HIGHWAY BOARDS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4661, 2 August 1872, Page 5

HIGHWAY BOARDS.

EAST PUKEKOHE. , The district ©f Pukekoho having been divided into two, and East Pukekohe proclaimed a new district, the firat meeting was j held in the School-room on Monday, 29th , July. Mr. B. Harris occupied the chair. — Mr. McDonald proposed a vote of thanks to the Superintendent and the Deputy -Superintendent for their attention to the matter of separation, and for gitring the district access to the Great South Road. The motion was passed.— Mr. Walker moved, "That a vote of confidence be given to Mr. Harris, in reference to his conduct in the late Board." Carried.— The meeting then proceeded to the levying of a rate, and the election of trustees. — Mr. Deorness proposed that the rate be by the acre. Agreed to. — Mr. Morgan proposed a. rate of 2J. an aero. Mr. Martyn proposed Id. Mr. Deerness proposed l£d.; and Mr. Holmes 3d. — The movers of the Id. and l£d. rates having withdrawn their resolutions in favour of 2d., it was put to the meeting whether the rate should be 2d. or 3d. — Messrs. Deerness and Morgan were appointed scrutineers. It was found there were 33 for 3d., and 16 for 2d.— The following gentlemen were proposed as trustees :—: — Messrs. Harris, McDonald, Smith, Walker, Collins, Sharp, and Hair. The firat five were declared elected. Mossrs. Deerneaa and Sharp were appointed auditors for the year. — A.fter the public meetiag, tHe trustees i met, and appointed Mr. Harris chairman, and Mr. McDonald treasurer to the Board.

WAINUI. The annual meeting of ratepayers in Wainui highway district was held on Tues- i day, the 30th, at the School-house, Wainui, . when there was a full Attendance — Mr. Purdon in the chair. — Mr. Lloyd, the Chairman of the Baard, read the statement of receipts and expenditure for the year. Beceipts: Colonial Government, £229 9s. \ rates collected, £83 10s. 6d.; balance in hand, £17 oa. lOd. Expenditure : Bridges, culverts, and other works, £283 11s. ; commission for collecting, £6 18a. 4d. ; printing and advertising, £4 lla. 4d. ; legal expenses, £9 16s. — Mr. Lloyd drew attention to the correspondence with the Provincial Government relative to the continuation of the road through Mr. Graham's property. After considerable vacillating the Government advised the Board to abandon the road, it being their opinion the compensation required to be paid to either Mr. Graham or Mr. Anderson would be in excess of what the road would be worth. So the public have to remain without a road to the Hot Springs, and the Board has been expending upwards of £60 to no purpose. — On the motion of Mr. Henry Hellyer a rate of __2d. per acre was carried. — The meeting then proceeded to elect trustees, with the following result : — Mr. John Smyth, 30 votes ; Mr. Yates, 23 ; Mr. Fennell, 19 ; Mr. Hellyer, 27; Mr. Lloyd, 44; Mr. Brunton, 28 ; Mr. Anderson, 30 ; Mr. Lambert, 21 ; Mr. Hatfield, 25. — Messrs. Lloyd, Anderson, Smyth, Brunton, and Hellyer being the five elected. After the annual 4 meeting a Board meeting was held, and Mr. Lloyd was elected chairman. The place of meeting for the Board was also removed to Mr. Brunton's. — Auditors, Messrs. Sates and Fennoll.

WADE. The annual meeting of ratepayers met at Major Sfconey'a, in the township, on the 27th July, Henry Lloyd, Esq., J.P., was voted to the chair, and laid on the table the annual accounts, duly audited by Messrs. Blake and Watkinsoa. The accounts were approved of, when, on the motion of Major Stoney, seconded by Mr. Andrew Jack, it was re- * solved that proxies be inadmissible Mr. Kelly next proposed, seconded by Mr. Jack, that the township be incorporated with the district — as hitherto it was declared separate and known as the Mauricetowu District. This was carried, and the chairman of the incoming Board to be requested to write to the Superintendent to notify the alteration in the Gazette on his approval of the same. —Major Stoney proposed that a separate rate on the value to sell be imposed on the township allotments, according to the valuation fixed on by valuators chosen from the district. The motion was carried, and Messrs. Lloyd, Sidwell, and Jack were j appointed as valuators, Id. in the pound on | value to sell to he the rate. — A rate of 3d. per aore for the country lands, proposed by Mr. Jack, seconded by Mr. Lord, was carried. — It was proposed by Mr. Lord, and seconded by Mr. Sidwell, that *11 work, j including the making out the rates, be per* , formed by contract. — Some discussion took *place on this proposition, bat it was finally approved of.— Mr. Blake proposed, seconded by Mr. Stoney, that a vote of thanks be recorded to the trustees, for the past year, which wa9 carried unanimously. — Messrs. Frederiok Sidwell, Thomas Moyle, Andrew Jack, Henry H. Stoney, and Major Stoney fwere elected as trustees for the ensuing year. Messrs. Thomas Lloyd and James Lord were appointed auditors. — The nevf trustees elected Major Stoney as their chairman, and Mr. Sidwell as treasnrer and secretary.

