COUNTY COUNCIL CRITICS.

Matamata Record, Volume XV, Issue 432, 7 May 1923, Page 2

COUNTY COUNCIL CRITICS.

Mr. Pohlen challenged the statement that he had ever opposed the principle of single-member ridings; on the contrary he had not only advocated it when the county was first constituted but furthermore he had actually been the seconder of the motion which ultimately carried the proposal and this could be proved by the minutes. A hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Stopford for his address was then carried by acclamation.

i CR. STOPFORD AT TAIHOA. j A meeting was held in the Taihoa I school hall on Wednesday evening to ; hear an address from Cr. C. A. Stop- ; ford on bitumen roads and County Council matters generally. ' Mr. J. I'j. West, who occupied the chair, said that as they all knew Mr. Stopford it would not be necessary to introduce him lo the audience but he 1 was sure that all present were anxious to hear what. Mr. Stopford - had to say about County Council matters in' general and bitumen I roads in particular. Mr. Stopford, who was received with applause, said in the'first place a word of explanation was due for his speaking in another councillor's riding namely, that of Mr. E. C. Banks. He had discussed the matter with Cr. Banks, however, and he was there that night with that gentleman's full approval. Before he started on the question of bitumen roads, however, he would like to give a short resume of <omc of the work accomplished by him since he wont on the Council i some five or six years ago. Iwo things that he had stood for from the verv start were the transfer ol the hank accounf to Matamata and the stationing of the county clerk m Tumi. Neither of these were carried during his first term of office and he would like to point out that Mi. J. Pohlen, who was then on the Council a," was present with them that evenno. had voted against him with reu.'(l to these things. Then he the spe ker, had advocated the spiting m, emtntwas instituted in Ann"to reform he located*™ term nevertheless u. »««• ~ carried and to-day vouchers for all Si employees were drawn on Pnday md wages nuid out accordingly on ' Saturday During his second term ; It bad seen the bank accoun transferred but, the removal or the • Slo Tirau had not been accomn i hod Then again he had been ac- ' live ; the appointment ol a county 1 nger thus for an annual cost o^OUieynotonlyhadth.rroaJ ' <"? decision! I £"w a a sii^lUimyonthep^ of the Council in the event of an • Sa^ci^^efU.C-nciU- ' Wn severely criticised by Mi. l omen I SotE? He did not think: though 3 liat the scope of such committee was , fullv understood by a great- man) ,e mln The position was as follows ? Th? committee was elected annual \y ', and was of course always sub.iec to 5 removal. The committee met just S to the Council meeting, when ' om,hints and recommendations with > rd to county works came before i The engineer's report conccrnm P .ch affair then came under review o n's also the financial position of the d' ri( i; n ,- where the matter lay. ', vestions were then made as to the :- hire of the work and also ns to he il diii.stmenf. of contributions from th o various ridings and particularly as to

• the location or plants in ridings that • were in a financial position to have them These suggestions then in due course came before the whole Council, who acted upon them or not. as the ense might be. The point he strongly wished emphasised was that 'he function of the Works Committee was advisory, not administrative. Every member of the Council aonroved of the principle of a Works Committee. But while the committee won a useful adiunct to the Council it did not have the power that its censors alleged it to have. The Council had actually been brought to book for presenting a credit balance at the end of the financial year. Its critics said that money in hand should be spent in works and that the Council should ■not exercise the functions of a savings hank. They did not take into consideration the fact that the 10 per cent, penalty on overdue rates came into force in the latter part of March and so accounted for the revenue being swelled by ratepayers who nati urally wished to avoid being mulcted and this attitude placed accounts a few days later—the end-of the financial year—in a healthy condition. Apart from this phase, however, the Government insisted that a local body must live within its income and that there should be no antecedent liabilii ties and that was another factor that should be weighed before a savings hank was talked about. Discussing the financial position of ridings Mr. Stopford said that when ;>< a new member he came into office , fhree vears ago his sector was in : debt to the tune of £IBOO but he i would leave it at the end of his term £2OO to the good. In concluding this portion or his address Mr. Stopford referred to the question or housing the county employees. He said last year the Council had decided to have its workmen close together. They accordingly had three houses built in concrete-brick. These wore the cheapest houses that had ever been built by any local body in New Zealand. Each one consisted of four rooms and bathroom and they were all beautifully finished and equipped with every modern convenience, having electric light and water laid on. Each house was built at a cost of £570 and let to an employee at the extremely cheap rental of 10s per week. Mr. Stopford then passed on to the second portion of his address, that of bitumen roads, and quoting figures, showetl the enormous advantages that would accrue to the county by instituting the formation of such roads, Ihe scheme outlined by Mr. Stopford being the subject of a special article. i At the conclusion of Mr. Stopford's I address, apart from inquiries concerning the bitumen road proposals, , there were no questions put to him with regard to his County Council stewardship, but Mr. Pohlen, being eiven permission, said he would like to make a personal explanation in order to refute some statements made by Mr. Stopford; l Mr. Pohlen said that although he admitted having opposed the shifting of the county clerk the fact remained i that Mr. Stopford was also now of : the speaker's way of thinking, having 1 recently become converted to the idea of allowing the clerk to stay in Cambridge. Mr. Stopford: I deny that absolutely.

(Continued at Foot of Next Column.)