Stratford and Ngaire.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 2761, 2 July 1894, Page 2

Stratford and Ngaire.

A (FEOM MB OWN OOBSESPONDENT.) > . d There was; ar 1 very stiff breeze at last •d County Council meeting over a question 0 s of prerogative^ Mr SahiueJ; it appears, >y had 7 received an offer of settlement in a d (court case wbioh tbe eooaai! was bringing w against a firm of contractors for failure to to carry .. out . their contract. „ :Tq. tbW Dfler, it which oonld hardjy.be Vegarde'd.ai a n favorable one, an answer had* to' bi" given te in something": like' ttiree Jhoura;^ Th» ie .weather l was bad, the ' distaho* to te the chairman's residence corisiderit able, and?' the time very short; The n cltfrk, • therefore, - > knowing- that , some ie three or four councillors were in town on <v private business, hunted them up Kid laid ;o ,the ; position,, before them,; but, tney not 3. being unanimous, and the offer being of ie each a doabtfully benefiotal nature, the is clerk thought it best to simply leave the i- matter alone and' ; let things take their d course. The chairman 'heard 6C thii, ii and when' tbe dounoil met charged the g clerk with dereliotion of 'duty in not c having cdnsuUadhim, aa the chairman d was, he considered; the ,reflponaib]e f pffloer .; x oi. the ;CotjuQil between meetingsv The y atmosphere was very electric for a time. it but one or two councillors did, the good* natured thing arid 'acted the peacemaker ie and, with a "not goUtyi but don't do it !. again " sort of veidict the matter dropped, d The Town Board have at'last pat up a ie lamp on. the bridge, which twill be much c appreciated on dark nights* "" What tbe i- ratepayers do not appear to appreoiate g quite so highly is fcbe r action of the, board ir in calling for tenders 'for, the ereotion of it town board offioes at an estimated cost of y well on towards £800. It certainly." does o appear a remarkable proceeding.!' The h board have a. town hall— their eowb proe perty— with two side rooms attached to it c in which they qonld easily hold their n meetings if they chose; their clerk has 3, his own office adjoining the town ball, ia 0 whioh all records are accessible at any it reasonable time ; the board. all, go, out of 1 offioe in ' another three months; they g have any number of ratepayers requiring a conveniences in the matter of footpaths, t &0., and yet in the face of all thiff they calmly propose to spend snob a ram of • moneyin building offioes on an unmetalled r street behind .the goods shed. If tbe t board have £800 to spare it would surely ? be better to spend.it upon road works wbiob would provide Employment for j some of th 9 unfortunate men who can get 7 nothing to do, and leave tbe question of i building to be dealt with by a new a board. j ■ The man at the oorner says that tbe opinion given by Mr Barton ac ;to the validity of . the by-laws, is to the, effect that tbe minute-book is only prima facie I evidence^ to tbe board's proceedings, and . that it will be competent for, the. board to i call evidenp? ' to show that proceedings . took place, which are not recorded' in it. I There is no talk of an appeal with : respect i to tbe oases which were before the court I a few .weeks ago, but ia any future oases ' the point may be taken. It will be interi esting.tp watob further developments. i I bear that Mr Brooking has a proposal i for obtaining water for fire prevention, i which be intends to submit to the town board. "It is'that a' "pottferfal pomp shall be attached, to the waterwheel whioh drives ; -Messrs Burgess, and Son's machinery, and connected with pipes to be laid under Broadway, so that. at a couple of minute's notice a supply of water would be available in unlimited quantity and of any force desired; .The plan sounds cheap and praotioal. - r A Wesleyan friend who waa at the quarterly, meeting of the Stratford oircuit, held at Eltham oo Monday, tells me thaP*^ 1 there was a good attendance and a !ot of -'< business done. . It [was resolved, with'tb^f* consent of the Hawera circuit to hold% services at. Matapa and at the junction of ;£» Hastinge-Opnnake road; if artangemeifo oau be made. The. quarter's ineon^f' balanced the expenditure. It was resolved^ to hold , the quarterly eirouit social ?«"' '> z ' Cardiff sbprtjly, i and' 1 that tbere|k#^7 the quarterly social^ should be held o n tha same, day and at 'tha same plae«'ai4K ftr r quarterly bosines* meetia^vtha-me^^^ being held at each- oeoatre »o arotafion^l^ M ■considerable increase in meojbe^^rtw^i^■report«di;w)diit : w*j <^t^«ffiSsgjg|ffi

for 'a site in Ettham. A local preacher was placed on trial, another requested to preaofa bis trial sermon, and regret expresaed at tbe removal of Mr D. Williams from tbe cironit. . , , '