■ ; \ PANMITKE TOWNSHIP. ■ The annual meeting of the Panmure Town ■Highway Board was held at the [Panmure ■Hotel on Monday, July 29, Mr. Kerr in the ■chair. The accounts were read, the balance* ■sheet being as follows : - Receipts : To rates ■collected, £15 12s, 74d. ; received from B&eheral QoTornment, £35 15«. Sd. ErpenHii^re:,On 'constructing,, new roads, £29; ■detailing and channelling, £9 4a. 10d.; com15f1.; B'alaries, £2 155.; advertising,, Mi^.thisfcle-oatting, £4 '195. ; sundries, £3. ■/«;: 6d.— Proposed by Mr. Thomas Oleary, ■lecbndecl by Mr. B»»kervillfl, "T-hat the Hiooonnts as staged be adopted by the »;eQting." '■> Oarried. — Proposed' by Mr. ■^masOeaiy, seconded, by' Mr. Mention, rate for the ensuing year.bejd. in ■s|poaddb| tUe valae.to •ell." . Carried.— folio vring gentlemen were tlien duly

elected to act as members of the Board for the ensuing year, viz. : — Messrs. John Kerr/ Richard Burke, Thomas Oleary, M. Mention, John Donnelly — Thomas Gibbons and Patrick Oorrigaa were elected auditors. Mr. Oleary proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman. Carried unanimously. — Thenewly--elected Board held a meeting afterwards, when Mr, Kerr was elected Chairman.

WAIKOA. The annual meeting of the ratepayers of the Wairoa Highway District took place iv the school-house on the 27th July. Mr. Sell was voted to the chair. The report of the trustees for the past year, which was rather a lengthy document, showed the numerous works that had been executed over a large extent of country. The total income as shown by the report was £619 2s. 3^. The expenditure for the year waa £533 19s. Id. (this expenditure includes payment' of £68 Is. lid. of last year's liabilities) ; balance in hand on 30th June, £85 3s. 2d ; assets, including balance in hand, £286 3s. 6d. The report then went on to state' that the Board had been, in communication with the Provincial Government regarding an outlet to the settlement of Otau, but without anything definite being arrived at; but at the eleventh hour, as it were, Mr. Thomas Hyde had given a road a half-chain wide, unconditionally, in continuation of the half-chain previously given by Mr. Dow (to the General Government, and formed by men in their employ), and bo opened up a road to Otau. On this road, since the 30th June, the trustees had laid 1,200 fascines on nine chains, and earthed the same at a cost of £18 18s. j and other accounts had been aho paid, amounting in all to £33 16s , reducing the balance in hand on the 30th June to £51 7s. 2d.— Mr. W. Muir proposed, "That the leport be adoptod." Seconded by Mr. White, and carried. — Mr. J. B. Whyte moved, " That this meeting authorise the incoming trustees to get a surveyor to survey the roads in the district, and get them legalised, and that the Papakura swamp road be drained before being metalled," Seconded by Mr. J. Bain, and carried.— The secretary read a circular received from the Chairman of a Waitakere Board, anent the 6th clause of the Highway Boards Empowering Act, when an animated discussion took place on the said 6th clause — Mr. J. S. Wilson proposed, "That this meeting request his Honor the Superintendent to use his influence in the House of Representatives to get the 6th clause of the Highway Boards Empowering Act repealed, and the 34th clause of the Provincial High, ways Act substituted in lieu thereof," Seconded by Mr. J. Bain, and carried unanimously. — Mr. W. H. Thorpe proposed, " That the rate for the ensuing year be Id. ill the £1 on the value to sell," the highest rate the 6th clause of the Empoweriug Act permitted us legally to levy, and he was sure it was small enough for the work to do. Seconded by Mr. J. B. Whyte, and carried unanimously. - The following are the ratepayers who were proposed and seconded as trustees, and the number of votes recorded in their favour :— Mr, Smith, 90 votes ; Mr. Bell, 76 ; Mr. Dow, 71 ; Mr. E. J. Thorpe, 64; Mr. Crawford, sen., 45 ; Mr. Clow, 33 ; Mr. Coutts, 28 ; Mr. Miller, 2. Messrs. Munro, W. H. Thorpe, J. *<. Wilson, and N. White were proposed, but declined the honour. The first five were declared duly elected, Messrs. Matheson and J. Bain having acted as scrutineers. Messrs. J. MacDonald, J. Bain, and Burnside were appointed auditors. The newly-elected Trustee* met immediately after the general meeting, and elected Mr. Bell chairman, Mr. Dow treasurer, and reappoiated Mr. |T. Murray as secretary and collector to the Board.— .[Correspondent.!

