Correspondence

Feilding Star, Volume IX, Issue 88, 12 January 1888, Page 3

Correspondence

THE fiO^OTJGH 'COUNCIL AND! BOROUGH AFFAIfcS. yy til yaa *+■**; aaaa! j•■ : yj "■ TO %BZ, EDITOR OP THH STAR. Sib,- iAllow me r as a ratepayer, to thank yiou '-'ioh your remarks, ie the result of tha -pbll on Friday last, in Saturdays iAsue. *' Indeed, sir.T don't know whetheV to blame' or praise your patience' in waiting so long; doubtless [ you were kindly giyihg, t the Council- j lors as, long, a time as possible to " see j theniselves as others see them." You may 1 - teat assured that you have givea utterance to the feelings and .convic- • tiois' of. ',tte. great majority -.-of thej burgesses. ;May we not reasonably : expect/as a consequence,. of the "want of confidence" implied in the vote on. I Friday, l^st^. that the; rest of , the Coun- j cil given by Councillor; . and return the trust, placed in itheir hands by *Jie [ burgesses -by ; resigning in a body ? This»is the -usual course with/ all; such bodies when " no: confidence" is man-, ifested' by the refusal of supplies. May we hot hope 'that the Councillors will at last see that they are_ standing in the way of the .progress of the Borough hy opposing-; eyery popular movement brought forward? If they atiil fancy they are supported by the ratepayers — in spite of all that has occurred to the "contrary —they owe it to themselves tb7give the . ratepayers an opportunity' of confirming their actions by a popular vote. I would suggest that the loan be voted for again on. the same day. Why; sir, we are. tempted to imagine we are living in the days of the rankest tyranny, andbthati Our Council is' a school for hringing out a* race of pigmy '■ £fapoleons and. Nerps, rather than in the free and""enli^htened nineteenth centuryj'aiid^haying to do with a popular representative institution, chosen by the people to cany but its wishes. Your report of the last meeting: of our Muuicip_il Sblohs is quite in character. A niimeirously and} ihfluentially signed petition (the wrong, name to start with) is presented through the Mayor, mod€«tlj Tequ_«ting a. reduction, pf the dog»tax. Counciilpr Nicholas aaid £fe " would oppose the granting of the request"— we are not informed of any Eroposal with that object. Mr Nicolas; does not condescend to give the minutest ■■ reason ior his oppositionwhy Sbduid he ? : His' namesake the Emperor of all the Russians did'nt do so. It was nothing, tp him if the neighboring Boroughs saw it was their duty to reduce the tax. Cr P. Thomson took upon himself (kindly, f but- ) to decide ' for nine-tenths of the signatures the question^ in the negative, as to whether they need 'keep any such luxury as a house-dog. \ CcnihCiilbr Fowles, knowing, the , flourishing condition of our finances, , decided that the tax was merely a , consequent method of keeping down , L the number of dogs that had already ( become a; nuisance— -to bicyclists. I Perhaps -we must give Ooiincillor Worsfold credit for producing the cream of this historical consultation. This gentleman in all his legislative wisdom; would restrict the right to keep a canine companion to ratepayers^only! So a lady or gentleman visitor to the Borough must (however painful the process) part with their old favorite - while the Borough's sacred precints.' ' Of course, we can have a Building and Investment Society 'to erect kennels outside the boundaryy' What a pity Councillor Worefold's preference to charge 20s inptead of 10s was not embodied, embalmed, iii a resolution of the quartette Council, .and thus preserved from decay for' the benefit of posterity^— such inspirations should not be lost. At rMß^oinl~wecan , t" wonder at the Mayor; wishing to defer further dis^" cussion on the subject. rv y._ v .7. New^fo>" ( tl» v gem 6th teßomtidnJby which thisi very reasonable request was shelved — it certainly is worthy of its origin ! : Councillor Fowles moved that this Council (the quartette already referred to) "regrets ihqt they do turitfiink it advisable, &c," Please, air, kipd|y think of your puzzled read-: era, and look up your best. authorities on pur' peculiar language, and tell them f what it's all about. If their thoughts on the matter were right, whyi^egret them t and if wrong, why^ crystaiise them in such a ''model mode . of expression?" What should the fprm of a resolution have to do with thinking f s ' It is' supposed by simple people that the thinking should be done with whencthe pen touches the paper, and that^tf is" or not": are the proper .terms : of a resolution ? Of course we have been wrong up to the present. Doesn't the resolution mean iif snylhing) that '* we won't g^ve in, but : we >must let the reqnisitionists down aa quietly as possible ; don't you know they are to vote on the loan tomorrow ?" Now, for the concluding farce, so well acted, many times already.in thie history of the Council, by Works Committee. The were, we presume, interviewed by the Messrs Bartholomew, who offered to do certain repairs to the /Kiwitea bridge for a certain sum. The Committee accepted the ojffer^r-and the Engineer, there and then, reported that the work had already been f cpmmenced that morning. Our •^K&essively courteous Mayor rushes ; 'tb' tho ; rescue! and. proposes that this work already begun be authorised, as recommended , by the Engineer — thuei vainly trying to make ths action of the Engineerls Consulting Committee look, a little orderly J This is a specimen of the work by which the Council, alias the afftr^said Committee, has forfeited the confirr denoe of the burgesses. All must - iSg!»t7_.ttf_ .sfcefdur- respected Mayor I^o^ng himself to- -• such a way of doing the bijsiue«ft of the Borough.— t"*m te:, R/iTEFiyEJt. 1^ r»jj^y^mnary 10, 1868. .