 1886, Page 2

THE PROPOSED AUXILIARY CHANNEL

At th* meet rg of the Couu’y Council yesterd -y the question of the proposed auxiliary channel from the Raka’a river to augment the witer supply la the Kvle, Me.ifi kI, and portion of the Wakanui dis nets, ai;ain csraa up for consideration. Mr Wright agmi pronosed the motion, which had been post oied from lass meetng, viz, “That the Engineer he authorised to proceed immediately »i*h the construction of the auxillaiy witer channel from t*>s Kakaia for tie service of the seaward portion of the county between the Kakaia aod Wakanui Creek ; that the cost of the work be debited to the district to be benefited thereby, under the pr iTislons r f cl me* 19 and 29 of the Oonnty Act, 1885." Ho said there was considerable discussion upon this moti >n at the last meeting of 'he Council, and before he resumed it, he w-nld »sk the Clerk to read a letter he (Mr Wright) had sa.it since the in q etion. The Clerk read the latter, wtiich was to the effect that a radical blunder had been tnide in the preparation of the return presented *t the Council's last meeting in reference to the pr. porti* n of expendture to ra'ea collected in each of the ridings of the county. The return referred to psst expenditure, and the proporti mate share of each riding should have been made open pas', rates, it , the "Id valuation roll under which the r-t*s wore levied. The proper i m had been drawn upon past expenditure and present valuation roll, and as the past and oresent valna lon rolls diffused very widely, the proportion spent in each riding W s not ooneatly shown in comparison with the rate br ed in o»ch. Mr Wright then resumed the di«cnssion on his motion. He said he had given notice of his Intention to move it two months ago, in order thr,t the matter m<ght be thoroughly ventilated, and if it were found *h*t any portion of the county had not received its fair share of expenditure, that the Council sh. nld rectify the injustice. The letter which had j at been r-ad showed that there waa an error in the return prepired by the Oierk and latd on the table at the last meeting. Tost return had bd th-ra to believe ih»t tt e Raugitata, Mount Somers, and Upper Ashbu’ton ridings bad received more than their share of county expenditure, while the Mount Hutt, Sou'h Rakiia and Athburton ridings had received consider* ably less. The comparison had been male on a wrong basis. A return which had been prepared by the Clerk since last meeting disclosed the true roi tom of affairs. Since the time when the roll, which formed the basis of the return, was made out mmy changes h?d taicm plaoe in the constitution if the Mouut Somers, Raugitata, and Upper Ashburton ridings, and as it would have be in impossible to institute a comparison in regard to th Be ridings separately they had been lumped trg’ther in the return. It appears that the proportion of expenditure to rateable value in the«e ridings ml 43rd, In South Kakaia 1 45th, in Asbbuiton and Wakanui 1 6l«t. The amended retire sh wad that between the South Gakaia riding and the other three distn’e s

there was practically no disparity. The only district which had received less than its just propo't on was that of Ashburton ana Wskanui, and this was easily comprehended when it was rem-inhered

that the bulk of county expenditure had been on water races, and the district in question did not require such an elaborate s- stem as the others. Now came tho question whether the Council would undertake the expenditure of £2.>00 to bent-fir- the S >nth Raka a d'str’ct at the cost of tho rest of the county. It cnuld not be said that the expenditure was necessary to adjust the balan ‘fs, becu e tho balances wore already adjusted. If. however, the w trk were asked as a matter of erse s—that the county be rated for the carrying out of a wo k urgently needed and that prsctioslly the restof thecounty lend tho 8 tut.h Ra«aia r'd ng this money, he wss prepared to take this vie» of tho case and vote for the proposal. He was not doing this to recti y any inequality in the pad W.kaoui was entitled to mere money than it had received, Mouth Rakaia was not. If the represent stive of tlo Month Rakaia ridi-g was prepared to »ccspt the amount requ : site for tho work as an sdvance »gainst the rates <f the future he (Mr Wright) was, fir his part, prepared to ark the Council to go on with the work. As the representative of a riding which had got so mmh less than its share he could not vote in any other

way. Other ridings hereafter W'ltd have a right to a*k this riding to contribute for their benefit Mr Coster did not understand upon what basis the amended return lad been mide. Althon h 'hi roll w«» made out in the year 1884 ( he year to whieh the return referred) t*»e rates were not spent in thst year, and the re*urn pract cslly told them nothing. Mr Wright »a?d the South Bakaia Riding had no claim upon the county f r this wi rk, but he (dr Coster) th •ugh: tbit. even ad mi tmg thu oorreotne’S of the return. th«*y had a good claim The money of the ratepayers ■'n this tiding had been used towards the eyatem of county water races—a system wh’ch it was believed would be oomp'ete when the money at that time rat's d was expended. That system it had been found was not o'mpleta aa f-r as the Sonth RakaU district was concerned, and the settlers in that locally had a right, seeing that they had abated in the expanse of supplying the rest, of »he coonty with water, to demand that the county eh uld be c tiled upon to contribute towards the cost < f completing the water supply for the district in question. H» would u-ge on the 0 -unci! toe necessity of the work being put in band quickly, otherwise it would bo of no bent fit this sea’on.

Mr Loadley was opposed lo the Council’s an ic'oating its revenue to the ex ent of £2200, the amount it was ca’coUted would be required t > complete this work. At the same time he re’ognUed the necessity of th : s district being supplied with water, and therefore he advocated a scheme such as he proposed at Utt meeting.

Mr Jackson spoke on the motion. The Chairman thought, the question of finance was the main d'ffim’ty they had •o contend with. Bis sympathies were entirely with the work. He did not lay much atre s on the figures In the re'urn quoted, became they were to a certain extent illusive. The amounts were partly made up of surface land fund and partly of rates, and as the county bad never g t its share it was ImpossiVe to say exactly what p -opoit'ou each riding cout iboted. The Council had to acm nster the Ac* 1 under which it worked. Sections 19 and 20 of the Ac', of 1885, and which were copied verbatim into the Act which craie into force on J .nuary 1, dealt wi t such a cases* this, and they had to administer th -ic finance accordingly, whether t'tey lifted it or not. He cou'dnot see h s way clear to support Mr Wright’s proposal. Quite apart from the question whe’het this portion of the district had had its fair share of expenditure, he thought th-» Council was b mod to put it on a fair basis as regarded the rest of the county but then came the question; Where was the money to come from. The Council had a large overdraft, an l ic could not not borrow without going to the ratepayers. Be could not support Mr Wright’s pronosal. Mr Wright was sorry that Mr Coster, the representative <f the district c-n—----earned, had not accepted the proposal as it was nut before the Council. Mr Coster bad r. J -oted the offer, and therefore the matter wou’d fail to the ground, be ausa aa a matter of equity the S mth Uak-ia district was not entitled to the expenditure- As regarded o'eases 19 end 20 of the Act of 1885, which the Chairman bad

re'errad to, it was as o’e>r a* rrondsy that. th» Act d d not permit of irrigation »rd w tarwork* being constructed oa f - of general rates. Special provision was made tor the car ylag ont of waterworks, viz., bv means of loans raised i y the districts rff o'ed. He had been willing to overlook those conditions in the manner be had suggested, as a matter of grace, for the benefit of the South Rsksia district, btr as Mr Coster bad declined these terms h«(Mr Wright) would not vote for the motion.

The motion was then put to the meeting and lost.