MANGATAWHIRi. The adjourned meeting of ratepayers of this district was held in Pokeno Hill Schoolroom on Saturday, 27th July, at 1 o clock. The accounts for the year, as audited, were passed, and the following gentlemen elected trustees for the ensuing year : — Messrs. R. Proude, G, J. Austin, E. Rhodes, W. Appleby, and S. Fitness. The rate of Id. per acre was proposed and carried. Messrs. Wells and Brothers were appointed auditors, and Mr. J. Martin secretary and collector. The meeting resolved that steps be taken to have the road from St. Peters to Pukekohe re-surveyed, with a view to its being opened through. Aa arrangement was made to, enable vtr. J. Dougal to erect a flour- mill at his flax-mills, Queen's Redoubt, which will I be commenced immediately.

MAKGTtL The annual meeting of the above district was held at the Sohool-house on Saturday, the 17th July. # Mr. G. B. Hair in the chair. The business was conducted in an orderly manner. An acreage rate of Id. w*a carried. The following persons were then elected unanimously to act as trustees : — Messrs. Nathan Stewart, William Kerr, James Parr, John Car tin, a>d Luke Ballard. The statement of accounts, passed by the meeting was as follows :— Income from rates, £110 15s. 6d.j from colonial Government, £254 25. : total, £364 17s. 6d. Expenditure : Forming roads, £192 17s. 7d. ; bridges and culverts', £159 7s. 4d.; commission for collecting rates, ,£26 j printing and advertising, £2 17s. 6d.i sundries, £2 18s. 10d.: total, £38* Is. 3d. —At the conclusion of the business Mr. Kerr moyed, and Mr. Ballard seconded, .the following resolution :—■" That a memorial be sent from this' meebing i to the Assembly, praying for the 6th olanse of the Empowering Aot to be repealed!"— After the above meeting the new trustees met and elected Mr. Kerr, r pt Springfield,* chairman; -Mr. Stewart, treasurer; and Mr. Pranois Mabder, secretary and ' collector/ in place of Mr. Richard TVorfchington, resigned, who^haa, acted 'as .secretary and 'collector sihce> the IDistKot Board was formed,' and r whqse *dvice' r on majay occasions has been of great service]

i - ; , KOMOKORIKI. , »-*» <• / ~ , i Tho = annual meetinpr of ratepayers ' wwi,' tbeld «t thexeaidonce 6f Mr. J»me< l?ettf « te wJT on Tuwdny, 23rd uurt,,'Mr. IfIMW W, Gleuny

