The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 254, 24 December 1878, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24.

The Akaroa Borough Council has just commenced its third year of existence. At such a time it is not inappropriate to devote a few lines to a brief retrospect of the past, and such anticipations to the future as may be justifiable under the circumstances. We agree with the late Mayor that it is reasonable to hope that a great portion of the difficulties necessarily attendant on the introduction of municipal institutions have been successfully surmounted, but at the same time there is no use in blinking the fact that much yet remains to be done before the Council's bark can be expected to glide into smooth water. During the first year of the existence of the Borough the Council had a considerable sum of money at its disposal as a grant from the Government, and we are bound... to,' say that, on the whole, this money.appears to have been judiciously expended. They were also fortunate enough to I secure a block of land as a reserve, which should prove in the future of imvalue, and the proceeds derivable from which should go a long way towards lightening the burden of local taxation, or of enabling it to be expended on eminently desirable works, which cannot at present be entertained.. During the current financial year, however, the financial shoe is beginning to pinch, and the most careful management will be necessary to enable the Council to prorki-e for tlte most necessary works, without speaking of those larger schemes, such as drainage and water supply, which, sooner or later, must be grappled with.

Amoiig the questions which serve to complicate matters, and greatly to increase financial difficulties, those of the support of the Hospital and charitable aid stand foremost. In these matters we hold that the Government have acted with culpable indifference to the interest of the Borough, and the justice of the case. We understand that large deductions have been made from the subsidy due to the Borough for the support of the Hospital. We await further particulars before expressing an unqualified opinion as to the justice or otherwise of these deductions, but cannot help finding the Government greatly to blame for not having taken the opportunity during last session of placing those matters on a thoroughly intelligible footing. On the main principles which should guide such a settlement all are agreed. The Government say that, for the present, at any rate, they are willing to contribute half the expenses of these institutions out of the Consolidated Revenue. The remainder the local bodies are quite willing to furnish, but it should be on some definite and equitable footing. A basis of population was suggested as a proportion for division. Whether this basis be a fair one (and there seemed a general disposition to accept it), or whether an] , better could be discovered, it is self-evident that to saddle a small borough with the whole or the major part of the expenses of a hospital which happens to be situated withiu its boundaries, is absolutely unfair. It is stated that of the cases treated at the Akaroa Hospital, not one has arisen within the Borough. Whether this be correct or not, it is at any rate certain that the vast laajority of them come from outside its boundaries.

In spite of financial difficulties, the Council has succeeded in erecting a bridge which will probably survive the present 'generation and descend as an heirloom to posterity. We have no hesitation in saying that if our civic authorities can succeed in presenting the town annually with a bridge of this description till the miserable wooden structures which at present obstruct and disfigure, our thoroughfares are displaced, they will hare deserved well of their fellow-citizens.

A letter in another column signed " Chaos " suggests a few remarks which we hope our Councillors will take in the. spirit in which they are volunteered, which is simply to assist them in forwarding business. Questions will arise sometimes in which the meanings of certain sections of the Act may appear doubtful. We would strongly urge Councillors to refrain.from making these points the subject of debate, still more to-refrain from laying down the law upon them individually. It is the duty of the executive officers of the Council, the Mayor and Town Clerk, to conduct the business at its meetings. With regard to elections, not only have the Council no right to interfere with the Returning Officer, but it is highly indecorous for them, either as a body, or individually t to do so. The law throws the whole onus of conducting elections on that-' officer, and he alone is responsible for

their being legally carried out. The slightest reflection will show that the local body could have nothing to do I with elections to fill vacancies in its i midst without its members being liable te-jaiputatupns to usiijg thgjr officjal •iriflu%tte Jii;iitferfering; "VrtUTKe chpi^& ; ;ofr'th'£*i'atep\\&§[ ps to ftiefr cerfleaguSsV/ ; [WVfcbld, tlifeS, , that;3tlto4tevdutyj& 'tile lilayor to familiarize jhinjfeelf $$h .the M.et, and..,standing to%W' always be ready to.give'information and advice, and discussion on points of law and order should be restricted as m\lch aB" nary opinions on v the latter question will otherwise gain currency, witness the astounding dictum which a certain legally .inclined. f Councillor gave utterante" to ' the 'other .nfght,' tha : t the Council did not possess the right inherent in all deliberative assemblies to adjourn its meetings to such times as it thought fit. This dictum, to our surprise, passed unchallenged, though it -once to shave been corrected by the chair, and a halo of tradition may come to encircle a doctrine which bears its own absurdity on the face of it. This is merely an example, though an extreme one, of the inconvenience that may arise from allowing amateurs to impose their impressions of the law upon an assembly which should have all these matters settled for it, so as to get on with its proper work.