THE COUNTY OF WAITEMATA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6818, 24 September 1883, Page 3

THE COUNTY OF WAITEMATA.

MEETING OF RATEPAYERS OF WAITAKERI EAST. A MiltTiKG of the ratepayers of this district was held at the Oratia Hotel, Henderson, on Saturday, at two o'clock, "To consider the rate struck by the County Council." There ■was a large muster of the settlers, and Mr. John McElwain, J.P., Chairman ,of' the Local Board, presided. The Hon. Thos. HendersoD, M.L.C., and Mr. O. Mays,' Chairman of the Waitemata Council, were also present. The CnAi -man , said they had met to consider the action of the Couuty Council in striking a rate over their riding against the wish of the settlers. He thought it was about time this double government was done away with.' Since calling 'the meeting he had, it was true, received a letter stating that although the rate was struck it would not be collected in their district. But he had been informed by several persons notwithstanding that it was- intended to make them pay. He would ask Mr. Mays, as representing the Council, to address the meeting. ' Mr. Mays said he 'was not a ratepayer of their district, and came only to listen, and not to influence their decision on this matter. He should sugprest that the correspondence between the Council and the .Board should be read to the meeting. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Sisam, the Secretary, then read the following letters: —"County Office, Auckland, August 27, ISS3. John McElwain, Esq., J.P., Chairman of Waitakeri East Road district. Sir, —You will see by a Gazette notice in the Weekly News of Saturday next a notification from this Council of its intention to make and levy a rate of £J in the £. as a separate rate, on various ridings in the county : the rate in each'riding to be expeuded on works in that riding. As the new Roads Act of last session lias been found very cumbrous and expensive to ;arry out, especially in poor and sparee'ij-peopled districte, it will bo very much more economical for the county to lovy and collect the rate over the whole of your riding tban for the several road districts therein each to collect tho" rates in its own district. If your Board consents to this arrangement, the Council will be prepared to collect the rate accordingly, and add to the amount collected as much of the ordinary and special revenue of the county as may be allotted to your, district. The amount so raised, and added to will then be expended, under the supervision of. the Council's Engineer, on such worke in your district as your Board may declare to be most necessary in the interestof theratepayers generally. The Council will also be prepared, to make such advances in anticipation of the rates as may be necessary to ensure that thesa works shall be carried on during the summer montbs. If, however, your Board shall determine to make and levy its own rate, the Council will not exercise any powers it may possess to interfere in the matter,' as the Council is fully convinced that your part of the county will not bear the burden of a double rate. Your early consideration of ' this matter and reply will oblige, yours faithfully, Oliver Mays, Chairman." Mr. SisAii said ho had been instructed by the Board to reply thanking the Council for their consideration, but as the Board had already struck a rate it would be better to go on as usual, for this year at'leaet. Mr. Mays said the Council vas perfectly satiffied with Mr Sisam's reply, and Waitakerei East had accordingly been omitted .from tho list of places where the collector was to call. But, seeing that a meeting had been I called on the matter,- he •. had written a formal reply last Monday to the Chairman, as follows :—"Sir, —I have the hoQOur to acknowledge receipt of your Saturday's letter of the 28th of August informing me that your Board having struck a rate for the current year will proceed to collect the same. In reply, lam directed to inform you that although as a matter of legal form the Council has also struck a rate over tho whole of Waitakerei Riding, yet in deference to the wish of your Board the rate referred to will not bo collected in your road district.—l am, &c, Oliver Mays, Chairman." The Chairman stated that he still believed the county would collect the rate (laughter), because they had onao collected rates ovei an outlying district which had since beet added to their Road Board and which thej had promised to refund, but never did. Mr. Holston said they had done bettei than refund them—they had spent the amount, and more too, in making a gooC road in the property which paid the rates (Hear, hear.) Some discussion followed. Several speaker! considered tho meeting as altogether unne ceasary, whilst others blamed the Chairmai for not calling it next Saturday, on whicl day the Board would meet, and there wouli also be an election of a member of the Board

