MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 20, 30 March 1870, Page 5

MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

A meeting of the above body was hold on Monday evening, nt which the Mayor and all the Councillors were present. tho minutes of a general mooting held on the 2Sth of January wororo;id, and, on the motion of Or. Dagg, aocondod by Cr. Whottor, confirmed. The following paragraph, which bnd boon inserted in tho minute-book by direction of tbe Mayor, was also read by tho Town Clerk : Notwithstanding tho minutes of this Council datod 2ml August, 1869, to tho 20th of January, 1870, both inolusivo, Mr G. V 7. Goodgor has been declared and confirmed by the .Supreme Court of New Zealand, Mayor of the incorporated town of Cromwell, until "the expiration of his year of olheo oa the Ist 'ugust, 1870. G. W, Goodoeb, Mayor. Geo. Jen urn, Town Clerk. Cr..Dagg would like to. know who gave the Mayor autho/ity to insert the notification in the minute- book? The ilayor : It was inserted acoording to the instructions of my solicitor. Cr. Whetter objected to the entry, and considered that the Council .only had the right to cause the insertion of anything in the minutebook, lie should like to know whtm a quorum of the Council had met for this purpose. The Mayor : No quorum was necessary. I acted on the advice of my solicitor, who instructed me to cause the entry to be made in the minute-book. CORRESfOKDEXCE.- IKWARi). Letter from Mr Dagg, tendering resignation of the seat in the Council formerly held by him, as representative for Kawarau Ward. Similar letter from Mr Badger (formerly representing same Ward). Letter from Messrs Marsh and Taylor, inti* mating that they considered it inadvisable to proceed with assessment of ratepayers' property, assigning as reasons that the appoiutment of the former assossor had not been cancelled, and the present unsatisfactory manner in which Municipal matters were being conducted. Some correspondence between the Town Clerk and the Provincial Treasurer may be briefly summarised as follows : When the Town Clerk applied to Mr Vogel, the then Provincial Treasurer, for payment of the lirst half-year's sub* sidy, to 31st January, 1809, the latter said in reply that the Curporation was not entitled to it, not having complied with the 3rd section of the Municipal Corporations Ordinance Amendment Ordinanco, 1866, which says that " No Municipality shall be entitled to £ for £ on amount of rates if the rate struck is more than Is hi the £." Now the Cromwell rate had ben struck at Is 6d in the £ ; but as the Act goes on to say, " Provided that this section shall not i apply to any rate declared fixed or made before | the passing of this Ordinance," the Town (Jlerk agiiu wrote, and explained that this Corporation had complied with the conditions of the 3rd section, they having struck their rate about six WJttks before the Act became law. Upon this, tiio Provincial -Treasurer, finding that he was in error, wrote stating that the money would be sent, and i, was. Tho present Provincial Trea- • surer (Mr :>uncan) falls into the same error, and refusas to pay the last half-year's subsidy, doe 31st Juiy last, busing his refusal on the same grounds as Mr Vogpl did, and saying that upon Mr Fraer (then acting as Town Clerk) in iking application for it in October, he (Mr Duncan) found, np.ra examination of the account, that a sum of £29 12s only wis due to the Corporation. This sum was passed in to the Bunk of New South Wales to the ere lit of Mr Whetter (the then acting Mavor) and his Council; and strange to relate this amount was accepted by the Council instead of the £36 5s 4sd to which they Wire j'isoly euticlad. The Town Clerk has again demanded payment of the amount due (E3o 5s 41), which we should think will be forwarded without further delay. Cr. Keily, before proceeding further with the business, would move that; in accordance with the Ordinance, the parties who hail illegally acted as Mayor and Councillors be fined—the'former (Mr Whetter) in the sum of £sd, to be reduced to two shillings ; and the latter (Messrs Dagg and Radger) in the 3um of £25, to be reduced to one shilling, each. Cr. Dagg seconded Cr. Kellv's proposition ; and the reduce! tines were paid to the Town Clerk amidst considerable merriment. Cr. Burres would object to any furthor business being brought before the Council until consideration of the following motion, proposed by him at the last general mieting, was gone into :—■ '• That the minutes of all meetings held by the Council (assumed or otherwise) from the Ist August up to the present time (the same being duly recorded), be not expunged, but that they remain as they are ; and that this Council are fully satisfied with those minutes." This motion distinctly had prjee lunce of all other business, according to the Standing Orders, and he claimed his right to have it dispose I of. This gave rise to some discussion, and Cr. Kelly moved that the whole of the minutes of the assumed 0 mncil be read and considered seriatim, with a view to the confirmation of acts which were not detrimental to the interests of the ratepayers, and the expunging of those that were.Or. Whetter did not feel inclined to sit there wasting his time on 3iich a proceeding, as it would probably hours to go through the whole of the minutes. The Mayor, referring to Mr Burres's motion, thought it should be plain to everybody that if hs confirmed those minutes he would place himself in an anomalous i 'osition: he would, in fact, be putting himself out of the Council by asmining that the p9endo-Council had acted legally. Did ho agree with the minutes, he would be ignoring his own claims to the oflSoe of Mayor. If mem-bers-of the Council wished to impede the bus : - ne3s in the m inner they were doing, ho woul i be obliged to have recourse to law again to soo who was wrong and who was right. Cr. Kelly : There are several acts of the assumed Council I Will never agree to asii.-t in confirming. For instance, there is a sum of money for legal advice and for telegrams. Whether • be ratepayers intend to pay for these thing 3 out of their own pockc'.fl, I do not know ; but I fir one will not. Then, again, there is a minute authorising the etgaging of counsel to defend tho action brought agaiust Mr Whe.Her,, whichT. decidedly object to. I should like to hear the whole ■{ the minutes read, and anything in them Mot prejudicial to the interests of tho ratepayers 1 will agree to. Cr. Whetter would state that the fact of the Council hiving to piy law expenses in com ■■■ quence of a dispute amongst themselves was n>t without-a rre«erlen<* Homr. tva feiri a*o, ttiof-

