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Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4742, 5 November 1872, Page 2

Yestrrday afternoon the body of a young man, named Thomas Kane, was brought to the Auckland wharf by the steamer ' Gemini' from Riverhead, and deposited by the parents ,of the deceased at a private house in West , Queon-street, there to await a coroner's ■inquest. For some time past, and up to within a fortnight sine*, the deceased, who j was 19 years of age, had been employed as a bullock - driver at Messrs. Brigbam and Dunns flax mills, Waitakere. He was a remarkably steady, well-conducted, tempe-rabe-hving young man, and of great promise in his future career in life. It was .about 15 or 16 days since young Kane 'complained of a slight pain in his leg. ■It yrna thought but little of it at the time until the- pain was followed by almost total loss of appetite. There were other symptoms of internal ailments, but nothing to catiße [any serious alarm. ( It is, however, deemed proper by his employer to send Kane to his parents, which they did, placing him under •the conduct and care of his brother. On reaching home Kaae gradually became worse. Still, no fears were entertained for hia life, although, it was quite apparent that he was getting worse every day. There is no doctor living in the district, none indeed nearer than Auckland.* After suffering for some eight or nine, days, delirium .supervened, which lasted for several hour's. The mother of the youth Applied such' simple remedies as she knew, fomentations to ,th f e stomach, bathing the feet in warm -water,' applying' gentle friction to tho body, *nd y .vineg^r,to the head. ■ Then after a time delirium , ceased, »u$ the patient became conscious.'"" This' turn happened last ! Saturday. The suffered did not expiess hiinflelf aa' in grdat pain,' or ds r seriously affected in any way ; but during Saturday night he became weaker. On Sunday morning early he was still more debilitated. In the afternoon of the same day it was evident that he was fading orit of existence, and two or three hours afterwards Ms eyes closed, and deceased breathed his last. An inquiry will be held this afternoon at, as w« learn, 2 o'clock,, but the place at which it j will be held we h»v» not been informed, ]

OUR HIGHWAY BOARDS. We have before us the summary of accounts? furnished to the Provincial Government by the District Road Boards throughout the province. The return embraces the pei lod between tie ]st July, 1871, and the 30th June, 1872. From this return we learn there are 110 proclaimed highway districts within the province of Auckland, and & careful perusal of the return affords many useful lessons. In some cases it tells of » large amount of good done with bnt small means, and in other cases it points to a degree of recklessness in the administration of road funds equalling anything ever done by the Provincial Government. At the commencement of the financial year these 110 Boards started their year's operations with a balance to their credit of £3,050 6s. 1 l|d ,or an average of about £28 each. This credit balance, however, was not evenly distributed amongst the Boards, as about i one-fourth of the number had expended all their previous year's revenue. The amount of rates collected during the 12 months ending the 30th June last was £13,225 128. sid., which was supplemented by special subscriptions amongst the ratepayers amounting in the aggregate to £788 193. 5d., making together a sum of £14,114 Us. 304 d. This was further supplemented by grants from the Provincial Government, amounting in all to £5,776 17s. Bd., which brought up the sum to almost £20,000. Of the 1 contributions made by the General Government for Road Board purposes, a sum of £15,740 7s. 3d. was rendered available for expenditure by the Road Boards. This, however, doe 3 not represent; th« whole contributions by the General Government for this purpose, for it will be in the memory ot our readers that a considerable sum was diverted from the Road Boards by Mr. Gillies, for water works and other purposes on the goldfields. There is a sum of £1,333 4s. 9d. under the heading of "Other receipts," which brings up the receipts for Road Boar i purposes during the last financial year to £39,972 Is. Sfd. Geneial care seems to be exercised by Road Boards in the administration of this large sum, for we find that only ten Boards have overrun their revenue, and that to an aggregate amount of only £66 13s. 2£d. The Board that commanded the greatest amount of receipts was the Waiotahi, which received no less than £3,205 10s. Bd. ' The next to it was also another Thames Board, theKauwaerangi, which, from all sources, obtained £2,986 7s. 4£d. There were other three Boards whose receipts went each beyond £1,000: the Grafton Road, £1,059 16s. 5Jd. ; the Rangiaohia, £1,053 2s. 6d ; and the Remuera Board, £1,024 7s. Id. The Board with the smallest yearly receipts was the town of Opotiki, which was able to raise from all sources only £10 13s. 7fd. This Board, although possessed of the smallest revenue, was also in proportion the most expensively! managed, for we find' that, while it spent during the year £4 3s. *4d. upon repairs to existing roads, the expenses of the Board amounted to £4 13s. 10d., above 50 per cent, of the total receipts, or about nine per cent, more than ■ the whole amount spent upon the improvement of ;he roads in the district. While writing upon the cost of management of different Boards we make a few more illustrations. The Rangiaohia spent its £1,054 receipts with Board expenses of only £32 18s. 9d., while the expenditure of the £1,024 odd of the Remuera Board required no less than £131 19s. lid. That this large expenditure for management in the Remuera Board is not due fco the higher price charged for labour in the proximity of the town than in the Waikato district ?a proved by reference to the Grafton Road Board expenses of manage* menfc. We find that the expense attending the expenditure of their £1,059 odd was but | £51 16s. 2d. The Bame noticeable difference in the costs of management is observable in other districts. For instance, the £3,205 odd raised in the Waiotahi district requires Board expensea amounting to £405 9s. Id., but the £2,986 odd raised in the adjoining district of Eauwaeranga demanded Board expenses amounting to £478 14s. 9d. These varying rates charged for the management of different Boards deserve to be inquired into. We have shown that extraordinary disparities exist even in districts where the rates of labour and the price charged for j collecting would be the s?me rate per cent. j It will be for the ratepayers interested to ascertain the cause. The Paraw? i Board requiied £130 16a. lid. to manage its rpceipts amounting to £714 11s. 6d., and Parnell required £128 10s. 2d. to collect and distribute its £791 10s. lOd. The return does not specify the miles of roads over which the road rates have been expended, but we are informed that £17,459 4s. B|d. was expended on "new roads," £11,418 3s. Bd. upon "existing roads," and a sum of £2,850 10s. Bd. upon "other works." What these other works consist of, the returns affoid no clue, but we presume the phrase will include such worka as bridges, &c. A sum of £156 19a. 4d. was expended .upon "tools, materials, and' implements," and at the time the report closed there was a credit balance in favour of the Boards of £4,268 3s. 4d. with which to commence the year's operations. The return is highly instructive, and, ag it is published with a late copy of the Provincial Government Gazette, should be widely distributed throughout the province.