MINUTES OF EVIDENCE.
93 38.
Altogether they produced £75 Os.
10|c/.
last year, and £82 2s.
the year before.
Would that be a fair average?—It
would be from £75 to £80 a year.
39.
Do you make a rate here every year?—Not
every year.
The last rate we struck was for the pur¬ pose of making some repairs in the town hall, ancl the one before that was a burial rate, previous to the burial rrrounds being handed over.
40.
Last year you don't seem to have made any rate at all?—We
made a rate in 1876.
41.
That was for the current year ?—Yes.
42.
But not for the year last audited ?—No.
43.
And the year before you had a burial rate ?—
Yes.
44.
Did you collect that last year with the balance of the improvement rate made in 1873 or 1874 ?—YTes,
there was a balance over.
43.
When was the last improvement rate made ?—
That was the last in 1876.
46.
And was the one before that made in 1873 or 1S74 ?—The
rate made previous to that rate wTas 3rd December, 1873.
47.
Then you made no rate—no improvement rate —between the 3rd of December, 1873, and the one you made in 1876?—No.
48.
When dicl you make the improvement rate in 1876—the one now in course of collection?—It
was made on the 19 th April, 1876.
49.
That would be just at the close of your financial year?—Eleven
days before the year was out, and none was collected before the last audit.
50.
How much in the pound was that?—One
shilling on houses, ancl 3c/.
on land.
That is the ex¬ treme we could go to.
51.
Do you provide the town with water ?—Yes,
we do.
52.
But have never exceeded Is.
rate ?—No.
53.
What was the amount of the burial rate ?—The
hurial rate was only 8c/.
54.
Is Is.
the amount you usually strike when you do lay an improvement rate?—The
one in 1873 was only Sd.
55.
And the only other rate you made in the mean¬ time was the burial rate ?—Perfectly
right.
56.
And was not that an 8c/.
rate made in 1874 to enable the Commissioners to enclose the Abbey graveyard ?—That
was the one.
57.
Was that graveyard situate in the town, but since transferred to the Board of Guardians by the operation of the Irish Church Act?—Yes.
"
58.
Did that rate produce £139 4s.
Id.
1—Ycs.
59.
And of that amount did the auditor report £135 18s.
Gd.
had been collected and levied previous to the audit of 1875 ?—That
is right.
60.
And the balance of £3 5s.
7d.—was
that de¬ clared by the Commissioners to be irrecoverable ?—Yes.
61.
So that rate was all cleared up ?—Yes.
62.
And no burial rate was made since ?—No
; we had no power.
It was on June 3rd, 1874, that rate was made.
63.
Has the whole of the improvement rate made in December, 1873, been cleared up?—It
has, with about the same balance irrecoverable.
64.
Then you collected more than thought you had clone ?—Yes;
the accounted for in another rate.
There been some small sums not collected when he made that report.
65.
But has it been all cleared up since except this sum of £3 18s.
?—Yes
; that was accounted for by some institutions in the town.
66.
Then the Is.
rate that you made in April last, las that been collected i—It has.
67.
Within how much?—That
account is not yet made up.
68.
I find it amounted to £211 16s.
3^1.1—Yes.
It will be about the same amount that will be irre¬ coverable.
The rate is virtually collected ancl the money paid into the office, but the balance-sheet is not yet made out.
69.
However, is it collected as closely as the one before J—It has been.
70.
Ancl has it been all paid in to the treasurer?—
All paid into the bank.
71.
AVhat is the system adopted by your collector f Does he pay in weekly?—There
are some weeks he may not get more than a couple of pounds ; but he generally hands in the amount weekly.
Naas.
March 19, 187 Mr.
William Samuel Gray.
Mr.
Finlay difference is might have
Does he give a bond ?—He
does.
With sureties 1—With two sureties.
Have you got the custody of that bond ?-
73.
74.
have.
75.
Have you got it here?—I
have not.
It is with my papers hi the town hall.
76.
Are his instructions to lodge weekly 1—If he has money he is required to do so.
He is bound to lodge weekly.
I do not know if that is set out; but it is his custom.
He has a receipt book ancl a block of the receipts, which he brings and reads out to me and then I put my initials to it.
77.
Do you compare the lodgments in the bank with the counterfoils of his receipts ?—He
keeps one of those lodgment books, and in the block of that he gets it initialed.
He is our rate collector and ouncil weigh-master, and his son is our market clerk.
I give them a bank book to keep and they get the bank cleik to sign the block when making a lodgment, together with an entry of the amount lodged; and then he brings this book to me and shows it to me.
78.
Is there any specified day for lodging ?—None
whatever.
79.
How often does he lodge in the case of the market ?—He
shows his book every week; and in the case of the rate, whenever he has anything worth while he lodges it.
He may let it run on to £10 or £12 before lodging.
80.
How often clo the Commissioners meet?—
Monthly ; but there may be special meetings besides on special occasions.
81.
Are all his accounts as checked by you sub¬ mitted to the Commissioners every month ?—No;
only quarterly.
82.
Do the Commissioners only know the state of them quarterly ?—That
is all.
83.
Buthe comes to account to you, you say, prac¬ tically much oftener than once a month?—Yes;
oftener.
When the money is coming in freely to him, he comes often to get rid of it.
When Mr.
M'Dermott came here first he disapproved of the way we kept the accounts, and instead of the mode of payment adopted for petty affairs, ho suggested that the Commissioners should give me at the beginning of the year a £10 cheque to defray incidental expenses.
At the close of the year I relodge that cheque, and at the end of every quarter any sum I spend the Commissioners recoup me.
In fact, I have a floating cheque for £10 in my pocket, and I account every quarter for it.
84.
How long has this collector been in office ?—I
should say about six or seven years.
85.
And has he always collected Ms rates well and punctually ?—Oh,
yes.
In fact, this man is town ser¬ geant, collector, council clerk, and hall keeper.
He resides in the Town hall, and Ms son is weigh-master.
86.
So that he and his son hold, in fact, all the offices under the Commissioners except what you hold yourself ?—Yes.
87.
What other receipts have the Commissioners besides this rate and these tolls and dues from the fans and markets ?—They
have the fines and penalties im¬ posed in their own court, and a moiety from the petty sessions court now.
88.
What did they amount to last year ?—£47
14s.
lid.;
being £43 7s.
5d.
received as fines and penalties imposed in the Commissioners' court, and £4 7s.
Gd.
in the petty sessions court.
89.
Do you not also get the dog tax?
and how much does that amount to?—Yes;
£10 12s.
lOd.
last year.
90.
And £10 lis.
the year before.
Do you not license hackney cars here ?—Yes
*, we got £13 17s.
last year from them.
91.
And £17 8s.
the year before ?—The
reason of that large amount was that there was a number of
o
