WAIPAWA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3896, 12 April 1877, Page 2

WAIPAWA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Ws»nes»ayj A#rii, ii-. : ■ The Council mci at the office of Mr Monteith, Waipukurau. Present— The Chairman (Mr MackerBey), Lieut. -Colonel Herrick, Messrs; Monteith, Lawrence, Levy, and Johnston. (Mr Rathbone was kept away by an important case in which he was concerned, which was being heard at Waipawa.) The Chairman desired, before proceeding to business} td make Ail explanation with tefeifeiicfe to a letter which had j appeared in brie .of the local papers in the beginning of, February from the Returning Officer, charging "hiift (the Chairman), notice fcq the Returning Officer of the and, with lum", the Council', - with several blunders . in the discharge of his 'dutieS. The various blunders laid to Ms charge were covered by two— first, that he ( had failed W give extraordinary vacaii6y } his answer to this was that there Was ho returning officer at the. time to give notice to. This, he understood, was how admitted by everyone, including Mr himself. The second ,was, that, the provision for ( giving fifteen days' .notice wa3 not complied with. Mr Mackeirsey showed by referring to the dates of the earlier meetings of the Council that it was impossible to comply with it. He would not remark on the tone of Mr Arrow's letter, further than to say that a returning officer should keep his conduct above suspicion in order to retain the confidence of every section of the ratepayers.The minutes of the previous meeting were then read and confirmed. CORRESPONDENCE. The outward and inward correspondence was then read. The particulars with reference to a good deal of it have already been laid before our readers. A letter" front Mr Burgess^ the road overseer, giving a list of tools and of the hands employed when the roads were given over to the county, gave rise to an interesting discussion which we will allude to again, but which, however, led to no definite conclusion. [ . . COUNTY SEALi A letter was read from Mr Jarman, enclosing design for a county seal. It consisted of a steam engine in the centre with the legend, "Waipawa County Council" round it. Mr Jarman wrote, that if a seal for pressing sealing-wax only was required, he could make it, and the cost would be £4 ; if a die for impressing paper was wanted, the Council would have to get it made in Wellington. It was decided to adopt Mr Jarman's design, and, after some discussion, to get the die. The clerk was directed to send a letter of thanks to Mr Jarman. DOG TAX. A letter was read from the Hon. H. R. Russell, urging the County Council to take some steps without delay to collect the dog tax. He represented that the county was overrun with useless curs, and that the strict enforcement of the tax, both with regard to Europeans and natives, was urgently required. He had recently had twelve of his stud Lincoln ewes severely bitten by two dogs. The question was raised by Mr Johnston, as to whether the' Council had the power to fix the amount of the tax. ' The general opinion was that it had not, though, as Mr Levy remarked, theWairoa Council had fixed it at 10s. It was decided to abide by the Provincial Act, which fixes the tax at ss. It was further resolved, on the motion of Lieutenant-Colonel Herrick, seconded by Mx Lawrence, that the tax should be farmed ; not by auction, but by application. COUNCIL OFFICES. A letter was read from the Hon. H. R. Russell, on behalf of the directors of the Waipiikurau Town Hall Company,, offering the committee room, with the use of the large hall when required, for the sum of £50 a year. The Chairman thought it might be well to entertain the offer, pending the erection of proper offices. Mr Lawrence thought this was showing the cloven hoof with a vengeance (and was called to order for the observation.) When a suitable place could be got without paying for it, he thought it would be absurd to pay such a sum as that asked. Mr Levy also remarked that he would not be a party to paying away the county funds in rents. He thought the Council should not entertain Mr Russell's offer. Lieut. -Colonel Herrick proposed and Mr Levy seconded a resolution to the effect that the offer be declined. Mr Johnston proposed and Mr Monteith seconded an amendment to the effect that the clerk should communicate with Mr Russell to ascertain whether the terms on which the use of the building would be given could be modified. Mr Monteith, however, being a shareholder in the Town Hall Company, it was decided that he was disqualified from taking part in thr proceedings with reference to the matter. The amendment, therefore, lapsed for want of a seconder, and the original motion was carried. BYE-LAWS. The bye-laws, as drafted, were then gone through, and a few slight alterations made in them. The dates of the Council's ordinary meetings were fixed for the first Tuesday in every month, at 11.30 a.m. Councillors were allowed to speak twice — but not more than twice — instead of once, on the same motion. Putting resolutions in writing was made optional. COUNTY RATES. The Chairman desired, before concluding, to call the attention of the Council to the necessity of obtaining the services of an engineer — temporarily, at any rate — to report as to what works should be undertaken, in order that they might know what rates would be required. Sir Johnston thought they should first ascertain what roads were county roads. On his motion, seconded by Mr Lawrence, it was resolved that the chairman should be requested to obtain an opinion on this point from the county solicitor, and' to lay it before the Coiincil at its next meeting. NOTICES OF MOTION. Mr Johnston gave notice that he would move, at the next meeting, "That all the roads within the boundaries of the county be declared county roads, under clause 38 of the Public Works Act." Mr Lawrence gave notice that he would move, "That all sittings of the Council be held at the Waipawa Courthouse." Mr Monteith gave notice that he would move, " That the county pay day should be the day of the monthly meeting, and that the road overseer should be instructed to hand in his monthly report on that day." Lieut. -Colonel Herrick gave notice that he would move, " That the future meetings of the Council should be held at Mr Ferguson's Hotel, Takap.au. NEXT MEETING. On Mr Johnston's motion, it was resolved that a specicil meeting of the Council be held, to consider the above notices of motion, on Thursday, the 19th inst. The Council then adjourned." " Atlas" writes in the World : — " From Malta I hear that they are having a very gay time, and that the Duchess of Edinburgh is winning golden opinions everywhere by the heartiness and sans gene in which she takes part in all that goes on. She is especially popular among naval men, having the good sense to make no secret of the fact that she has a great liking for her royal husband's profession and all who belong to it. Even the Maltese nobility, who have rather held aloof from English society since their (quite imaginary) snubbing at the time of the Prince of Wales' visit to the island, have been conquered by the Duchess's kindly and unaffected enjoyment of all that takes place on the island her daughter has been named after."