MEETING AT ANDERSON'S BAY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13209, 16 February 1905, Page 3

MEETING AT ANDERSON'S BAY.

.-. . i A TOWN DISTRICT TO BE FORMED. A m£cting'of householders and ratepayers was hold last night in' the Anderson's Bay Sunday School for. tho purpose of considering the advisability of forming a town district. The chnir was occupied by Mr J. MacGregor, chairman of . tho local committee. _ The Chairman, in explaining to those, present the objects of the' meeting, said they would probably, remember that at a meeting held last year a committee Was appointed to -watch the interests of the district, Members of. that committee had given a. good deal of attention to several matters, and in particular to helping the Road Board to forward the tramway. They 'had come to the conclusion that the time had now arrived when a road board ceased to bo adequate as a form of local government for the ( requirements of the district, and the meeting had been called together that this matter might bo carefully considered. A good many years ngo, in 1881 in fact, a form of local government was desired to meet the circumstances of small towns having requirements beyond tho powers and machinery of a- Road Board. Road Boards were' naver intended to have anything t" do with streets, but only with district roads, and he did not think a road board could legally spend money on streets. To meet tho requirements of small towns for which the.powers of a road board were inadequate and the machinery of a municipality too cumbersome, ilie " town district" was devised as a sort of halfway house between' . the road board and the municipality. Tho Town Districts Act was passed ; n 1681, and a considerable number of districts were constituted under it, especially in the North Island; but there were some in the South Island also, such as Outram, Matanra, and Clinton. After a few years lb? act was altered so that no mors town- districts were formed, the reason being,' probably, that in these days it was much easier Is form a, municipality than it is now. He had held' for a good many years that this district should' have somo better form of local government than a road board, but, unfortunately, the provisions of the Town District Act were not available, and they would not have been' .available-now had not a private member (Mr Carncross) got- a bill passed last session re-enactiiij, the act of ' 1881. It was for them to consider whether they should not avail themselves of its provisions, such as they are, for they con- i tained certain restrictions that might be awkward. Continuing, Mr MacGreuor said: I shall state briefly tho effect ot the main provisions, and then you will see that our district is just one of the kind for which tho act was intended. The locality proposed to be constituted a town district must have at least 50 householders, and the petition to the Governor must,-lie signed by not less than two-thirds of Ihe resident householders within the area. The .town, district ceases -. to bo a jptirk of the road.'district, but .it continues lo form part of .tho'county; but, as you know, the Counties Act is not in operation in the Peninsula County. Of course the town district would have to take over a fair progortfon of. the liabilities and engagements of the Road Board, and the apportionment of these is a malter for the two boards, and. in «ise of their not being able to agree, it is mode by some person appointed by the Governor. The-machinery for the working-of the system was much simpler than that of a municipality: the governing'body was simply a. board 'of five, six, or sevon members, elected for/ two years, end one of the 'member.? was appointed chairman by the' board. The ' hoard had control not only of tlio district roads,. but; also of such streets in townships as it decided lo lake ovar, and before taking over streets it made such stipulations as to formation, metalling, kerbing, etc., as it thought fit; and this would be a very important matter, for some years, when new townships were being laid off. Of course, the board would have, the power to levy rates, and the limit with regard to general rates is the same as that of the Road Board—namely, three ' halfpence in the pound on the enpil.il value. Jr, would <il-o have power to levy separate . rales, and it was important to observe that 1 a separate rate meant, a rate for the exeeu- • ( ion of some work for the special benefit, of any particular portion of the district. The speaker went on to say it' must be clear to everyone that now the district, was becoming an important suburb of the city they 'could not go on leaving the control of I real concerns in the. hands of a Road Board on which they only hud two representatives. The tirno had come when they/ must have more direct control over the. raising and expenditure of. money. He did not suggest that the Itoad Board had acted otherwise than fairly—quite, the contrary. Besides the general reasons there were certain special reasons why there should be a change in the system of local Government. Tho road had to bo widened and otherwise improved for the electric tramways, but the Road Board's fund? were exhausted, and the rates for the next financial year would, he believed, not bo much moro than enough to meet liabilities already incurrd in the subdivision. They could not leave the read in its present state through the winter. Then there was the question of the.'extension of tho tramway tip the hill. That would be one of the first questions the Town Board would have to deal with. The people residing up the hill had. consented to "the handing over of the cemetery on the understanding that they wero to get the tramway up' tho hill. He thought tho reasons he bad given we.ro sufficient justification for the recommendation of the committee. They should endeavour to tako an impersonal and impartial view of the various Questions, instead of looking at the various matters from a personal point of view. Tho increase of population ' entailed upon them the necessity of providing the ordinary essentials of a populous district, such as a system of drainage and sewage. He would 'now give the boundaries suggested by the committee for tho now district, and lie might explain that th<fy had done their best to avoid including purely agricultural land. Commencing at, the Beach road to Portobeilo, opposite the Bay View Hotel, ;hey would include that" road as far • as the northern boundary of Waver* ,'cy, and thus take in' those parts of Cutten's Hi.ll, Vauxhall, Grants Braes, and' Waveiley which are now included in the Portobeilo road district; then we go along tho northern boundary of ■ Waverley to'the Main road,'"then along the Main road to Sliiel Hill, a'nd_ across the road so as to'include.-the sections on tho hotel side of the. road' as. far as the steep road, leading down to . the head of the southern part of the -Tomahawk Lagoon; then alone the lagoon to the: old Tomahawk road; then along thai arid Tahuna road to Brookes's road: then alone that to atd across Ferguson street, iii Tainui township I'Cutten's Flat),- along, Ferguson' street to Willow street, at the' back: of Tonkinson's ■ and Lynn's'and Hart's, then back to the Main road'at Tolmie's comer, and along the Cfican Beach railway ; then/across the rliad and slorig !the northern side -of it to the starting-point.' The' Chairman then asking that somebody in tho body'of- the hall should propose a. motion, Mr- 'Hewitt moved—"That- the meeting considered it desirable tliat a town' district should be formed, and that the boundaries .'-should bo'such'as. already indi*. cated by Mr MacGregor." " " - 'The motion'was seconded" by Mr Ross, .and carried,'with four dissentients. '•No further- discussion .oh; tho .-natter ensuing, a petition was'then placed on.the table for-, the signature of householders;' nearly 30 of whom placed (heir-names to the : document. The petition set- forth— "(1) That--.the lo'cnlity"; described in ,tl>e schedule "hereto is within the I'eriinsula County, and consists '.mainly of land comprised in "the- Ahderiwh's.Bay .subdivision of the Peninsula road district: in. the provincial district of- partlv-of land comprised in, the Portobeilo and Tomahawk- district "(2) The eai'd- locality, does not exceed

two square miles in area, ami 110 one'point in such area is distant more than four miles from, any oilier point,, therein. (3) Your petitioners .ore resident- householders <f the said locality, are desirous of • having tlit said locality constructed a loivii district." ' ,