MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 1777, 11 June 1895, Page 3

MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

The monthly meetingof the Mackenzie County Council was hold yesterday. Present— All members, Messrs B. Richardson (chairman), J. S. Rutherford, A. Hope, J. McGregor, M. McLeod, and J, Eoss. The minutes of the last meeting hav-

ing been read, Mr Rutherford drew attention to an error m the newspaper report of the meeting m regard to rescinding a resolution re wages. It was reported that he was mover of the original resolution, which was not the case. He m fact objected to the resolution. The minutes were turned up, and it was found that Mr Rutherford did not move the resolution that was passed. (Mr Rutherford moved a resolution, but this was altered m committee, and was then moved by Messrs McLeod and Hope.) The chairman said that an investigation had been made, and nothing could be found m the records of any offer .having been made by the Government some years ago to erect a bridge over the Pukaki if the Council paid £400 towards it. Mr McGregor believed that nothing ever came before the Council. If there had been anything at all it must have been private between the Minister and Mr Milne. The chairman said no one had any business to make public statements reflecting upon public men without good foundation for it. Mr Rutherford said there had been some foundation for the statement. The chairman : But it must have been a private foundation. The clerk and engineer's report was read. The Tekapo riding gang during the month completed surfacing Hakateramea Pass and Mackenzie Pass roads, and were now at work with the Fairlie gang, m the Fairlie riding, and the Albuiy gang was m its own riding. The contract at Melville Downs had been delayed by bad weather, but should be finished this week. The shingling ef the patli to the Fairlie Hall could be done for about £4 10s, if without kerbing, but it would be more satisfactory to form the street, as the school committee asked for work on the other side ; the street had been shingled but never properly formed. Since last meeting he had seen the Commissioner of Crown Lands with reference to several county matters, and had arranged as to the expenditure of Government grants on the Pukaki road. The Commissioner having agreed to it, the work on Guthrie's Road had been pub m hand. Chaffey's traction engine had travelled over the roads in' the county during the month contrary to the notice given him by the Council. Tlw stock of poisoned wheat was exhausted. The accounts for the year had not yet been audited. It was decided on the report, on the motion of Messrs Hope and Ross, that the riding gang form the school! road, the cost being estimated at about £10, and that a further supply of poisoned wheat be got. The chairman stated that he had visited the Cannington school road with the engineer. There appeared to be very little traffic indeed, and the track was really a good one. The road was not on the proper line, and it would cost £20 to make the new line as good as the present track. A couple of pounds spent I at harvest time to clear away some sand would do all that could be required. If the residents could show that the traffic would justify the expenditure of £20, it would be another thing.— The matter to stand over m the meantime. Tenders were received and dealt with as follows : — Fencing road to H. Kidds— W. H. Smith £21 9s 3d, W. Thompson £20 7s 6d, Duff and Mallett £14 ss, T. Adamson £10 10s (accepted), P. Carr informal. Sledge track at A. Smith's— P. Gormley £106 5s 6d, J. Todd £103 11s. Keefe and Siegert £67 16s 3d (accepted). Lease of Burkes Pass Pound reserve — A. Cowan £3 10s (accepted). Painting and tarring Allandale footbridge—W. Ray £54 9s, J. Todd £38 15s, J. Riddle £35, F. A. Slow £35, 11 . Fraser £32, J. Small £28 10s, H. Stewart £23 10s (accepted). Supplies of horsefeed at Fairlie and at Burkes Pass— Young and Co., oats Is lOd and 2s per bushel, chaff 35s and 45s per ton; J. Siegert, oats Is 9d and Is lid, chaff £1 17s 6d and £2 7s 6d.~ The tender of J. Siegert was accepted for oats, and that of Young and Co. for chaff. The Council conferred with their solicitor, Mr Tripp, concerning, the legal position of H, Chaffey, the owner of traction engines on the road. His license had been refused and general permission withdrawn, yet he persisted m using the engines m defiance of the Council and m breach of all provisions of the by-law, and all stipulations imposed. ' It was resolved, on the motion of Messrs McGregor and Richardson (Mr Hope dissenting) — ''That the Council's solicitor take action against Mr Chaffey." The solicitor wrote on a case submitted respecting a complaint that a butcher had been given a license for new premises without the usual advertising.— Mr Tripp wrote that the license was a renewal of one granted for the same place the year before, when the change should have been advertised. But the license having been given, the Council could not go behind it. If a license had not been previously granted the application must be duly advertised. The Fairlie School Committee applied for repairs to footpath and roadway on school yoad, — Dealt with m repert, Four residents of Burkes Pass complained of a nuisance arising from waste water from a tap.— After a good deal of discussion it was resolved on the motion of Messrs McLeod and Hope that the engineer have the nuisance abated at once. Mr Deem, stock inspector, drew attention to the quantity of gorse on some of the county roads, supplying harbour for rabbits. He asked the Council to assist m inducing owners to clear the gorse off the roads.— Reply to be sent that the necessary steps will be taken at once to enforce the law. Mr A. H. McLean, wrote and also waited on the Council to urge that the road from the main road to his private road be shingled, as it is slippery and dangerous m wet weather.- On the motion of Messrs Richardson and McGregor it was resolved that the work be done. Mr Rutherford opposed the shingling of more than bad places, on the ground that the Council's finance required the strictest economy. The cost was estimated at about £30. The engineer was instructed to report on an application by J. L. Hamilton, for improvement to street drainage m front of his sections. Fairlie. A circular was received from the New Zealand Counties Association notifying that the next meeting will be he}d m Wellington on 30th July, and asking the Council to appoint a delegate and forward notice of any business they wished to have discussed.— lt was resolved on the motion of Messrs McLeod and Hope, that Mr Flatman, member for Pareora, be asked to represent this Council at the conference, the clerk to forward any business- the Council wish to bring forward. Circulars from Stratford re rating on unimproved values, aud from Hokitika re encouraging gold-mining, were "received." Mr J. Duke applied for a plank over a creek to allow his children to go to schqol.— Engineer to supply one. Several letters were read respecting the Melville Downs wate* supply: On May 24th, the clerk wrote to Mr Clulee, agent for the property, informing him that the Council proposed to charge the estate 5 per cent, interest on the loan for construction of the race, and also a fair share of the cost of maintaining the race from the head works to the estate. Mr Clulee wrote on the 25th May, inquiring whether this demand for maintenance would be on the basis of acre or of value. If the former he would accept the terms offered as very fair. The clerk stated that he gave a verbal reply to this, that the Council had not decided what the basis should be. He also mentioned that a difficulty had cropped up about getting the loan, The Secretary to the ' Treasury wrote under date 25th May :— " In reply to your letter of the X4th inst. I am direc-

