MUNICIPAL PLEASANTRIES.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 192, 21 May 1878, Page 2

MUNICIPAL PLEASANTRIES.

—■— : —♦ — : —~"' To the Editor of the Akaroa Mail. Sir, —Influenced by the general interest felt as to the fate of Cr Meech's motion of want of confidence in the Mayor, which was expected to have been brought forward and discussed at the Council's meeting on Wednesday evening last, I, in company with : other ratepayers of this Borough was present to watch the proceedings. My impressions of that evening's programme may be expressed with a similar brevity to that marking the despatch of a famous General—l went, I heard, I wondered ! If you can imagine, Sir, the feelings of one who, a stranger in a strange place, finds his way to what has been pointed out to him as a temple devoted to the Drama, and suddenly in the course of the-performance has it rudely forced on his senses, that he has entered a " penny gaff," you can readily,understand my sensations on discovering that Vvhat 1 had fondly thought was a well conducted, orderly Council, was little better than a a tap-room debating society. Such an utter absence of the observance of the commonest rules of courtesy and decorum, such an exhibition of personal animus, venom, and spite, and. such a complete disregard of the laws of' order laid down for their guidance, ' I never befere witnessed in the' proceedings of a public r body I One portion of Cr Meech's motion has been made plain to me, namely, that the conduct of the Council's business has been unsatisfactory—very much go indeed,, I should say; but how the Mayor is solely to blame, and why he is to suffer for others, is rendered more of a mystery. Neither he, nor any man living, could rule such refractory spirits as I heard declaiming that night. You, Sir, have been charged with partiality for a section of the Council. I say that you may be justly charged with a mistaken partiality for the Council as a whole. Why have not such doings as I myself was an eye witness of the other evening been made public before ? To judge by your reports of the proceedings, there' was nothing in them to call for comment or inquiry, everything; has seemed to go off so orderly and smoothly. But this cannot have been the case.' To arrive at the pitch of disorder and contention that was reached on Wednesday must bo a. gradual process,, and' have' required some considerable training, yoi^i;:Mistaken leniency, Sir, is, no, doubt'the result of a good intent,' but it is not fair to the ratepayers. We do not place our representatives in that Council to erpend their spleen on one another,, to club together to work out a private end against another member, or to make the Council chamber a bear garden, but to dotheir duty as public men for the good of the place and its interests, independent of private likes or dislikes. I believe that each one of our present Councillors will declare he is actuated solely by his desireto do his best for those who placed him in the position that he occupies, yet- howcan that be the case when animosity, and private bickerings creep in ? It is time in my opinion that the ratepayers take the matter in hand, and in a public meeting hear the right or wrong of what has degenerated into a party squabble, disgraceful, and puerile, and totally opposed toall the principles upon which these institutions are founded. Those who with myself were present at the last meeting can have no further confidence in such local Government I Yours, &c, ■•"■' A - BURGESS. .. ;[To our esteemed correspondent's allusion to oaf reports of Borough Council proceedings w.e must state they hay always been plain, unvarnished statements of. the business that took place.; In ornittting ■the* accompanying Nourishes .and illuminations we considered that " beauty, n unadorned waa adorned the most."—Ed. A. M.J