The Evening Star. TUESDAY, JULY 4, 1871.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 462, 4 July 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star.

TUESDAY, JULY 4, 1871.

" For the cause that lis i For the wrong that needs a For the future in the distance, And the good that we cand

Some time since we drew attention to somewhat mysterious proceedings in the Municipal Council. The public was aware that some great difficulty >. had come across the path of Councillors, and from frequent consultations with legal advisers it was apparent that the wheels of the Municipal coach were not going smoothly. It was even hinted that the Press had been requested to keep things dark. I Curiosity was, naturally, excited, and the whisper went from mouth to mouth, " What is it ?" We felt bound to gratify public curiosity at any cost, believing that withholding from the public anything bearing on public affairs could do no good, and might do much harm. We had in our innocence supposed that a public statement of the difficulty might have tended to deter the Council from making a muddle, and throwing the laws of the city into confusion, but the Council has " gone and been and done it." In the plain reading of the Municipal Corporations Act, it was clear enough that the adoption of by-laws by the Council which would not come into force for three months would ipso facto, and instantly, suspend the operation in the city of every Act and Ordinance bearing on the subjects treated in the adopted by-laws. As thiß presented a serious obstacle on the very threshold of municipal legislation, the Council naturally desired its removal, or at least, to be fortified by legal opinion in ignoring ic. Accordingly, they consulted Mr. J. B. Eussell, who appears to have afforded the desired consolation, by pooh-pooh-ing the difficulty. Misgivings still agitated the breasts of councillors, and in the hope of allaying apprehensions the Attorney-General of the colony, and subsequently Mr. Whitaker, were consulted, but unfortunately, like Balaam, they would'nt curse the difficulty that was causing so much anxiety to the Council, and from the irritation evidently now felt by the Council at the waste of money in procuring the legal assistance of these gentlemen, it is evident that they are regarded by the Council as was the stubborn prophetbythe Oriental king. However, the Council is not to be deterred ; and, imitating the action of the ostrich, which, when escape is cut off, thrusts his head into the sand, and thus fancying himself concealed, abides the consequences, the Council shuts out from itself the sight of danger, in the idle hope that in this there are concealment and immunity. There is no question whatever, neither could there have been to any one fairly reading the Act, that the result of yesterday's procedure in the Borough Council lias been to suspend for three months in the city the operations of various Acts, and especially the Municipal Police Act. Why this precipitate haste it is diffi. cult to understand on any other supposition than the impatience of the Council to prove their armour. That the ponderous Act requires amendment is admitted, and that a few weeks would have sufficed to have the simple alterations marie is clear. We have often borne down somewhat roughly on Mr. Councillor George, but we are free to assert that together with Councillor Staines, he has shown, in this matter, more common sense than the rest of the Councillors. That the people of Dunedir Wellington, Hokitika, &c, have been stupid enough to not observe the flaw in the Act,, and the possible consequences to litigants, is nothing to the question. Had causes been brought up ibr adjudication, and the suspension of law been unnoticed litigation of the most serious and annoying kind to both magistrates and prosecutors mighthave occurred,and incomparably better is it that everybody Bhoilld know that there is no prosecution to be undertaken, than that illegal action should have been proceeding in the Courts. Mr. George suggested the only sensible and feasible means of getting over the difficulty. By having the Act amended in such a simple and obvious point, as that contained in the ]81st and 182 nd clauses, the Council I might have been empowered to bring the by-laws into force immediately in a 'provisional way, or suspend the repeal of other laws, while the by-laws were attaining maturity. All this could have been effected much before the completion oftlie three months during which laws are now suspended. And as citizens had lived hitherto although unblessed with the operations.of the Corporation Act, we think it would have been possible to have endured life for a little longer under the form of civic legislation existing in the past, - Mr. George and Mr. Staines were a minority of two in the Council, but they may rest assured that they have, in this matter on their side, aud in their own way of

thinking, the whole of the citizens out- ] side the Council, who may give an intelligent thought to the subject. The manner in which this suspension of law will most likely manifest itself will be in relation to the restrictions on wooden buildings, and we do not doubt that many a one within the hitherto prohibited districts will contribute to his convenience by the erection of sundry wooden structures. There ir- -io means of .preventing t_ j.-, owi... 'o the deteri mined procedure of 17. O'ouncil, and however we may deplore the result, there is nothing gained by closing our eyes to what the Municipal Council has done.