County Representation.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XXIX, Issue 9295, 10 March 1899, Page 4

County Representation.

SPECIAL MEETINGS COUNTY COUNCIL.

A spocial meeting of tho : County Council iwaa Held on Wednesday, in accordance with the? Counties ;Act, 10 consider, the: position of the< various ridings in regard to representation. The Chairman, , said the : County Clerk had prepared a statement showv ing the'position of the ridings in re- ' gard to percentage of population and capital value." ~ r Mr.. Hollis , read CT| the , 4 statement, which was as followsr'' 1 i Of Capital Aggreg ■ j of l obulation, Value. ate Tolara ... ••• 4iß 7't'i Kauiwf-iigH ... 8 13*1 47'S) ; HadtiDg.. ... li'iß 26*7 38*56 ■ ft,aw... ... l!i"0 13*4 25ii Wttio.uh 13*7 3' i6'i. The Chairman said there were now I eigut BiitiugvMeiu,bers..for the>tiye difc ferent riding) Wd;.itij\yas i'o= to ttyi Counoil td^pp'6iHtf ; ano& member*' . making nine As would frpm ; iheji' ; ment made by Mr. Hp]^ittt(K , Biding v/as entitled ber—w fact, it waa clearly "entitled to ' three. The Hastings ! ' and then Parawai invpoint'of import- ' ance. It was for the Council to say what should be done.

Cf,,^rb^t,moyed, ;( ,'!That, the ; To; tara Riding have" an extra member, and that the number of members in the other ridings remain as they are." ; Cr. Killgour seconded, saying that would be the best way of dealing with the matter, especially as it had been shown that Totara was fully entitled to another; member, nJ-

Cr. Deeble .waa prepared to supporo that arrangement provided that a fail representation was secured by the propped readjustment, --. v : The Ghairlbian: The Council has, the power to'do just as ? it pleases. It : can take one member from one riding and give an additional one to another. It can either increase or decrease the number of members in'a riding.

Cr. Deeble: What about Waiotahi Riding} Is it to two members?

The Chairman: It is not entitled to two members, i According to.;the statement,, -|ntitled|t6 three members, Hasting! two, ?Kaua|rangi. two, and--Parawai ftnd'Waiota-hito *orie each, but in view of the fact that the new Local Bodies' is* to come next Bfeasioli; aiid.rmtiy: become law, I would not like to reduce of.)¥aiotahi..; It is possiMo'Councillors may not have-to' be elected ,in.November ;next, as,they. may ! be appointedb/" the'' Goverii-'

ment. ■ . . V: ,;. _ ', r ,. Cr. Deeble: What does the- Act eayl - ' , v

The Chairman: We can do just at we like^'v? *; ,3. f f Cr. beetle": No j 13on*t think you can. What does the Act sav?

The Clerk then read sefct&ri 'Ml r of the Counties Act, whichis as'follows: "The Council shall, on some day in March.,preceding- the: expiration jot the te^M'of the"CouncillorsJ hold a meeting for the purpose of considering whether the representation of the different ridings requires' readjust-' ment, and if it be found that,* taking into consideratipn thd'-number of rate; payers rateablV'vdue; the reprel sentaition of any riding or ridings is insufficient, shall alter the representation in such way that the tion of the separate ridings may, as far as possible, be proportioned to the value , and number of ratepayers of each riding respectively." ' The Chairman: It has been pro-posed-that the number pf members l e bne^making; nine .in ally ®pd' that the "additional member be given to Totara Riding. t The Clerk.;. Wo|ild,you, put the,mo-, tion as twoSw^te'-TCsolutionS^^'^'

The Chairman: Very well. The motioii is that the number of members of the Council be increased to nino. Cr. Ross seconded the . motion, which was carried. The Chairman: Cr. Corbett moves and Cr. Killgour seconds, "That the additional .member be given to Totara Riding." . Carried, fiv^ Cr. Deeble:. "Throne member be taken from WaiotaK and be given,to Hastings.". ... , ' '7". f ''! ■ '*$$$ K "That the nMinber' of members for Ihe other ridings'remaw as it is noW' Cr f 'Rnsg seconded, j » nv Oi; Deeble; section of {he . AcHhat/httd just WrreaH made it compulsory to readjust the.representation, %'f'the,ridings .infaicordance with the rateable value and two members. If Jo."jUß^oM it might happen that, a-petition would be forwarded to' the Governor, with the; result that the Councilors' might be relieved of their positions. That: -was his view of th° s ... do not think it would"6e wise'tb do,it ; at this stage. I will t the' motion. Cr. Deeble's motion was defeated, i&lyjtliehtoter/dndiseconder supporting it. Cr. Corl&tt'dAmendment-was th&rfl-j ' Waioretaioft Kiiuv' aerariga two arid Paraw'ai '4hd Hastings,, one each. , ,' was all the special busies. The Auoblfltid ExhiMMnn Tiwat'flt' i'.BW in hard, and «similar 8"m is ex. peoted from the Bale of the Exhibition build. JBgl.

