The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY. JANUARY 27,1882. CURRENT NOTES. A DREADFUL EXAMPLE.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 578, 27 January 1882, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY. JANUARY 27,1882. CURRENT NOTES. A DREADFUL EXAMPLE.

Tiie Cromwell correspondent of the Saturday Advertiser is in terrible distress, and what do our readers suppose is the cause of his agony ? He is afraid that the Cromwell Borough Council, " Jf it does not mind its Ps and Qs," will sink to the level of that of Akaroa. He expresses his opinion on the matter as follows : —

Unless councillors are very careful, and look after the public money in a proper nnd becoming manner, us a body they will f.-ill into disrepute, and be likened unto the Akaroa Borough Council. Some time aga that august body l«st all count of its reckoning, and after a time it was almost impossible to sret men to sit at the civic table. Exlinordinary vacancies occurred week after week for a period of about six months, and as fast as tbey were filled some one ebie resigned, just to keep the game alive and put money in the way of the local newspaper for advertising. The Council became a byword amongst men. and people were wont to scoff at it. However, when matters wore straitened up a bit, the Council regained a portion of its previous character, and although vacancies did not occur very often after this period, still it was hard to /.ret good men to stand.

Now, we have heard people affirm that this Borough was not any good at

all, and ought never to have been established, but the people of Cromwell arc evidently not of that opinion. They think lik • the " Divine William," that there is '• good in everything,," even their humble brother of Akaroa, and utilise him as A DREADFUL EXAMPLE.

An inexperienced reader might conclude that the Borough that looked down upon this with such lofty and pityin_r contempt was a huge flourishing c:ty. Such, however, is not the case. This mighty trumpet note of warning comes _.otn a town with 429 inhabitants and 97 houses, and no suburbs at all to •speak of, a town of which the great Captain Jackson Barry of rotten egg uo or.city was once Mayor ! Let us hope in all Christian charity, •dear brethren of Akaroa, that we may one day attain the Cromwell pinnacle, that the .ime will come when we may have reached the same degree of importance, and be able to fiud even more dreadful examples than Akaroa. It is comforting to know, at any rate, that when Cromwell was tossing on a stormy sea ot danger, we served her as a beacon to guide her towards better things! To speak seriously, we must say that we were amazed at the evident ignorance of the writer of the article of the piesent state of things in Akaroa. We can unhesitatingly say that for the las twelvemonth, at any rate, the Akaroat Borough Council lias been the bestconducted public body in the Akaroa County, aud would have compared very favorably with Council, of other Boroughs oi'th- :--\lnn, <-■ ;' '■v-:yv idzn ; aud all we

• ;l _,i :, J; v i-. '1;...- : i lh'-! Borough Council ~:' .Jn-'i.rv.i::! ;:■ .'v -v.d as to tear to fall ki within foot of our level, it must be ;. Counci! (j' \viii'.:h:uiy municipality should

be proud iYu.ed