MEETING OF RATEPAYERS.

Evening Post, Volume XIII, Issue 36, 12 February 1876, Page 2

MEETING OF RATEPAYERS.

j A meeting of the Te Aro ratepjiyers, convened by the Ratepayers' Protection Association, was held at the V ictoria Ho;el last night. Considering the unfavorable state of the weather the atteudauce was good. Mr. Henry Truemaii* occupied the chair. JThe object of the meeting ' was explained by the Secretary, namely, t«> adopt cer.aiu resolutians and consider whether a public meeting of the ratepayers should be hald to consider what steps should be take a respecting the action of the City Council iv regard to the pub'.ic accounts. Air. H. AxVUERriON rose to explainjwhy it was necessary to call a public meeting in some centrel place, aud the grounds on which the resolutions which the .-ecretary had read (and which were published in the Evening Post of the sth instant) were based. He showed that the provisious of the Municipal Corporations Act had been evaded by the Mayor aud Council and that consequently the ratepayers had been debarred from exercising their legal right to object to those portions of the accounts which were not just and true. The Act had been very carefully framed — framed with the view of giving the utmost, publicity to the annual statement of the Corporation accounts, aud also with the view of giving the ratepayers the very fullest opportunity of examining- the accounts and objecting to them as befi -re-stated. The Act said that the books should be open for the inspection of the ratepayers, and that the Corporation should keep their books in some form to be approved by his Honor the Superintendent. It was also enacted that the accounts should be balanced annually, at a period jiot less than one month before the annual general meeting at which they were to be considered, and that twenty-one days before such meeting; the Council should cause a full and true statement of the accounts to be drawn up. The Council, however, had never observed the terms of the Act. They had never given the requisite notice of "their intention to consider the accounts, but had simply prepared a statement and balance sheet, which they laid on the table of the Council accompanied with the Auditor's report, which was to the effect that as the accounts would not balance, the Auditors would not certify to then* correctness. When it was believed that the account* were to be considered at a certain meeting certain ratepayers were present to exercise their rig-ht to object, but the Mayor told them the time had not arrived when they could do so, but that they would receive "the proper notice. This notice, however, had never been given. The. Mayor had, nevertheless, certified to the accounts. Mr. Auder^on proceeded to show certaiu discrepancies in the water-works accmnts, which, he said, could not be errors of book-keeping. At first the Superintendent had approved of a system of keeping the accounts, but that system had beeu abandoned after a few mouths' trial, and the system subsequently adopted was not approved of by the Superintendent according to the Act. The speaker deprecated the system of allowing the Town Clerk to write otf a portion of the arrears of rates as bad debts. Mr. Anderson showed conclusively v that the Act had been violated. He movedj " That the resolutions, as read, be adopted by this meeting." The motion was seconded by Mr. Pc theRICK, and carried. ' On the motion of Mr. Pierarb, seconded by Mr. Hill, it was resolved tint a public meeting should be held, aud that the resolutions reterred to should be submitted to it. Aftt r the u»ual vote of thanks to the chairman, the meeting separated.