Other speakers complained of the way the Board's funds had been expended at the sole will of the Chairman, Mr. Proberl,, in particular, instancing tho hill known as " Gentle Nellie," which had been ordered to be done for three years in succession, and tenders actually called for the work, and put aaido. The County Council had since come to their aid and done the work, and it wae foelish of the Chairman to quarrel with the only body who had really helped them in their difficulties. (Hear.) Mr. Mats said the Chairman had been fighting a shadow. His grievances were only imaginary. Did any man in the room believe that the Council would collect a rate in the face of tho3o letters? Mi. McEhvnin said ho did not understand them. All he could Bay was, the same letter had been sent to j ' every Chairman of a Board in.the couuty except in Takapuna riding. The Chairman : Why not to Takapuna? You durst not strike a rate there. ~I defy you to strike a rate there. Mr. Mays said he would come to that presently. Several Boards had agreed to ' the proposal. Others expressed their regret that, having struok a rate, they could not join in it this year, but acknowledged its advantages, and in every case the Council had acted on the reply ox the Board in good faith. He deniid altogether that theru had been what tho Chairmnu called double government in that county. No man had over been called upon to pay two rates in respect of the same propeity, and as long as he was n member of the Council he should always oppose a double rate. The minute book of the Council was on tho table before them. They would there sv.c that the Council had for five years in succession levied a rate over the whole county, but had only collected it in such parts of the county as had no Road Boards. These' districts comprised .more than half the area of tlie county. Why had not the Chairman protested against t'Je county rate before ? Why should it be .necessary to get up a meeting this year in particular? He could not help thinking that this meeting was called, not about the rate question, but to abuse tin , C'aairman of the county and their membei for the riding, who had beaten Mr. MeElwak at the last election, and probab'y woult again, as Mr. John Smyth was one of thi best members they could probably send—i painstaking "and conscientious man.' (Hear hear.)' 'The revenue of the Council consists of rates "from the outlying districts, publi

cans' licenses, and grante from the Government. The cry had been raised that the rates bad been raised in the outlying districts and spent at the North Shore. He must deny it, at least as far as his membership of the Council extended, for he bad been out of the Council for three years. He never knew the North Shore to get anything except an occasional allotment from the grants made by the Government to the Council, and these moneys had generally been expended on the main roads of the county in that district. If each district got from the Council in proportion to what it contributed to the connty fund Waitakerei East would get very little. Last year that hotel jiaida license fee of £IS, but it took £20 to get it. (Laughter.) This year it paid £25, but it took £12 19s 9d to get it. Such was the expense of the cumbrous machinery of the Licensing Act, and the only way to avoid this was to amalgamate the several licensing districts and have two or at most three instead of eight. (Hear.) So that they would see that the county had Dothing to gain by coming to them. If they did not want the county they need not have it. There need be no fear of double government, for every penny of the Council's revenue could be ex-pended,-and very usefully, in the outlying districts of the connty. Strictly apeaking it j was the duty of the Council to expend its j funds in' outlying districts onlyi and on the main roads of the county, but every time.the Council met they had applications from Road Boards to assist them with funds in building bridgea and other works which their limited funds could, not complete, and those present knew how many times Waitakerei East had been so helped. (Hear, hear.) cry had been raised to suspend, the Counties Act in this. county and hand over its powers and funds to the Road .■Bqar'ds. J,, ?"He , " , would not object, to that. Neither he nor the district he represented wanted the Act. They could manage very well without it" He had tried to induce his neighbbufa to form a borough at Devonport as the only legal escape from the county. ■Davonpbrt alone contributed £100 a year to the Council from licenses and reserves. This revenue would go to the liorough if one were formed, and would far more than pay the cost of the proposed co-operation.' ; . But the Counties Act was in operation, and Devonport ..and the rest of Takapuria had to send itwo. ; members'to-ithe Council and make the ■best ;of deny that those ,meinbers:h.ad'ever.showu a greedy spirit in ','the.': Council. ■■;■ :But: \to J!suspend : the .: Act they must;get.<the'.'consent of two-thirds of ■all.the rat ; si)iyera-'in ; ;'the.couaty in writing. iThis' being done, theworking of the county falls intc.the hands of the Chairmen of the. Boards for, the time being. And what woulcl become of them Aμ roads and : out-districts then ?.' '.Look atytlie main roads of the county, how—you caunot drive ten miles from Auck-' land: on' the Great North-road without risk .or limb;' . The local Boards have not and 'could: not spend money' on this road,'. ■alth'ough it-passes', through several roaddis-. tacts'; and :it is ;bnly :■, passable where '■■- the. county has, been 'at .work;' If the Act were suspended, it is.probableßoad Boards"would , be .formed in the 'outlying districts ;. but. if every acre of. the county-, was in some road 'district,,and-the license, fees handed ovei\to