I Tnames bounty Council* i | i ' \ir> '<■ j The following additional business was transacted at the County Council meeting on Wednesday evening Hill Street.W- McCormick,; M. Campbell, H. Matheson and -I R.Thomas desired the Council to form the footpath on the east side of Hill ktreat. They hoped their request would be granted,'as "there; was a nice blook of buildings facing the street."—Referred to the Engineer. Whorepoa.—Mr. John Elliott wrote; "I beg to call your attention to the ditch on the Wharepoa-Omahu road, which leads from.the upper end. of,my. boundary to the railway. This was constructed a number of years ago by ty Couiaty, and nothing has been done to it since/- . The consequence is that it stands full of water all the winter, and this is injurious to the road and all the adjacent lands. Would jyou be good enough to bring the matter] before:-the Council : 'at its next Sieeting and have! it cleaned out. There.are-only 23 :chairis,:and 2s 6d per xhainjshould; clean Jt.j. I: beg to caU .your attention to a large.fire that was lit yesterday, and burnt fiercely up in the upper part of the Onetai ranges. .-There are. .always fires burn- t ing eyeiy: summei: jjrhfeh are.pmcipaljy caused by gumdiggers clearing tho way,to dig gum. This should be put a stop to by imposing a heavy penalty of'say-riJBOi 1 or 12}mon.ths ,i :imprisonf ment upon all such depredators."— Or. Corbett moved, the Chairman sec ondfd. and it was carried, that Mr. Elliot be informed that the first part of his letter would be attended to later on, and that in regard to the fire he would have to, acquaint the Ranger; of the circumstances. . . j |

Hauraki Road.--Mrs. v J. Cox, F. Amy, S. M. Gribble, M. Evans and R. Crawford complained of the state of the .Hauraki road.—Referred to the Engineer.'* . Fishing Rocks.—T. Donovan wrote: "I now own the property near the Fishing.-.RockSj.-formerly Mr. Carran's. On the road, during the summer mowhs picnic parties are continually lighting fires, lam afraid : of. the fire and thus spreading through, my ground. To prevent this I would ask permission fence two chains Jong, along fthe .edper-of the terrace inside the; County, stone, wall endowment. I will be'prepared to .remove this fence at any time the Council may require to widen this part of the l -''road.—The ■ Chaiririin - said" it would never do to allow any one to -fence jin any portion vqfi,the County road. The writer would have to proteptiMs moved that ho permission be granted, :but that. if r the. writer,, phose to erect fencd'oiithe'tfound'ary lin'iof the road he could do , so—Seconded by Cr. \illgour and carried. ' A F.oy wrote: "I am sending herewith two framed photographs of the opening of Aroha railway, and will deem it a favor, if your Council will kindly accept same from me as a memento of the,;ocdaßi()n.'V^Pn; : .the? mo: tioii of the Chairman, Seconded by Cr Ross, a hearty vote of thanks was ; pas«ed. to. Mr., Fp.v for his gift. . Board of. Works.—The report of the Board of Works was received and adopted. 47 fi • .' Engineer The" Engineer's report was received.—lt was decided to ask the Minister to transfer a sum of £200 >prbmißedifbr the Puru Creek road to the Tararu Creek .road.—The balance of the report was adopted. ~.. SeabjvSJreet.iTTCivDeeble referred to a dangerous crossing between Sealey and Augustus streets.—Referred "to the Engineer, f, }• \ that two holes in front of the Post Office at Tapu required, attending to. I —The,-Engineer was, instructed tp see 1 that the* matter' was' attended to 'by the roadman.

,' Defaulters.—ln reply to Cr. Corbett the Clerk said that ratepayers who did not pay up by the end of the month would have their names placed 011 the defaulters' list. If they paid the rates, however, prior to June 30 they would be entitled to be taken off the - list rand -placed on . the . electoral roll.

pointed licenses they-Bhould be entitled to the. frail-' that, the. governmenli'be requested to legislaW in that by Gr. ; Eillgovir and uf'li'-ii} 1-rt ; The Governor's Visit.—The Chairman/stated ;that: it had; been; decided nor'on the occasion 6f his visit on the 29th.jnst., ans,pot ; separate addresses, asihad been originally intended; - 4. j?Pgs.-T-Pp,the 'm o ti°n of Cr.,'Steed man •;secoiided , 'by Cr. Walton, .Captain Newby of ?!fypu : ;w«fs appointed. Dog Registraf-fep'Jtho Hastings Riding, in lieu, of 'Mr. McMahon.

•AiSledge Road.—A letter from ,j W. C Kelly and. W. Lockie, asking for assistance in making;, a pledge ropd to their cliihi at' Tajiu; was,.referred to' the Engineer',''with'] "to visit the place, and, give assistance if he considered the oircumstnnces -re.-, quired it. - : 11

, Accounts—The monthly accounts am6itotTn^ f iTßo,'-%ere ; 'paMfed ) for' .payment...;.

:; On .'Tuesday evening Vat Patrick's Catl)edrßl,rAuoHand, a.:yery fujgftpssful fare* oonirrs. : -5f3S * leiifileted to Hia Lordsnip $e Eight Rev, jpr.-Lemhnn, on rtw. : wo?Bibri of ihiff'iflfrndef trip to Emwie, 1 b/.the.members6f"St"'^attiotr*eohoir. Bishop Lenihan and s number of Soman Catholic ,9|f)rgy.'meprfl??nt. S|"BBW«ngacoomnodß. tion of the spaoious mthedral. almost to its utmost limit, a oironmstanoe that testified strongly to tbo Bishop's popn. larity in tj?»t oity, j