n the chair. The Secretary read the report for the past year, which showed the recejriM as fellow :— Balance from last yQsjg&?fhy Q $jg&?fh 103. 6d.j rates colleoted, £40 13s. 4fls2foin General Government, £84 6s. TdZjJ total, , £142 10s, sd. Expenditure : Forming ronda^, £73 7a. 3d.; bridges and culverM '£37 ,l9s, # other works, viz., repairs, comro^ion, f&H' ries, printing, and advertising, £15';14sA9£d. : total, £127 Is. 04d/ Balance; £\%§9,s[d. In addition to which there is £49 the General Government money', £12^®^ not yet applied for, the contracts.' not oetng quite completed during the past |year. The Board have erected 4 bridges, 9 culverts, cut 18 chains of ditching and laid it with fascines, and cut 137 chains of hush road. The contracts not yet completed comprise, in addition to above, 10 bridges, 2 culverts, and 70 chains of bush, catting, which aye all being vigorously pushed 'on.— Mr. Laybourn proposed an acreage rate, not to exceed Id. per acre, but that it be left to the trustees to fix the amount. — Seconded by Mr. Chaplin, and carried unanimously. — The following gentlemen were elected trustees for the ensuing year :— Messrs. J. Parker, W. Pettigrew, George W. Armstrong, H. Woodcock, and Thomas Chaplia. — The auditors, Messrs. Laybourn and .James Pettigrew, were re-elected j a resolution, empowering the trustees to employ statute labour if they thought proper,, vvascarried. —After freely discussing the new Kmpowering Act, the following resolution was carried unanimously :: — <l Tixa.b a. petition to the General Assembly be prepared praying that clause 6 may be repealed, and in its stead clause 34, Auckland Highways Act, 1871, be substituted. Such petition to be sent to our member, John Sheehan, Esq., for presentation." — A vote of thanks to the retiring t-ustees concluded the, meeting. — Moat of the ratepayers present agreed to give a day each to complete the contract left unfinished by the late Mr. G. Poyner, so that his widow may receive payment for the

, same. i. NORTH ALBERTLAND. The general meeting of ratepayers in the above district was held in the late residence of Mr. J. Wharf, on Thursday, July 18. Mr. Pilkingtou was called upon to take the chair. A statement of receipts and expenditure for past year was laid before the meeting, which showed the receipts to be ; — Rates collected, £24, 45. 10d.; subscriptions, 165.; received from Governmeqt, £176 : total, £201 os. lOd. Expenditure : Sundries, 19s. 9d.; forming roads, £49 10a. 6d.; bridges and culverts, £139 13s. 4d.; other works, £1 125.; collector's commission, £1 19s. 6d.; rent, £1 ; advertising, 55.; balance, £6 0s ; 9d.: total, £201 03. lOd. The accounts were audited by Messrs. R. Lenton an I J. Farrand, and found correct. After a short discussion, and a little rowdyism by one or two, who seemed disposed to upset the proceedings, but who were put down by the rest of the meeting in the most emphatic manner, a rate of one penny per acre was struck ; and the following gentlemen were proposed and seconded for trustees for the ensuing year : — Messrs. Robert Lenton, Edward Browne, Evan Richards, jun, E. Pilkington, John Wharf, George Nicholson, and M. W. Armstrong. The first five were duly elected.

WHAKRHINE, PORT ALBERT. The annual meeting- of ratepayers of the Wharehine Highway District was held at School-room on Saturday, July 20, R. Cutforth in the chair. The report of the prooeedings of the past year and financial statemerit of the affairs oi the district were read by the Secretary, and adopted, Mr. (r. H. Brookes and Mr. A. Steventon acting as auditors. The following persona were duly elected by open voting as trustees for the ensuing year : — Messrs. A. Elliott, F. Juclson, G. H. Brookes, G. Wilcockson, and R. Outforth. After considerable discussion, it was decided that the levying of the rate should be left to the new trustees, with the recommendation that the rate levied shall not exceed 2d. per acre. Should not the 6th clause of the Highway Boards Empowering Act be amended it will have the practical effect of putting an end to further action by country Road Boards. A petition, protesting against this objectionable clause, was numerously signed at this meeting. .During the past year the sum of £100, out pf j £104 10s. voted by the Provincial Govern- ' ment to this district, has been put aside for th« erection of a bridge across the Wharehine Creek, and a like sum has also been set aside by the Albertland South'- Highway Board for that purposo, but as the amount is insufficient to complete the undertaking the work is as yet unoommenced. It is hoped that during the present year further aid will - be obtained, and this desirable "work prooeeded with. , j

