The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, APRIL 18, 1902. MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 393, 18 April 1902, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, APRIL 18, 1902. MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS.

It was pleasing to note the change in the condition of things when the full Council assembled on Tuesday night. On the previous evening the Estimates Committee had been in a very gloomy mood, so cheerless indeed that there seemed to he quite a hazy remembrance in regard to some points of the discussion—some of the members had not even heard the subject of Aberdeen road mentioned (a point which Or Hepburn quickly turned to practical account). 011 the full Council taking up the estimates the gloom was at once dispelled, and instead of there being no silver lining to the dark cloud, the dark cloud itself had vanished. And so it should be, for taking the work done during the year the Council is deserving of congratulation. There is no doubt that there is much that Councillors would like to have done, and there is much that should be done, but with a borough so large and revenue earning endowments ■.such a scarce quantity, the work that has been done is remarkably good. There will always be grumblers—and some will have good reason to grumble <—as to the localities in which the work has been done. Every man can .naturally see requirements about the locality of his own residence, and perhaps it he had the handling of the purse those defects would speedily be remedied—at the expense of some other portion of the borough, Aberdeen road for distance, ought to have teen completed years ago, and it is perhaps not much consolation to the residents of that locality to know that what has been their loss has been the gain of some other locality. The fertility of Gisborne is in a sense a loss to the borough. The grass grows so quickly that unless there is sufficient traffic on a footpath formed it again quickly tecomes the site of a rich growth. All things considered we may well congratulate the Council on what has been done as a whole, that is leaving room for the complaints that may be expected from localities for whose needs the borough purse has not vet been found sufficiently large, l/i the purchase of properties the borough lips teen making good investments, though it may he regretted that such properties were not endowed in the early days, instead of having K, bp purchased now -when there is so much work requiring to he done in the way of street formation and maintenance. The other evening comparison was made between the Gisborne and other boroughs. We would challenge anyone to point out a borough in New Zealand that with the same advantages and disadvantages as the borough of Gisborne has done anything like as well as our borough. The cost of Toad metal alone would drive some boroughs bankrupt.