LATEST TELEGRAPHIC

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 701, 24 February 1881, Page 2

LATEST TELEGRAPHIC

\nOit OUR tiTOOOBKESPONbENT] ,'?i£

;'-. This day.

,: The audit office is forcing an.enquiry : into .the circumstance of Whitelaw, superintendent Luuatic Asylum, having signod receipts for his mother's'salary as matron, and received money, she avowing that none came to her. ■•

.. A ;telegram' from" London shews- a decline in wool prices from'penny to penny half-penny. ■■■';'/-,/' .';'■'' .• } Styles,-for. assaulting Crawford, late Resident Magistrate, got two months' imprisonment,' and had to find sureties to; •keep the peace for six months afterwards. . The-Colonial Treasurer will return fromi'Tiiranakl this day. \- . .... A Cambridge, native named Pariki,' lately" from Wellington, murderously assaulteda lialfrcaslenamed Wallace, and was arrested. ... AUCKLAND, '-. The Australian cricketers left by the Arawata for Sydney, the game with the' , Auckland men being drawn, much in the Australians'favor. ;'■■'■' Fells, station-master, has been arrested for defalcations. His cash was eighty pounds short, .. . 'f : . -.'■' .; DUNEDIN, ' -. ,Sir-Mpdred is again first favorite for the Gup-at oven money, On Dit second;and Mason's choice to'run third, . PALMEKSTON. '■■ Afire destroyed the premises of Goodison. He was insured for LlO3 on behalf of the' Hutt Building Society, The cause of tho fire is unknown. LONDON. '-."'; 21st. The Greek Government is still actively preparing for war. Tho Irish Coercion Bill was finally considered in committee, and the third reading expected without delay. Severe weather continues in midland England, with disastrous floods, The feeling of. the Catholic party against Parnell is intensifying.

(To the Editor'of the Daily.)

Sin,—ln recent issues of the Wairarapa Daily, we have had- several letters and articles on the County system, and amongst others, two from Mr Pharazyn, written with the avowed purpose of educating the public mind as to the essential difference between County Councils and Road Boards.. I had not previously been aware that any audacious Hiflhmiy. Board had ventured to tread on the County Council's corns, and am.stilllost in wonder as to who the offender may possibly be. Encouraged,: however, by the fact, I venture to accept Mr Pharazyn's invitation of criticism and discussion upon tho subject; As it must.be evident that the buccbss of the County system must, to a large.extent, depend upon its administration, let us see how the Council stands in this respect, and thereby decide whether it has earned the right of., educating the public mind through its Chairman. .'. ■ . As indicated by tho articles previous to Ins own, Mr Pharazyn admits tho popular impression.as to County administration to be, that of partial-if'not total failure, and itisacurionslysuggestivefactlhatalthougl) promising to give in his next letter a statement of what the Council has dene, and proposes to do, he is discretly silent as to tho first of these promises. Allow me to supply tho omission and point out the possible cause of the popular impression of failure.

Until August, 1878, the Council refused to take, up the whole of the Act, the principal reimon given by tho then Councillors being, that the rateable part of the County would suffer by having its funds spent in tho Forty-Mile Bush. It will be remembered by most of your readers that to prevent votes of largefcums of money by the Legislature from lapsing, Mr Beethnm had to be appointed commissioner to do work which tho Council refused. Not a very promising commencement . this! Then followed different counsels, ending in tho taking up :of the whole of tho Act by the present Council, in August, 1878. Since that date, up to the present, the Council has received in round numbers, the following sums : Fe'atherston rate subsidies, £1250; license fees, Ac, £500; total, ££1750. Carterton rate subsidies, £1000; license foes, &c, £240; total, £1240. Masterton rate subsidies, £1430; license fees, &0., £120; total, £'1550. The first question for the Council's consideration would presumably be—the works, upon wliich these Bums should be expended, and to ordinary minds there was only one conclusion possible—tho works of most benefit genorally to the ratepayers whom they represented, and upon whose rates these subsidies, were based. The whole colony being divided into Counties, and tho several Councils acting upon this principle, would surely give the greatest benefit possible from the County BV3tom as it stand?. How far has Cminty West carried out n policy siich as is hero indicated 1

