PRESENTATION TO MR OLLIVIER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6314, 11 August 1888, Page 3

PRESENTATION TO MR OLLIVIER.

A Surprise Party. A number of gentlemen, holding the offioss of 'clerks to various Eoad Boards waited upon Mr OHivier at hi 3 office at eleven o'clock this morning, for the purpose of showing their respect fdr him by a presentation on his retirement from the posfcion of Provincial District Auditor. There were present — Messrs W. T. C. Mills, Healhcote ; N. Ellis, Eiccarton ; C. W. Cotter, Spreydon and Halswell ; Freeman, Tenrpleton ; F. W. East, Lincoln ; E. Wrijht, Eyreton ; Hickman, Avon j P. Sinclair, Springs, and Smith, Linwood Town Board. The deputation arrived at Mr Olliviet's office eoine few minutes before the articles of plate which formed their gift, and, m order to keep their old f rieiid in ignorance of their real business till the proper moment, Mr Mills gravely informed him that they had come to ask his opinion on certain questions, and were waiting for some documents bearing on the matter. The discussion on Eoad Board finance which followed was terminated by the arrival of sundry parcels, not the least like bundles of documents, and after a general laugh Mr Ellis, the senior member of the deputation, made the following address : —

"We have come here this morning as a deputation from a meeting o£ Road Board and Town Board clerks in the Canterbury District, and I, as senior in the matter of appointment of those officers, have been requested to express to you in their name their deep feeling o£ regret that your official connection with them as auditor of accounts has terminated. I acknowledge, in their name, the very great kindness and courtesy which has ever attended your conduct of business with them ; I thank you, on their behalf, for the numberless instances of consideration and assistance, and at the same time bear testimony to the thoroughness which has always marked your examination of accounts. "We feel that we should like, in however small a manner, to give expression to our respect for lyouv public character as well as our appreciation of your private -worth, and therefore beg your acceptance of the accompanying trifles, at the same time asking you to believe that, in saying farewell to you in your official capacity, we still wish to retain the right to consider that we have in you a valued friend. You will see that our offering consists of a tea urn, with the names of the donors inscribed thereon, and, not to fee forgetful of her who has for over fifty years shared your cares, your sorrows, and your joys, & fruit stand for Mrs Ollivier, feeling that in honouring her we are pleasing you." Mr Ollivier said that he was intensely surprised. His friend. Mr Mills' oration had made him sure they had come to him on some very important malter, and he had been priming himself for an answer to their questions, which he regretted they had allowed to fall into the background. He was deeply sensible of their kindness, and must say that it was like drawing all his teeth to have to terminate an intercourse which had been co kindly and pleasant. He had always done his utmost to carry out the intentions of the Acts under which lie worked. It had bean a pleasure to him to know that he had always been associated with, gentlemen who knew perfectly well what their duties were, and needed no interference or exercise of power on the part of the Auditor, who, in Provincial days, was entrusted with very large powers. Only once during a long experience had he had to put what he might term the penal clauses into force. He had found that where ladies had taken place they had generally been the result of, perhaps, carelessness, and that a mild rebuke was sufficient to prevent their being repeated. Tnere were two ways of administering the law, and he had always striven to administer it in gentleness and forbearance, not conniving at what was really wrong, but always ready to pass any expenditure which was really within the powers of the Boards, though it was not expressed in precisely the correct form. He had on one occasion told a certain Colonial Treasurer that this was his practice, and -was told, "You are quite right." Unfortunately that system did not prevail at present. It was much to be regretted that tho Eoad, County, and Town Board authorities -were not rising in protest against this change in the law, which he thought unconstitutional and altogether illegal. The first Koad Board Auditors were appointed by the Superintendents of Provinces, and. continued to hold office until the abolition. They were brought under the control of the General Government, to a certain extent, by the Revenues ! Act of 1878. The Eoad Boards Act of 18S2 distinctly said that the Auditor for the Koad Board should be the j same person who acted as Auditor for the County Council accounts. He (Mr Ollivier) held his appointment j under warrant from the Governor, but I notwithstanding this, in March last he received notice from the Government that after the end of tbe month he would cease to be an ;officer of the Government. He positively declined to go, and informed the Government that he had arranged for certain audits in April, which he intended to carry out, and warned the Government not to allow any officer of the AuditorGeneral's department to interfere with him, or there arould be a scandal. He audited the accounts he referred to, but then came the country audits, and it wa3 not likely that he was going to incur travelling expenses which be knew would be disallowed. He knew also that the voucher for his next monthly salary would be disallowed, and felt that it would be folly for him to kick against the pricks. He, therefore, contented himsalf with protesting, as he held that, having been appointed under the Governor's warrant he could not be displaced by any Government, Ha could assure them that Government, while professing to be so extremely anxious to carry out the great and glorious principle of local self-government, were going to take all power from the local bodies, and concentrate everything in Wellington. Hence their accounts were made subordinate to an officer in Wellington. HeJbad the very greatest sesjgect for Mr M'Lean.

of the Auditor-General's Department who . was a most excellent man, but he objected to the principle. In no shape or form was there now conformity with the Act of Parliament, which said that the accounts should be presented to him (Mr Ollivier), and that they should then be adopted by the Road Boards. Now the accounts were sent to Wellington to awaifc the convenience of the Auditor-Gene-ral to grant his certificate when he pleased. De (Mr Ollivier) was astonished that the members of the House did not Estop this sort of thing. By-and-by they would find that local selfgovernment had become a thing of the past. He was very sorry to say good-bye. | He had hoped that he would be allowed to die peaceably in harness, but the Pates had willed otherwise. He hoped, however, that he would be spared a little longer so as to be able to go somewhere else, tor Le would at some time or other be an applicant for a seat in Parliament — (hear, hear) — where he hoped to protest ag;aimt doing away with every vestige of what served to remind one of the old Provincial days. Now the Colony was not governed by a Ministry, bu., 6olely by heads of departments, who pulled the strings. It was useless to appeal to Ministers. He had sent letter after letter, and telegram after telegram, to Wellington, and had received every assurance of their sincere desire to do this and that, but directly hia back was turned, it appeared that they had no desire to fulfil what was said. He would thank them on behalf of Mrs Ollivier, who had been a true helpmate to him, and he hoped that when the time came for them to go they would together, for it would be cruel to part them after they had been together so long. The tea urn presented to Mr Ollivier is a very handsome one, of silver, bearing the names of the following gentlemen :— N. Ellis, W. J. Lunn, R. Wright, W. T. C. Mills, C. W. Comer, J. Taylor, T. M. Martin, T. Quealy, F. W. East, R. Colthart, J. Duthie, J. O'Malley, A. J. Francis, W. Knight, H. R. Smith, P. Sinclair, G. S. Hickman, and A. Freeman. The fruit stand is also very handsome. A stem of twisted ivy in frosted silver supporf-js a dish of ground and cut glass to receive the fruit.