A FREE AND EASY COUNTY COUNCIL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 3425, 19 September 1885, Page 3

A FREE AND EASY COUNTY COUNCIL.

[By Teleobaph.j (fbom ouk own correspondent.) WELLJKGTOS, Sept. 18. Some remarkable disclosures will bo found m tho following summitry of lljo Report of Mr James Edward Fitzgerald, who was appointed Special Auditor to examine tho accounts of the Inangahua County Council, and which was presented to Purlinment to-day: — The Auditor disallows £1622 7s 6d of the expenditure inquired into as illegal, nnd £1702 6s 7d of doubtful legality. H e states that none of these vouchers would huve passed tho Auditor had they been on the I'ublic Account instead of the County Fund. Among tho objects for •which money has been spent without authority are the following:— (1) For getting up petitions to Parliament. (2) For refunding to publicans part of tho license fees required by law to bo paid, which is clearly n misappropriation of the County funds. (3) For tho entertainment of Ministers at banquets, hiro of halls for meetings apparently for political purposes. There aro also lereral Touchers showing payments of considerable sums (m ono case of £'(*>) without any information of the services performed or whether any service had been performed for the County. Mr Fit/.gorald adds, " Nor can I fail to romavlj that the recipient of the sum abovo mentioned was at tho time a member of the House of Representatives." 1 (4) Unctor the bead " travelling expenses "

are costs of members' attending a, conference of County Council delegates, and of delegates to Wellington, for which there ia no authority. (5) Travelling oxpenses amounting to upwards of £200 have been paid t > Councillors lui:ig m JJeefton itself, for attending County Councils held there. (6) Money spent on | tho Christ church Exhibition. Among the , doubtful disbursement a are Iho following : — < (1) Expenditure under tho Health Act, which should be recouped by the Treasury, as the County Fund is not applicable to such purposes, (i) The acclimatisation of fish. (3) Travelling expenses to various places, no purpose being stated m tho vouchers and nothing mentioned to show what the travellers were engaged m doing, and nothing mentioned to show that the travellers were eng-.iged iv the public service at all. Mr Fitzgerald concluded with the following remarks : — " On the whole there seems to havo been an impression on tho part of the County that it 13 open to them to spend tho funds of tho County m any manner which they considered beneficial to tho County's interest, entirely ignoring tho fact that the Corporation is striclly bound by the charter of the Statute under which it acquires its powers, and those whose intorcsts are involved m this ease, that any ratepayer may recover from the corporate fund any sums illegally expended. Tho report is addressed to His Excellency the Governor, to be submitted to Parliament. The detai'.ed accounts are appended.