ted to express the Colonial Treasurer's regret that your application of the Ist February last, for a loan of £100 for the construction of water-races m the Melville Downs water district, did not disclose the fact that there is but one ratepayer m the said district, as the Local Bodies Loans Act, 1886, does not contemplate the granting of any loan for a district which comprises only one ratepayer. Section 34 of the said Act states that the local authority shall call a meeting of the ratepayers ; and by section 35 of the said Act it is only after due consideration and discussion of the loan proposal, that the presiding officer shall give notice that a poll of the ratepayers will be taken. As there cannot be due consideration and discussion where only one ratepayer is concerned, the Colonial Treasurer is unable to grant the said £100 loan to your Council." The Commissioner of Crown Lands, Christchurch, wrote on June 7th :— I have to inform you that the settlers at Ashwick Flat .have laid before me a formal objection to the proposal to supply the Melville Downs Estate with water by utilising the Ashwick Flat water-race system. As I verbally informed you (the clerk) at Timaru on the 4th instant, I am of opinion that any benefit derived by the Melville Downs Estate, or any other freehold land from the headworks and water-race system which have been constructed at the cost or charges of the Ashwick Flat Crown tenants, should be paid for by the freeholders. The fairest way would appear to be to apportion the cost pro rata over the whole area benefited, and. relieve the Crown tenants of a fair proportionate amount. ' As to the request by the •lessees for permission to use the surplus water for irrigation purposes I shall be glad to learn the Council's views. Mr Clulee wrote on 7th June re undertaking given by Mr R. Scott : — " Assuming this document to be m order, it was clearly only contemplated at the time, that the undertaking was intended to be m force temporarily only and so as to give the Council a reasonable time to complete their arrange ments. If the Council failed to get the loan, the obligation on the Melville. Estate would naturally cease also." The chairman said that this was not meeting the Council m a fair way. The manager came to the Council begging and praying to have the race made at once to save his sheep, and offering to give any sort of guarantee, and now Mr Clulee wanted to repudiate the whole business. . Mr McLeod thought at the time that they were rather precipitate, and now they were landed m a difficulty. The chairman thought that a request and a guarantee from a large ratepayer ought to be enough to go upon. It would now be unfair to take the Land Board's view of the sharing of the cost. The Council undertook the work on a definite agreement to charge only so much a year for the water. On the inquiry of the Commissioner of Lands, the clerk stated that the Ashwick Flat settlers have no claim to use the water for irrigation purposes, the race having been made under the Act which forbids irrigation. The Council agreed m this view, and it was decided to write to Mr Marchant to this effect, and also explain what the Council had done and proposed to do m the matter of the extended race. On the. Treasury letter, the chairman said it was nonsense to say that the law had not been complied with, and the letter must have been written to back up the Ashwick Flat settlers. One man could " consider" such a matter. Mr McGregor said they splitting straws. Mr Tripp thought the Treasury was technically right, if he chose to enforce that view. It was splitting straws certainly. The clerk said that if there were three ratepayers, and only one turned up at the meeting, the Act would be complied with. The Council had been to a certain extent misled by the Treasury, which provisionally granted the loan, on condition that all the legal steps were taken : and these were then taken. The Council, had. the owners undertaking to pay interest on the cost of the loan, as a lump sum for the making of the race, so that the Council were quite safe. Mr McGregor thought it was not usual to tell the Treasury how many ratepayers were affected by the poll. The chairman considered that the Council was not bound to charge a new district a proportion of the cost of the headworks. They were not bound to do it, yet they had agreed to charge Melville Downs more than the maintenance. Mr Tripp said the Land Office view was that the settlers had a moral claim to have the cost of the headworks shared. After a good deal of discussion it was agreed that Mr Clulee should be written to, postponing further negotiations until the difficulty with the Treasury had been settled, and that the Treasury be written to, pointing out that the loan had been granted on certain conditions, which conditions have been complied with, and that on the faith of these things the race' for which the loan was wanted had been constructed. The Hospital and Charitable Aid Board wrote, asking for prompt payment of the first half of this year's levy, £347 17s 4d.— The chairman pointed out that this was an increase of £106 over last year, and Mr McGregor suggested that they should protest against it. The chairman said it was no use protesting, but m the face of the hard times they might ask the Board to keep down the expenditure as much as possible. — Jt was agreed that this be done, and a copy of last year's balance-sheet asked for. The Council then adjourned for lunch, and on resuming The chairman asked members to postpone the business for a few minutes for a special purpose. Some time ago it was proposed to make a presentation to Mr McGregor on the occasion of his retiring from the chairmanship, after holding the office for many years, by way of recouping to him expenses he had from time been put to on the Council's behalf. They found, however, that they could not use the county funds for the purpose, and it was therefore decided to make Mr McGregor a presentation by private subscription. He regretted that the amount collected was not very large, still if Mr McGregor would accept it he could do so with the assurance that it would have been twice or thrice as much had the times been hetter. He was sure that he was expressing the wishes of all the ratepayers m saying that they honed Mr McGregor would 'long' live, and long continue to act as a member of the County Council. So saying Mr Eiehardson passed an envelope to Mr McGregor. (The envelope contained a cheque for twenty guineas.) Mr McGregor said he did not know what to say about it, as this was t-he first he had heard of it ; ancl he did not yet know the amount of it, out whatever it was he accepted it as testimony from the ratepayers that an old servant of theirs had tried to do his best for them through a long period of time. He was surprised at -anything of the sort bejng done m these hard 'times, and he would think the more of it on that account. It was a pleasure to know that his services had been appreciated by the ratepayers, and he heartily thanked Mr Richardson and the subscribers, and whatever the envelope contained he knew that it was given m a good spirit. Mr McLeod endorsed the chairman's remarks, and alluded pleasantly to the probably unique time record of MiMcGregor as a continuous member and as a continuous chairman. Mr McGregor had transferred his services from one riding to another, and then had been elected at the top of the poll, which was a very good indication of the high es,t}mation m which he was/ hejd. b^y. (Hp ratepayers. The engineer was instructed to report a.t next hieeting on two small applications, made personally by Mr Slow and Mr Siegert, and on a third, to have feed troughs made for the pounds at Albuiy and Burkes Pass,

