The Pukekohe and Waiuku Times WEDNESDAY, 26th JUNE, 1912. TOWN BOARD ACCOUNTS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 1, Issue 16, 26 June 1912, Page 2

The Pukekohe and Waiuku Times WEDNESDAY, 26th JUNE, 1912.

TOWN BOARD ACCOUNTS.

"We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice."

♦- It is a matter for regret that the late Town Clerk should continue to push the Borough Council to extremities ,vitn ruoiiec. u, .A.V- -">-v -'inard ac_-, counts. The Council has boen very patient, and as eich fresh apology for the non-presentation of accounts Las been made extensions of time havo boen granted. Frankly, we have not regarded the excuses made from time to time as at ail defensible. If the books of ih" Town Board had been properly kept the late Clerk should have been able to give the Borough Council a good working idea of their financial position within 24 hours Instead, it has taken weeks of hard driving to get tho statement which we hopo will be presented to-night. The Town Board has had something like £12,000 of loan money to spend in something like twelve months, and one would think from tho .vay the Council and the ratepayers are kept waiting for a statement of accounts that only a trifling sum was involved. There scorns to be no sense of responsibility to the people. , The assumed by tin late Town Clerk at the last Council meeting was quite unjustified. There ha; been no suggestion at the Council meetings of ihHft or impropriety. Cortainly there have been charges oi negligence, and perhaps of clerical incompetence. But those charges could never have arisen if the Clerk had simply done his duty. Ilowevor, our anxiety is not to concern ourselves about past muddlement, but to let the ratepayers know where they now stand financially as a municipality. And this we cannot do—nor can the Mayor or any member of the Council —until tho books of account are made available.