PROPOSAL TO STRIKE

Northern Advocate, 14 October 1893, Page 1

PROPOSAL TO STRIKE

" Councillor " writes as follows :— The editor Hokianga Gazette. Sir, ~ The fact that our roads are bad beyond belief : is so well-known that it is scarcely worth while to "dwell on the subject in a letter addressed to a paper read by Northern settlers, The responsibility and the onus of keep* ing them in repair is supposed by the public to rest with the County Councils, and considerable suppressed indignation is felt by settlers at the apparent supineness of those bodies in not attending to the very work which they weie created to supervise. But I would ask your readers to look more closely into the facts of the case. The Councils were indeed created to make and keep in repair their County roads in addition to other duties. Well 1 they, did ij^and they ...did it well too, considering all thedifficulties they had to contend with among thie iiUmbeV.) In'7&yhen the counties were formed, there had been a sum of £700 expended in the large county of Hokianga from the year 1 up to* that date, and that sum was procured by Mr William Natene, the native member ; and I have no doubt that other northern counties had not a very muck better record as to expenditure. Since then, since the counties were formed, road work has gone on till we have hundreds of | miles of road, numbers of bridges, and innumerable culverts. I say this to show that the county system at all I events had thisj recommendation about it that those bodies having been created had also to be maintained, at least such used to be the opinion of former Governments. What is the position now ? Th^re are miles upon miles of. road quite impassible, there are innumerable unsafe and broken bridges, and there are au infinite number of dangerous culverts ; no! wonder the ratepayers complain. The Government knowing that the roads are gradually becoming more extensive and in a worse condition, Jmowing that settlement is extending and traffic increasing and knowing that J the roads must be kept open ; or settlement abandoned, take the opportunity practically to withdraw all subsidies, and substitute for them the tax on dogs which costs 50 per cent , gum , which cost 25 per; c^nfcj, and a/ vehicle tax (as if a man could run a vehicle on these roads) which costs 25 per cent to collect. We have to subscribe 25 puerbent. of our nett revenue t& the ehaiitalble^aid which pays each of our agents for attending the quarterly meeting some 50 per cent, of the contributions received from us for travelling; expenses. Then we have all sorts of red tape expenses, so that if there is any county whose nett revenue is £500 for the year it is lucky ; and that is £500 spread over 120 miles of quagmire, twenty or thirty broken or rotten bridges, and 500 broken culverts ? I say that county councils are fast becoming little more than a means of communicating ad muericordiam appeals to the Government on behalf of the ratepayers for aid. Such being the case it appears to me that the duty of the county now is especially to inform the Government that having been deprived of the means of carrying out those functions for which the councils were formed, thus respectfully decline to take any further responsibility, refuse to collect rates, receive or expend monies, hold elections or do anything till such time as Government see fit to pass such enactments as will enable them to ca vy out their duties without ea i-itable assistance from Wellington. I telieve the ratepayers would support the councils and 1 contend that unless some action is taken by the northern counties, we may whistle a long time before any heed is given to our requirements. If I am correct in my assumption that the rates do not injlch morethan cover the expenses of running tse county coach, what benefit is ltfo the ratepayer to continue

running the coach at all ; the horses are all lame* the coachman is nonpulssed, there is no feed to be had, the wheels are off, and the passengers are I write this with the full knowledge that we are receiving a few hundred pounds from. Wellington byway of a sop to mend up our roads, but the amount is not sufficient to even put the wheels on the coach again.