RATEPAYERS' MEETING AT RANGIORA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 5223, 15 November 1877, Page 3

RATEPAYERS' MEETING AT RANGIORA.

A meeting of the ratepayers of the Monde' villCand Bongiora Boad District was held lost night in the hall of the Literary Institute, Bangiora, for the purpose of considering the Question of having the township brought under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1876. The hall was fall, and great interest was evidently taken in the proceedings. Mr A Parsons, Chairman of the Boad Board, occupied the chair, and explained the object of the meeting. % Mr Blackett said that as he had something to do with the colling of the meeting, he desired .to say a few words. It would be remembered that some four years ago a meet* ing had been called for this object. The consideration of the question had then fallen through, but now that local government:was the order of the day, he thought it was time to take the matter up. He' proceeded to give the result of a calculation he had mode. Tubing the rateable amount of what ha preBurned would form the Borough at ninepenoe in the £, £SOO would be the result, dogs* fees, auctioneers’, hotel,'and other licenses at £SOO, and reckoning on£sooiubsidyfroih the Consolidated Revenue, a total wou!a bo given of £ISOO. Besides this the Borough opnldolaiin 2000 acres of land, which if judiciously selected and well managed, would increase the revenue to a considerable extent. It was entirely a question of £ s d with him, and under these circumstances he considered that it was - time to make Bangiora a Borough. He .knew very well that the, Boad Board hod done good' service in Bangiora, and, as the oldest member of the Board, he woe glad tosee that the inhabitants were satisfied. He hoped , the question would now be thoroughly disoussed. Captain Brandon agreed that if Mr Blackett's figures were correct a very fair start 'could be made.,. But ha-would like to know if the removal of saleypids.and such things' would' not affect the interests of the people; and ho would also like to know if Mr Blaokett would guarantee;* that is, if ho got into the Council, that the aalej’ords would not be removed. ; " Mr Blaokett .said . that he could sot guarantee this, but he would, for his. own pait if elected a member of the Council, strenuously oppose any such proceeding, as he considered that they were, to agreat extent, a [support to Bangiora, aud.be oonW not. coneeive that there' could be nine Councillors found mad enough to suggest snob a thing. It would not bo necessary to frame any such by laws if they were not absolutely required,. Mr.JJais said (bat from what he had heard, ! this question must have been discussed pretty warmly. He did not know why the ealeygrds should be the bone of. contention in the discussion. He knew very well that they, or any other local establishments, did a certain amount towards, promoting the welfare of the place, but as far as that went, he was quite prepared to remove them if they wore found to be a nuisance. Be thought that, independent of the saleyarde, there would be several other thaogsi which would be found- to be a nuisance. Many isstanoee of thie would occur, end the- oomplaiuts would come in fast and furioue. Some good men might give their lime atflrst to civic inattors,-but others might afterwards get in who would 'make themselves obnoxious, and those were, the, men who did the barm, flejreferredto the Borough of Eaiapoi, and said that ho bad been oonvers ing with some of the .burgesses of that town, who said that theyWonl*, if they could, return to their normahtendition. He trusted that they would decide hot to alter the satisfactory condition of things. Mr Cunningham said that having subscribed to the petitiba ; asking for the meeting to he he deemed it his duty to speak, at that meeting. He thought that they had already heard tMpfos KUct- -cons of the Oise, and he hoped that they would calmly decide and ventilate the subject Bangiora, whether formed into a borough or not, wae bound to go. aheadj as it had been doing for some years and was still doing. It was the centre of a large market, which fasnotioed was daily inoroasibg. He could not conceive that any Council would bo sufficiently obstructive ta‘ moot the question of removing the saleyards. The municipal* system -was an inducement offeradrby the General Government to foster local government.. The Aot was prepared in suoh a way as to leave it an open question, whether the clauses, referring to by-laws in it, were brought into effect or not. They knew very well that it- was provided therein that certain by-laws could-bo made, but: if there was no necessity for them they would not be brought into effect. Bangiora was well known to be - the sanatorium of“ the country, and yet if some steps were not taken to preserve it in this .condition, it was quite.-: possible-., .that ' even ■ thie _ might require attention, and a Oounoil was the proper. authority,- in these matters. If tho present opportunity of obtaining a grant of land wore, not taken advantage of at onoa it would hot occur again, and he hoped that the inhabitants would not let tho chance escape. Other places were moving in theeamo/'direatioh.- - / Beferenoo to the Eaiapoi Borough had been made. Well, be thought that things bad .worked well there,, and they , bad always hod - a superior dais of men in their Oounoil, who' had-done much towarde keeping the town in a prosperous and healthy condition. The school as yet had not had the advantages that a Borongh Sahool would have had, and ho considered that if a borough were formed it would promote the interests of the sohool to a groat extent, by giving it a more numerous staff and other advantages. Ho would therefore move, “ That the township bo ;proclaimed a .borough under the Corporations Act, 1876.” 1 . ; Mr Blaokett briefly seconded the resolution.. • - ■ . i r Mr Louis .Marin would like to ask Mr Bass why he should think that the second or third Council* should bo suoh renegades as he pictured them to be. If the ratepayers elected tuoh members as Mr Buss said would creep in after :, a first or.sgoii.nd oleotion, ha thought it would serve them right. < Captain Brandon endorsed the remarks of Mr Buss, and ho considered that the psoplo should wait for at least two yea nr before taking this step, as ohoe taken they could not retraofe. - t ■ « Mr Thorne acknowledged to being one of those individuals in a trade which.was gone, rallv considered a-nUisshoe, andhe might»be thought to be iaterasted. He expressed his opinion that the Boad Board could do all that was necessary in tho way of appointing an inspector of nuisances. _ • . , - Mr Josling suggested that an amendment was requited; He thought that a careful conBideration should bo given to this matter, and that they should have some stanstio* to go npon. : He would therefore move—" That a Committee be appointed to take tho matfcep into consideration and to report to a public meeting in a month.’’ ■Mr Thorne seconded the amendment. Mr B, Bllis, as an old Borough Councillor, ooald speak, by experience, but he did not wish to interfere in this matter. He should like to see shore publio spirit shown in Ban-, dbra. He believed that thwe publio meetings were calculated to do*good, Eaiapoi had been mentioned, and he, Monoid resident there,