the Boards, the reveuue in any district would be utterly insufficient even to maintain the district roads decently. The ratepayers would have roads to their own doora first, and the main roads would ba almost, entirely neglected. IE the Act wero suspended to-morrow, "Waitakerei East would be about £12 a-year richer, but would have to und* rtake to keep all the bridges and main roads in their district in repair—a task utttrly beyond their means. A'nd what was true of their district was true of nearly every other Koad Board in the county. The fact was the county W£.s too poor to carry , out the required works, and the people were too poor to bear more taxation. (Hear, hear.) And the 'Government must for many years help the poorer counties. That was their only resource. As the county became settled and property increased in value they would get more rates, but except j hure and there the settlers generally inWaite-,' mata were gum-diegcrs and buahmeii,' and when they had got all the gum and felled all the bush they-.cleared out aad left the land poorer than they found it. The Council had resolved to lay the whole matter before the Government,, and make an appeal on behslf of the county, ond he hoped they , would succeed. Acts of Parliament were not much use without money to work them.- You can make a road or build a bridge without an Act if you have got the money; but perhaps the Roads the Bridges Construction Act wiis one of the best yet passed. l≥ was gh T en to the local bodies in place of the former £ for £ subsidy. It enabled Eoad Boards to borrow for district roads, by paying back the full amount, with 3' per cent, interest, in annual payments extending over nine years, secured by a special rate. But it enables County Councils to borrow on much better terms, viz., by paying back,oue fourth only of the amount borrowed, secured either by a special rate or on the ordinary revenue of tbe county. But the Council was compelled to spend this borrowed money only on certain roads called main roads, which are named by the House of .Representatives. They had very few of these privileged roads in the county, and none at all in Watakc-rei East. But that was not the fault of ttie Council. The list was passed with the Act, and the Council n"ver saw it till passed and priuted. • .The principal roads were the Great Northi road—the road from Helensville thn»^h - Kaukapakapa, to Port Albert—the road from • Waikomiti to the West Coast, and from the . Waiwera to the .Like, and thence to Stokes' i Point and Devrjnport. For all these roads ; the Council had applied for money under • the Act—about £5000 in all. This was a > very modebt application compared with the 1 Southern Counties, many of which' hail gone in for £30,000 up to £60,000. There was only £100,000 set afart yearly for this pur--1 pose, yet one couuty—Mauawatu—not only , applied for the lot, but for £SO,OOO more, r Auckland, as usual, had been asleep in this i matter, and Wellington and the South got / 99 per cent, of the money last year, as their schedules of roads were much greater by r some means than those of the .Northern e counties. One of the hardest things was to 1 get a road added to the schedule, for . it had first to be approved by the Minister for Public Works, and then by a a committee of the House. However, the - Council sent down the following list of roads a to be added to the schedule :—Great North■i road to N ew Lynn via Titirangi to Manukau 1 Heads, 18 miles ; Stokes' Point to the Wade

