TOWN ACCOUNTS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 824, 30 January 1868, Page 2

TOWN ACCOUNTS.

Another public meeting on this subject, convened by Messrs W. H. Watt, Hackett, Toole, & Co , was held in the Odd Fellows’ Hall, on Tuesday evening. The hope of getting fun, —a hope which was not disappointed, —dreAv a large attendance. We make no attempt to report the meeting, because wffien two or three people speak at once—when one man mutters so that you cannot hear him, and another talks to some individual and not to the audience —the task of reporting is very difficult, nor in this case would it repay the trouble ; and because, secondly, the intelligent portion of the community are heartily tired of the subject. We shall, however, sum up the gist of the meeting in a few sentences. Mr Thomas Powell was called to the chair and conducted the business Avith that admirable impartality which has won for him the character of the model chairman. The special auditors, by Mr Holloway, read their report on the Board’s accounts and laid a copy of the balance sheet they had drawn up on the table. The public are already familiar Avith the report ; it distinctly affirms that the accounts are correct to a farthing, while it makes a suggestion as to commencing a new system of bookkeeping. Mr Soulby then read a document impugning the accuracy of the report, and going over certain items which he held Avere incorrect. He concluded by saying that if the report Avas approved of he would consider himself a martyr, and take nothing further to do with Town Board accounts. He Avill be a self-immolated martyr, but the x’esolution is a wise one. Mr Soulby dors not understand these accounts a bit, and when he complains of the Chronicle being hard upon him, we beg to remind him that it has never said anything more or worse than this, and said it to him in the most friendly spirit. But he allowed himself to become the tool of one or two unscrupulous persons, and thus persisted in his folly. After Mr Soulby’s statement, Mr Robinson moved and Mr Levy seconded the approval of the auditors’ report. Mr Watt moved as an amendment: —

That as the speeial auditor’s report states—- “ That the Town Board’s books are kept in a manner they have never before seen ; that they have made up a balance-sheet in the same form as customary with the Town Board, because that to have altered it would have entailed the making of a new set of books and inrtlier that the report urges upon the ratepayers the necessity of adopting some means to have a set of books opened in proper form. Therefore, for these and other reasons, this meeting cannot receive the balauce-sheet submitted as a correct statement of the affairs of the Town Board for the financial year ending 23rd October last; and this meeting resolves that the present Board be requested to resign, with a view of enabling the rate-payers to elect a new Board for the more satisfactory management of their affairs.

Mr Watt’s public appearances get worse and worse. We hope he has never been engaged in anything more heartless than in this attempt to malign the character of an honest man- to fling about him reckless charges which have not even the shadow of a foundation against the chairman and the members of a public board which has done

the town great and good service. It was pitiful, on Tuesday evening, to see the man humming and hawing —insinuating doubts which had no existence save in his own suspicious nature—“ willing to wound and yet afraid to strike.' 1 The meeting as a whole saw it ail —felt it ; hence the general and scornful rejection of his amendment. What woulltLe man have 1 ? The first audit of the accounts did not please him. He got two new auditors of his own naming and choosing, and because, like honourable men, they decline to say that 3 and 2 make 4, he is more angry and more disappointed than ever. The motion approving of the report was carried by a large majority. Mr Wilmot Powell then moved :

That the auditors’ report of the accounts be received as correct and satisfactory. We congratulate Mr Field on the result of this agitation ; he has been subjected to an ordeal of a trying kind, but he lias come out of it triumphal' tly. He needs no defence from us—henevej neededany -hewasalways well able to def nd himself—the correctness of his accounts could not be impugned by any one who understands figures —but it is most creditable to a public meeting like that of Tuesday evening to rise superior to the hints and inuendoes intended to lead it astray, and by a burst of acclamation to give an honest man his due. The settlers of Wanganui dearly like a little chaff at a public meeting, but they are just and true to the core, and when a question affecting the character of an upright public servant is brought before them, they come to the right conclusion almost by instinct. The last resolution of the meeting was moved by Mr George Howe, seconded by Mr P. Ballantyne, and carried unanimously—That Mr Soulby should pay the expense of the special audit. The malcontents have found a Frankenstein, which it will cost them about as much trouble to lay as it did to raise. But when men sow the wind, they can only expect to reap the whirlwind.