It was decided to hold m abeyance further rabbiting work m the Tekapo plantation. At the previous meeting a resolution was carried to spend £15, balance of £30 vote.l a year or so ago, on shingling Corbett's road. Mr Rutherford at once gave notice of motion to rescind the resolution. This notice was now brought up. Mr Rutherford contended that the road is m very good condition, and m the present state of the finances, the Council must cut down expenses where possible. They had no money to waste. He offered to drive members down to see the road. Mr McLeod approved of the suggestion. The chairman admitted that the road was m good order at that moment, but after rain it became soft, being unsound. It was only a fine weather road. The teams were knocked off before because rain came on and they were cutting up the road. Mr Corbett waited an the Council and urged his claim to the expenditure of the money, the balance of a vote only half spent. Mr Rutherford did not see that they were bound to spend a vote if it was not necessary. After a good deal of discussion Mr Corbett retired, and the discussion .was continued, chiefly by the chairman, m favour of the expenditure, and by Mr Rutherford against it. The engineer said it depended whether there was to be any heavy traffic on the road, that the money should be spent or not. The work was stopped before because the teams cut it up co badly. It was a weak road. Mr McGregor suggested a compromise, the spending of part of the money on the worst places. Mr McLeod urged acceptance of Mr Rutherford's offer to drive them down to see the road. Eventually the debate was adjourned till next meeting. It was resolved, on the motion of Messrs McLeod and Rutherford—" That a man be put on for a month to clear the worst undergrowth on the Council's Upper Horse-shoe Bend plantation." It was agreed that the contractor be allowed £1 for extra work done m the erection of the ribbon fence at the Tekapo plantation. The Colonial Secretary's office forwarded £5 15s 9d, half the difference between the cost of the licensing elections m 1891 and 1894. The Hospital and Charitable Aid Board applied for prompt payment of the first half of this year's levy, £347 17s 4d. Accounts were passed for payment — General, £323 19s (of this £173 18s 8d is for charitable aid) ; cemetery account £1 ; Ashwick Flat water-races, £3 ; contractors deposit, £7. The Council then rose.