The Evening Star MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4058, 28 February 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1876.

Had not the conduct of hie Worship the Mayor, in the metier of Mr Bright's lecture, been made the subject of unfair and unmannerly commentary hy our contemporaries, we should not have thought it necessary to have noticed the matter. Although ultimately accountable to those who elected them, the administration of civic matters should be left in the hands of the Mayor and Corporation, who are presumed to be perfectly competent to deal with them. Should they abuse their trust, then, and then only, ought they to be subjected to the lash; but in this case no cause has arisen to justify it. The Mayor as responsible executive officer of the Corporation, is expected to see that the City laws are not infringed, should he allow any procedure to pa*S Unnoticed that, before action being taxon, should have been submitted for approval either to; him or the City Council, he would'very deservedly be open to the censure of that body and the people. It seems rather hard, then, that his Worship should be so unwarrantably attacked for the strict fulfilment of the duties of his office, and equally unwarrantable that some vulgar cynic should seize the opportunity of pouring out his:, spleen upon the innocent and mover amusements now so deservedly supported in Dunedin, accompanied by sneering insults to those Who assemble to witness There was really no occasion for this The Mayor was not only perfectly Wjfied in the course he took, but Would have ne elected his duty had he acted, otherwise than he did. The whole affair resolved itself S to cmc contro l . and to abuse the chief citizen for fulfills ig bis duty is, virtually, to be one in stunt • frith those who receive deserved pumshmer ,t for resisting the Police. The question is. a mere matter of business, and stated m its simplicity is a very trifling affair. J' c stands thus Petition had: tieen grafted by the Corporation to erect a te at on. the reserve for equestrian and athletic performances. That wasspe c “ < *. Mr Reigat’s friends and admirers considered 1 ihe place favorable, for his delivering a I Bcture last evening, and applied to the propr ietot to .be aUbwed to am ft fa*

pmpose. He had no objection, but liberally gave the use of it. So far as he wM eoiltiemed, it wit sufficient that in doing so he obliged a number of gentlemen whose position ought to have been a guarantee that he should be exonerated from all blame. It *B® Uprising that it never seems to have struck them that although the proprietor of the circus had riven permission he really was only one of those who ought to have a Voice in the matter; He had the right to say, “You may'use my tent,” for the tent is his property; but the Corporation had only granted him leave to place it on the ground as a circus, and not as a lecture-room. We will not insult the proprietor of the circus by even surmising that bad it been applied for by some members of the ring, for a set-to with the gloves, he would have said Yes.” Weare certehl he would not; but for the puipose of illustration such a supposition serves to show that the right of the Mayor to interfere in that case would not have been questioned, and the interference Would have been justified on the consideration that no occupant of the ground had a right tp put it to any other purpose wan thaft for which permission Was granted. : The same power that granted the one Should be applied to sanction the other also. We quite believe that no discourtesy was: intended to the Mayor and Corporation in f neglecting to ask the necessary leave for Mr Bright to lecture. We regard it as an oversight on the part of his friends. It ought not to nave occurred, we grant, but still it was an oversight. It has caused his name to be associated rather unpleasantly with the abuse showered upon the Mayor, and must have caused him tto little annoyance. He may thank his over-xealous and. imprudent friends for that. There was really no occasion for all the bombast and bluster mpde about it. When the Mayor and Corporation were properly and' courteously applied to, no difficulty was found in obtaining, the necessary sanction for the lecture—no one in his senses ever supposed there would be. Mr Bright’s known attainments and position, apart from his friends,, were sufficient guarantee that his lecture would afford matter for thought and intellectual investigationbat those are accidents that do not affect the real question. The whole matter is this : Was the Mayor, as -executive officer of the Corporation, justified in saying to a lessee or licensee- of a reserve for the time being, "You cannot be allowed'to use the ground for another purpose than that for .which leave was given, excepting With the sanction of the Mayor or Corporation.” For . our own parts we consider he was right, and we think his conduct will be approved by the citizens generally. . .'