WAIRAU. ' The annual meeting of ratepayers was i held in the Church, Maungaturoto, on July 19, Mr. Curtis io the chair. The receipts for the past year have been : Hates collected, £169 ss. Bd. ; subscriptions, £10 ; amount received from the Colonial Government, £321 6a. Gd.t total, £500 Us. 2d. Expenditure : Farming roads, £275 12s. 9d. j bridges and oulverta, £174 15s. ; other works, j £7 19s. 4d. j commission for collecting rates, £8 14s. sd. ; salaries and reui, £20 Bs.'6di ; printing and advertising, £2 14s. lOd. j j sundries, £1 103. 9d. : total, £491 133. Id.— After considerable discussion as •to the possibility of striking a rate worth collection under the provisions .of clause 6 in the Empowering Act, it was decided to adjourn the meeting for thitee months .under , the expectation that the obnoxious clause would be. expunged from the \Aot in the present sitting of the Assembly,'— ln consequence of certain remarks passed by a few ratepayers, considerable difficulty was found in forming a Boardt for, the current year.: Eventually, the following nanes .were allowed to stand: — ; Me«ars. Curtis, Martin, Davis, Howard; and, Httbind, }'« 'Auditor* for tKe jourrenl.year :» .Messrs. Flower ; and Gummer.4-A;vot» of thanks to the retirug trustees and^ithe, 1 iokairhum closed the prweediDgs.^-Mr, John i

££urad»ll.the late chairman of the Board, was ;ttoj>fijß^led, upon to preside, when business coaaHJk with the proposed school was dnfc&sßßtbgether with other matters affectflg ttaßpf are o£ the settlement. I

* JB WHAKAPAHU. Tj^Kanol meeting of. the Whakapahu Hg^^v District was held, by adjournment, o^HPaay, July 22, in the Oruaiti MeetingHB^^Mtr. D. M. Anderson, chairman. Mr. JPul, chairman of the late District Board, presented a statement of the accounts for the expired year, and gave a report of the proceedings of theßoard duringtheir term of office. He said application was made to the Government in the early part of June for the anticipated grant from the money appropriated in aid of new Road Boards, to which the reply given w*a that the whole amount of the Road Board grant had been allocated months before receiving this application. It was owing to misplaced confidence in this source of revenue that the expenditure was in excess of the receipts, and that other works of importance had not been executed. Mr, Ball considered the refusal under this inexcusable pretext a case of cruel injustice to a sparsely settled district, in which much the larger portion of land, including Crown land, native laud, and land occupied under depasturing licenses, is tenderly protected or wholly exempted from the operations of the Highway Act, and hoped that their successors would receive more generous consideration. —It was moved and carried that the rate for the ensuing year be one halfpenny per acre. — A new District Board was constituted, and auditors appointed.

TITIRANGI. The annual meeting of tbe ratepayers of the above district was held at Mr. Pugh's, of SpringhiH, on Wednesday, the 24th instant. Mr. Porter occupied the chair. Business was detained for a considerable time, waiting the arrival of the secretary, who, from ill health, was unable to attend. — Mr. J. H. Hanson read the financial statement of accounts for the past twelve months, which was as follows : — Balance in hand at the commencement of the year, £39 105. Id.; received from General government, £106 35.; rates collected, £44 17s. 6d. : total, £190 10s. 7d. Paid for cutting, forming, draining, and fascining new road from Porter's Bush to Little Muddy Creek, £113 3s. 9d. j sundries in connection with the above, £18 os. 6d. ; paid for cutting 10 chains new road from McCaU's Bridge to North Eoad, £6 ; commission and salary, £10 ss. 7d. ; balance in hand, £44 os. 9d. : total, £190 10s. 7d. The aocounts were audited and found correct. —On the motion of the Chairman, the report and balance-sheet were adopted. — The meeting then proceeded to strike a rate. Mr. Q. Lang moved, seconded by Mr, Gobbert, that the rate be 2d. per acre. — Mr. Seymour moved, as an amendment, seconded | by Mr. Mathewson, that the rate be 3d. per i acre. — After considerable discussion and j voting, {the amendmeut was carried.— The meeting next proceeded to the election of ; Trustees, wh^a 16 gentlemen were named for the appointment, one gentleman proposing 11 on his own account. Out of the number proposed the following were elected : — Messrs. J. H. Han&on, Porter, Seymour, Pugh, and Wilson. Messrs. John Hanson i and R. Hill were appointed auditors for the ensuing year,* and a vote of thanks to the Chairman brought the meeting to a close.