i mmsssu ajm jmaggggaggggasagaat was a (linjnto with Mr Tflrry, tiic» Mayor <> Cromwell Tha Provincial Solicitor, Mr flag. "itt, wm consulted, anil lilt expenses were dafrayed bv tha Corporation. By resolution of the Council, a lawyer hid been engaged to de* fond tho action now spoken of, and' it sooraed * very hard thin/,' if ho (Cr. Wbetter) was to b« the victim, "arid to bo saddled with th» owte of that action, • Or. Kollv would bo qnito sstiafied toffcvro the minutes of the 1 assumed Council in the miuur.ebook, there to remain as valueless entries, bub he would never agree to their eoutiru*atiou.', Tho Mayor : I never will consent jo tho confirmation of thosi minutes, aa I would be cutting my own throat by doing so. Cr. iJagg : You will hava to do so if tho ratepayers wish it. Cr. Burrei said that If the Mayor and Councillors had all taken their seats when first elected, instead of some of them resigning m they did, thsre never would have been all this litigation and bittor feeling, of which those parties were the prinnry cause. He had come to the Council with the honest determination to ao6 faithfully and to tha best of his ability ; and when placed in the unpleasant predicament ho was, through the Mayor and Cr. Kelly resigning, he had sought the best legal advice, and "acted upon it. He really did not see why he and the other Councillors, who had acted to the best of their ability in the predicameut in wh ch they were placed, should be made to put their hands iuto their pookats, as thoy would have to do, if Cr. Kelly had his way. Further discussion took place, nt : - e course of which the Mayor was again urged tj put Or. Burres's motion ; but this he positively declined to do. It was ultimately agreed, however, shut, consideration of the records of the assumed Council, as entered upon the ninut*-b iok, shojiil be resorted to, and for this purpose, owiu./ to the length of time this proceeding would i»k<->, the Council adjourned till Wednesday evening, at six o'clock.