The figures of income, as already given above, and those of expenditure as supplied'at last meeting of the Council, give us roughly all the data necessary. Taking Fe.itlierston first, the expenditure through Road Board is given as £1194, but £l5O of toll money.is wrongly included in this, leaving only £1044 actually given by the Council, and which deducted from £l7so—income as above—leaves a .credit to the district of £7OO. Carterton Board oomes next with £240 oharoed to it, and to this has to be added £IOO on Hurunuiorangi bridge acoount, and anothor £IOO recently voted for road toit,makingJ;44oinall.Thisdeductedfrom the income of £1240 already stated, leaves £BOI in favor of the district, Mr Pharasym at last meeting attempts to show that Carterton lias had its' subsidies in the shape of toU fund. This means that the Council feels justified in practically compelling Carterton and. the district to'-continue levying a toll .to make up for subsidies spent elsewhere. It strikes me the ratepayers of the County will some day be inclined to enforce the adoption of a very different view. •.

;■ Finally, we come to Masterton district, which, is debitted with' £1512, To this add £l2O Te Ore Ore Bridge, and about #2OO in, course of expenditure between' theßuamahuliga.Bridge and the Camp—or a 'total of £l3B2;agairist an income of, as.before'given, £lsso..."Without .expja- r nation Mast«rtpii .district would ; appear'to ! have had the lion's share, but in reality it has come worstoff,aiat ; least £I4OO, of jlie aboveoutlay was, byjdireptiop of tfta

i'Oounoil,'expendedvon', the Forty-Mile 'Bush-roadbeyond the Camp. . v.,would praotiqally leave the Mas-: tertbn district with a claim on the Council; 3d the 'amount of £llOO, and adding the Carterton and' Featherstori items of £800; and: £7OO respectively; we : have * grand. total'df £2,600. ■ Admitting that small paymentstoi hoapitalfl* etc. slightly reduce this'amouht^Kfact remains that at least'S2ooo of., tight belonging to the ratepaying portion of. the district has been swallbWe'dupinrtKe Forty rinile Bush road.. If these figures' are approximately correotj what'bccome's of •the paragraph in one of Mr Pharazyn's letters which states "that; while;acceptiiig its fair responsibility for all works required .iii tlie settled districts, .the Council.. must'firmly decline to have forced upon it the cost of opening Crown lands for sale ahcT settlement, which 'should be paid for out of the proceeds of such lands." If he', pleads the importance of through communication with Napier and Wangaiiuij my reply ia that the Governmenthastrever refused ( to :i keep tlig road open. Im no mis. management which compels of a toll of £4OO per annum at Te Or? Ore; which haa left the main district road there for months,at-tho mercy of the Euamahunga; which neglects: the main road bridge at Waipoua,' adjoining the most populous centre'in the : district; which makes ho provision for the Waingnwa bridge, although it- niust be evident that the river will spoil leave it altogether; and which has allowed the Waiohine bridge to drift into such a dangerous condition as to necessitate its being closed to heavy traffic. To sum up,—the Council has, prractioally, constituted itself a Forty' Mile Bush Road Board, as was so well described by yourself some time ago, and allowed our main lines of com' raunication to drift into a worse state than under any previous system of man agement; has forced the Masterton High waydistrict to take the necessary steps t( .separate itself from the Forty-Mile Bosh district, to which it could be so uaefu under other circumstances, and hai brought about a state of feeling asbetweei itself and the different Boards in markei contrast'to that which obtains in Conntj East. With what the Council proposes to d( in future I may have something to say ii : a future letter.'; I am, etc., 1 VV. 0. Buchanan.-