TARADALE'TOWN DISTRICT.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7527, 30 August 1886, Page 3

TARAD ALE' TOWN DISTRICT.

Sir,— l think.it Svould have been (veil if "Fair Play," before calling the attention of ratepayers to what. he considers the great injustice of the Town. Districts Act' in relation to voting"! had given the matter a little more of his., own. attention. He would then, perhaps; have refrained from rushing into print oh, a' subject which ho evidently understands very little about. He says : "It appears that according to the Act every householder •is > entitled to ' vote on this -question. It. will' thus be seen that a number of voters pay no rates and have no •interest in the' place what- '• ever." . 'With ydur-perniissiqn,-T will call hii attention, to section 17' of the Town Districts Act, jvhicli'Ueals with the quali-. fication. of .voters, and reads as follows :-—; " Every person whose name -shall appear.! on the electoral roll for any riding of thY county within- which the district is'ih-. eluded, , and who shall own or occupy property. situated within the district, shall be entitled „to.v ote at. the^firstand any other election of commissioners prior to any rate, being levied . under this Act ; after any rate snail- have" been levipd under this Act the ratepayers of the district and. none others, shall be entitled to vote as electors.". "Fair Play's" next assertion is equally without foundation. " He writes : "On questions of expenditure, the householders in the present tfrvynbhip will have a large majority, and consequently the rates would bo spent for the sole benefit' of- the business people." To show how little regard "Fair Play" lias for: the truth when the reverse will suit his purpose better, I have only to add, that there aro 117 householders within the proposed town, boundary, 48 of whom reside within and 69 without the half-mile . radius he speaks of. Ho then "points out ' the case of the Hastings ratepayers, who, he says, are now paying eight or ten tinies as much ' rates as they were before the town district wos.fornied. , I do not know what rate's are being paid in Hastings, 1/ufc this I do know— that the Hastings Town. Board could not raise a special loan," or levy' special, rates as security for the same, without the consent of the ratepayers. * Consequently ' they have only themselves to blame if they are now rated higher than they desire. There are also a, number of other state- ■ mentjyKiually absurd' and devoid of truth beinjpcircnlated by -the party to which " Fair Play " belongs. For instance, that the Town Board can, and probably will, levy a rate of ono shilling in the pound on tjie- capital Value' of all ratablo property within the district.. The Town District Act provides that the Town Board shall at . • least onco in every year levy general rates, but that the total amount of such rates for any one year shall not exceed one shilling in the pound on the annual value, ; which, according to section 14 of the Eating Act, 1882, is equal to three farthings in tho pound on the capital value. It will thus be seen that the maximum rate that can be levied undor tho Town District Act is the saino as that under the Koitd JJo'ard, 1 In conclusion, I am happy to bo able to say that the success of the petition for tho purpose of constituting this a town district proves that tho section of the community which ."Fair Play "■ represents, and which has for years consistently opposed everything calculated to promote the welfare and advancement of tho district, is now n very small aud uninfluential one. ' Of the 117 ' householders. 'on • the roll 9t -have iighed the petition,- 14> refused, . and £ { wronotiftt honie when called upon. AY( ihay therefor.*} -hopei that iwi'tuin' a sho'ri fcjmo 'the ■ Taroldaje 'district, < with' it! ' hibundartce of first-class 1 land, largo popu fatiqn, g'qqd : - rqadsi' safety' from (foods jbasy distance, from tyapie'r, Sic., will hav< thai share of prosperity which its nmnj advantages entitle it to. — 1. am, &b,, J. DItUMMOND, Chairman Town District Committee, • Tarwlaie, August 28, 1880, ■

, • THE WAIPAWA FIASCO. Sin,— The inquiry into th missal of ex-Constable Neate from tho police force is now over. The game was apparently not worth the candle, Mr Nealo having been engaged in the hopeless game of ■" kicking against tho pricks. It is not whethor ex-constable Neale is in the force or out of it that interests the public to. any extent, but the few disclosures made in connection with th's affair, I think, should interest the public a great deal. The coloay pays very dearly for the maintenance of a Constabulary force, and therefore should be careful to see that the integrity of tho force is perfect.. In the case of : ex-Constable Neale the question before the public is whether he was discharged from the force for the scrupulous performance of duty, or for not doirig his duty— a question not yet cleared up. It appears quite clear/ however, that the rock on which Mr Neale came to grief was that he did -while in temporary charge of the Waipawa station object to ft certain lady opening a -police telegram. To the undisciplined mind a system of organisation that admits of women opening official telegrams is one of the most rotten kind, and deserves the most severe censure. The tplegram in question might have been pne of the most important and confidential m character, and its object might have been defeated by the loose system of opening messages. Yet that appears to be winked at by the ' department, and the constable objecting to this laudable, discipline relegated to private life for interfering with an established practice, as the lady in question "had opened telegrams 'before ho came and would do so after he was gone."- The worthy Inspector would, I think, have been more creditably engaged had he made strict enquiries into the opening of telegrams, ana endeavored to And out whether the lady or the department was mosttoblamo in this very questionable discipline other than following up charges of drunkenness which have now been officially characterised as "baseless." The obstructions thrown in the way of a full and complete inquiry also reflect very little credit on the heads of the department. The Government, it will be remembered, granted " a public inquiry." but tho Commissioner could only hold " a private inquiry," and on referring again to the Government the order for the public inquiry was repeated. Dolavs were the next difficulty; then witnesses could not be examined on oath, and were thus relieved from tho penalties of that law which tends, to ensure the truthfulness of evidence given. However, this turned out to be of very little importance, as the only charge against the con> stable was that of insubordination which occurred in the sanctum whilst the " baseless charges " were being considered ; but the facts goading the ex-cbnstable to insubordination are quietly kept in tho rear, whilst ex-Constable Neale's host of witnesses are debarred the right to appear in the lost act of the " Wouderful Waipawa Drama," in which the department were more satisfied than the public at the part they had played. The abrupt termination of the inquiry is greatly to be regretted. It is the duty of the public to uphold the police force and give them support in every action they take in maintaining thorough and complete discipline in_ the force. It is also the duty of the public to see that members of the force who do their duty are supported and protected, but from this point of view the inquiry was of little or no importance. My opinion is that Parliament could make a worse use of its time than inquiring into the working of the police department, from the head office downwards.— l am, &c, Observer.