The Evening Star SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4296, 2 December 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1876.

Most of the inhabitants of St. Rilda are, we understand, thoroughly dissatisfied with the manner in which the affairs of that borough are being conducted. Solid reasons for their discontent exist, hut the inhabitants are themselves primarily at fault in the matter, since it was their own vaulting ambition to possess a Mayor and Council all to themselves before they were able to afford such luxuries, which has led to the present state of matters. The Council is a most eccentric body. The Mayor and his half-a-doxen colleagues ought at ary rate to be able to transact amid peace, love, and harmony, the very simple business entrusted to them. There is apparently nothing to quarrel about; but on the principle, we suppose, of finding mischief for idle hands to do, the weekly meetings of the Council are regularly attended by fiery personal squabbles, the coarseness of which is not even relieved by the salt of wit. Then, the mode in which the Council transacts business is very peculiar. Its ordinary income being limited, and the need for the formation of roads • and drains urgent, it is inviting tenders for a loan of £2,000, which, if wisely expended, would undoubtedly improve the value of property in the borough, and at the same time, the lender’s security, to a considerably greater amount. In response to the invitation, a gentleman sent in a tender for the whole loan at a price, however, which induced the Council to postpone its decision upon the offer ; but with an astonishing want of business knowledge it actually made pubhc, in the meantime, the name of the tenderer and the terms which he offered. '1 he mistake was made with the most innocent intentions ; but it was not an unnatural consequence that the tenderer withdrew his application and left the Council to seek monetary assistance elsewhere. Prudence and secrecy are elements in all financial negotiations of this kind, as the Council would have known had it consisted of business men; but the difficulty under which all petty municipalities labor is that they find it impossible to secure the services of competent men to fill the offices of Mayor and Councillors. Even if, by chance, such persons icsicle in the borough, the affairs to be mistered are so small that they will not troabe themselves about them. Then, as vc l-voc bi.-fnre pointed out, there is the C'imperatively high co>t of administration, ■viicii is ■■•er/ igiiiliovui in St. Ki-da It is no that, hi rb'-sc ui&cm, excessive salaried a v e paid. Comm, uly the salaries are so sm.di that mally good men would not ace-, ot them ; but they constitute a tar larger t ercentage of the ordinary income than they do in municipalities of greater magnitude, and so place a heavier burthen upon the ratepayers. We reiterate these points because the good government of the suburbs of Dunedin concerns not only the particular localities, but also the <’ity itself. A stroll through Caversham, South Dunedin, and St Kilda will reveal the existence of a populous neighborhood offering remarkable facilities for the spread of infectious disease; and, although the local authorities have displayed much energy in the discharge of their municipal duties, yet their hands are cramped by the want of unity of organisation. The common action which is now being taken for securing a water supply for these suburbs may possibly prove the precursor of a general amalgamation, for itwas only asilly jealousy of each ether on the part of the inhabitants of the different districts which caused them io commit the grand error of seeking to he incorporated in separate municipalities.