via Lucas' Creek, 19 miles ; Wade-road to Riverhead via Black Bridge, 9 miles ; Kumeo / via Mr. Annett's to Taupaki Station, 9 < miles; Waik'omiti Station to main road, 1 mile ; Henderson Station to top of Mountamroad to junction at schoolhousc and cemetery, 5 miles ; Swanson Statiou via' Putema--tiki to do., 4 miles ;' Waitakerei Station to West Coast native reserve, 5 miles ; Taupaki ' Station to junction with Great North-road,, 3 miles ;' Great North-road to Hobsonville school and thence to Brtice's Point Wharf, 5 miles; Victoria-road, Devonport; via Beach-road to Cheltenham, 1 mile. After a long delay they were informed that roads numbered 1 and 10 would be recommended by the Miuister to be added to' theschtdule. But when the committee met they resolved that in future no roads should be added thot did.not. either lead'from the interior to a. port, or connect two.counties or two or more.ridings of a county.' ■So although, these two were added, one of the old ones was struck off, viz.,' 'the' road' from Helens— ville to the Babylon block, five miles. How- , ever, they must make the best of what they' , could get,, and' if tfce £5000 asked for' by 1 , ' Wai'.emata was got, tii2y as.a Council would . have'to pay back'-£lHEo.only by ten.a'nnual ~ instalments of £125 e.i'jh.. Out of the £5000' . the sum of £2000 had been applied Council for.' the Devonport and. Waiwera- ■ ro?.d, and' about-£7OO for the road through

Kaukariakapa. But in order that no injustice -should? be;, dune : to ths .otier'ipartS:, of:,the ..county; which do not derive any : benefit from this expenditure;..the Council have stipulated ;that> :inv Takapuha. theV;two. Road Boards, Devoittpoic; and- the. Lake, shall undertake beivveen ; them.t6. pay thesioOO to the Council. .This. will : ineaii '..that eacK''o£- these Boards . wiir- haVe !; to ■ pay. aanua.lly £25 each ;..fpr ,: it'en i .J:-years, ■''~ but.: in' ..:.return for '[ this ihey..will have the.'ugly:.. hills on the iake : "road cut down-.; and; , the gullies .'filled, the road-' , wi.ienedj -and :;re-metailed..... «The ...same arrangement has been" raade Vyith.the . Kaukapakana Board; aiid as soon as:, the Titirangi-road ':■ is proclaioied .the Council propose to .ask for £1000, : \;. to ..be spent on that verv impprtant ; bat "dangerous road, aad the same conditions will beimposed on the local bodies interested; ; So they would see the Council was capable of doing good work for the county, and his advice was to let that body alone. .Let it do all it could for the people in attending to the main roads and outlying districts. He had been twitted by the Chairman that he had not struck a rate. over Takapuna riding, and

ui—MMM ■■ »im iniiurdared not do so- The very contrary waa the fact. I'or five years a rate had been struck id common with the rest of the county, as the book before them ironld show. Bat the amendment of the Counties Act enabled them to avoid acting this farce in future, as power was bow given to rate ridings separately. Hence Takapnna and! the Wade ridings had been left out, as the Boards have agreed to collect their own rates. That was his answer to the Chairman. {Applause ) The Ghaiejiah said whetever they might complain of Mr. Maya about the Council, there was no doubt ho was a splendid speaker. He never listened to a better speech in his life; but he did not believe the half of it. (Laughter.) : Mr, Henry Psobert moved, "That the cordial thanks of this meeting be tendered to Mr. Oliver Mays for his attendance, and for the very explicit and satisfactory statement he had made." He was sure the motion would be carried unanimously. He, for onej' had his eye 3 opened that day, and so had a good many more. [Mr. McElwain here left the chair, and retired from the meeting. Mr. Probert was called to fHI his place. J Several gentlemen rose to second the motioc, which waa pat and carried by acclamation, Mr. Sisam only voting against it. The meeting then terminated.