1 thought that certainly that town- was not on (ha increase, but he thought that Bangiora was certainly improving, and it was looking to. ■ tS^jfutui» T > thought that they ehould adopttbamolutioi:. Then - wen numarons advantages . to- be: obtained, more especially by the school, and he alluded to the difference between - (he Kaiapoiand:theßangionschcwl»,at.iiha, liatter of whioh there woe neither caretaker or Secretary, nor had they so efficient a staff. Ho wonld enpport the resolution. Hs hoped soon to see Mr Buss retire and become Mayor. (Cheers.) ] Mr Buss thanked Mr Ellis for the compliment paid him,-but ho begged to say (bat he did not covet the office of Mayor, even supposing he had made so much money u Hr Ellis represented ho thonld do. He would move a further amendment— <( That (he con•ideration of thie matter be taken thic day five yean.” (Tretbendbae cheering; and a Voice: “That’s on a Sunday.”) Mr piinningham was wullng to withdraw his original resolution in fwftmr of Ur Josling’s amendment, which being agreed to, Mr Buss’ amendment was put to the meeting and declared lost.:

Captain Brandon then moved a. farther apiendment—“ That the matter be considered this day (wo years.” ■ Mr Buss seconded it briefly. Ur L. Morin took exception to this amendment being put to the meeting, bat this being over ruled, the amendment was put and lost. r ■ Ur Josling’s resolution wu then pat, and carried almost unanimously. The following gentlemen were then duly elected on the Committee, viz.:—Messrs Jusling, Thorne, Boss, Blackett,Cunningham, Cone, Johnston, Hanna,' Merton, Dadding, Hunuibell, Green, and W; A. Burt, f A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the proceedings.