The Evening Star THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2099, 27 January 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1870.

In the decisions of the Waste Land Board, the principles on which they are based are not always discernible. So strange are they at times, that one might be tempted to say no principle at all is recognisable. Perhaps this is inevitable from the constitution of the Board, and through their having no other law to guide them than the monitions of their own consciences. In certain cases, therefore, it would be

very instructive to become clairvoyant, always premising that the advantage to be gained would bo peeping inside the brains of the Commissioners, and reading printed in their convolutions all the mixed processes of emotion and reasoning that combine to make up a Commissioner’s conscientious decision. It is said by the Dutch that if the sins of the best man living were written on his forehead, he would pull his hat over his eyes. What on earth would Waste Land Board Commissioners do, when the real reasons why A. got a piece of land for a flax mill and B. was refused were to be read by every one who looked at them, on removing the hat ? What would they do when all about the Island Block was made public'? What would they do when everybody could read in blazoned words, why the lease of those ugly sandhills was refused to the Forbury Park Company ? Unluckily, not "'being clairvoyant, this veil of flesh is too dense for us to pierce through in order to read the emotions of the spirit in others; so, like common mortals, we are obliged to reason from like to like in order to divine motives. Wb have, therefore, tried in imagination to become Chief Commissioner of the Waste Land Board to learn if it were possible to adopt some twisted argument to justify what to mere business mortals seems an utter departure from the principles of common sense. So we asked ourselves what damage could accrue to the public from acceding to the application. It was a most puzzling question. Here were great unsightly heaps of sand, thrown up by the noisy ocean at some unknown period when this Middle Island was a few feet lower down in its mysterious depths than at present. One would like at times, when in an unusually meditative mood, to have a quiet stroll to gaze on that Boundless mirror where Th’ Almighty’s form Glasses itself in tempest. But then scuffling ankle deep through loose sandy di’ift brings one to such a practical sense of earth that meditation is dissipated through labor. Now a company comes forward to the Waste Land Commissioners, and offer on most favorable terms to convert this desert into a beautiful park,—a place of recreation, easy of access, pleasant to wander in,—a place of resort that could come into competition with nothing but the Town Belt, which is still in a state of nature, beset by bush lawyers, and muddy cattle tracks. Sitting in judgment on this favorable proposition, what can one say ? The terms proposed sound fair, very fair. The _ Forbury Park Company say they will place their rules and regulations in the hands t of the Commissioners, subject them to their scrutiny, and only ask in return for the public benefit they propose, that they shall have power to exclude the public from the grounds on certain days, when their free admission would render all return upon their outlay very problematical. I his position was exceedingly difficult to answer. Reason gave no response to the question, why should it not be granted, so we applied to the organ of caution and asked it what to say. Here was a ready reply, and caution said the proposition appears so very much to the public advantage that there must be some private end to be gained. Don’t grant it. Beside, said superstition who suddenly started up, racing is a wicked thing, and these Forbury Park people propose to make it a cheap and popular amusement, by bringing it to our very doors, instead of giving a monopoly of the price of wickedness to cab proprietors and liquor booth-holders at Silver Stream. This suggestion of Silver Stream, we confess, roused an ugly suspicion, which one would not like for one moment to indulge in. But really when Island Blocks and other inexplicable iniquities are perpetrated, one cannot help asking, who pulls the strings ? If there were even plausible excuses given for the eccentric vagaries of the Chief Commissioner and his supporters, excuse might be made for them. But there is not even the shadow of a reason for refusing a lease to the Forbury Park Company of the sandhills applied for. Both Mr Duncan and Mr Reid voted for it, and so would any reasonable, unbiassed man, with the advantages and the fair terms proposed by the Company in view. It may be there may be some refinements in Waste Land policy running through the mind of the Commissioner, through whose double vote it was lost. For our own parts, we have not arrived at the state of transcendentalism that would lead us to desire to brave the common affairs of life placed under the dominion of a higher class of mortals than ourselves. We think Waste Land Board Commissioners would be decidedly better fitted for their office if they were ordinary mortals, guided by good common sense, than men who dive so deeply into motives as to lose advantage ol the light that lies on the surface. And however commonplace it may be, we often wish the Chief Commissioner would seat himself on a common chair, instead of

perching himself upon that stool of authority that has in so many instances led to such whimsical decisions. It must come to inquiry some day, why in numberless instances industries have been undeveloped, and impediments thrown in the wm of improvement through the decisions of the Board. With every possible allowance for the difficulties of their position, we have no hesitation in saying that there is an absence of breadth in their proceedings, annoying to those who have transactions with them, and detrimental to the public interests ; and the people of Dunedin, with very good reason, will resent a decision that deprives them of an improvement so much needed. •