INANGAHUA COUNTY COUNCIL

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1604, 23 September 1885, Page 2

INANGAHUA COUNTY COUNCIL

ILLEGAL AND DOUEHTUL EXPENDITURE. l Wellington, September 19. ■ The Time* this morning contains the , following : — Some very curious eta* - closures an* rout »ined in the leport of Mr J. E, FitzCJerald, who was appointed special anditor to examine the 1 accounts of the luangahua County Council. The auditor disallows £1532 7s 6d of the expenditure e-}"ired into -as illegal, and £1702 5s 7d as of doubtful legality. He states that i none of these voucli<ts wo^ild have i passed audit had the charts I ►♦•€ u o.» I the pnttlic account instead of ont of the county fund account. The objec s for which the mm y h.ts ; thus Wen spent without aui.iority aie j the following : — ! (1). For getting np a petition for Parliament - (2.). For ref Tiding to pnblieians j part of tin; license fees required by the j law to he paid, which is cleat ly a j misanropriation of ii»e county fnnd ; 1 for the entertain inaut of Ministers, | for bauquets and for the hire of halls I for meetings apparently for political purposes. , (3). There are also sevpral vouchers i showing payments of considerate sums, in one case of £100. without an • information as to the services performed, or whetlu ; *ny services w»m» ' performed for the county. Mr FitzGerald adds ••Nor ran 1 fail to remark | that the red, i nt of the sum al»ove named was at, the time a metnl»er of the House of Representatives.'* ; (4) Under the head of travelling expenses amounting to npwjrds of £200 have been paid to councillors living in Reefton itself, for attending Con ?y Councils held there, i (5). Money spent on the Chmtrbordi Exhibition. Amoi:: fie doubtful disbursement* are. the t blowing : — I (1.) Ex»<*udicute tinder the Health Act, which slioiilJ lie recouped >»y tl»* Treasury as t!ie. county fund is not applicable to such purposes. (8). Acclimatization of fish. (4). Travelling ex^ses to various places, no purpose. In'isig staterl in th« vouchers, ami noihing mentioned to show that the t-.-iveflers were engaged in the public service at .-ill. 1 Mr Fi'zCJ'rrild concludes with the following remarks: — On the whole . there Seems to ha*e lieeu an impression j on the part of the Council that it was : open to them to spend the funds of ' the county in a:vy manner which they 'considered lieiie6cial to the county interests, entirely ignoring the fact 1 that a corporation is strictly Iwmid by the charter of statute under which it acquires its powers, and those in whose ■ interests are involved in this case, i Any ratepayer may recover to the i Corporate Fund any sums illegally • expended. The report is addressed to his Excellency the Governor, to be submitted tcParliament, and detailed accounts are appended. The Pott thus comments on the matter;_ -'The County Council oflnan gahua evidently entertains l»road ami liberal ideas us to its duties and functions. It scorns the petty restriction of the Act under which it exists, and insists upon its right to spend the comity funds so as to make things pleasant all round. It claims the right to do as it likes with its own, and regards the connty funds Rs being its own. The ratepayers, it would seem, are satisfied ; hut there is an impertinent Government official kuown as the Auditor Geneml who has for some, reason or other poked his nose iuto the matter and has been overhauling the accounts for the last few yean, and the results of his iuvesti gat ions was laid hefore Parliament yesterday. The report is interesting reading, and will no doubt make many kindred bodies and ex-members of them mad with envy and regret at the way tliey have missed the opportunities which were placed in their way. It seems that the Inangahna Councillors have been saving themselves tri veiling expenses for crossing the street to attend meetiugs. £200 8J has thus been paid to members living m the town, and a refund of £*170 has been made to pnMicians in reduction of the license fen fixed by law. An act of liberality which should, if then- was any gratitude in pnhlicians' breasts have insured n tolerable supply of free, drinks to Councillors, letting op petitions to Parliament has cost £415 9s lid. What nice httle pickings, there mast have been ont of this most useless of all useless things, as well hs ont of the £401 14s expended for miscellaneous purposes, such as paying the rent of hulls for political meetings, entertaining distinguished visitors at luncheon and dinner. Then them was £188 7s 6d for the ChrUUrharrh Exhibition; travelling expends and meetings of council, £481 16« ; and a*ejtmatiz3tion of fi;h, £76 125 1.. Altogether the total totted up to £2237 I- 1 * Id, of wh.sh the auditorgeneral d«xlares £1527 7s 6d to ha*? boeu illegally spent, a^d ibo expendi-

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