The Globe. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1874.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 122, 21 October 1874, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1874.

We are glad to woluoti (• our contemporary the Li/tleitun Times as a recruit to the ranks of thos-e who, like onrselves, are strong mlvocates for the division of the city into wards. In it* issue of this morning the Lytleltori Times admits the advisability of thit* plan being adopted, and we think the great body of ratepayers will agree

also in this. The subject has been ventilated before, but in a languid, half-hearted manner, which failed entirely to enlist the sympathy or support of the majority of those interested. Without going ' nto statistics or figures, which, for the purpose of calling the attention of the citizens to tin's matter is not necessary, let us briefly point out the advantages to he derived from the change. First, however, as to the one great argument against it —viz., the inability, owing to the rateable property being unequally divided, of a fair and equitable arrangement for wards being made. This, we may say, has been set up by the opponents of the ward system very like a scarecrow, exceedingly horrible to look at from a distance, but when closely examined, resolving itself into a very commonplace article after all. The impetus which has been given to the erection of houses in the city and suburbs by the large immigration going on, has tended largely to equalise the preponderance of what we will call the central block in the matter of rates; though of course under any circumstances the central portion will always be more valuable than the others ; but this difficulty, as we shall show, can be got over. There is now no quarter of the city in which the sections are not fully occupied by tenements all paying rates into the common stock, so that the division of the city could be effected in such a way as to give all the wards a fair share of the general rates. Under the present system —and it is no use disguising the fact —the general tendency of the Council is to spend money in the more central parts of the city. This, of course, is perfectly commendable, as it is necessary that the city should be made as ornamental as possible in its principal thoroughfares ; but while this should be done, the claims of the outlying portions, who contribute rates, should be recognised, and not left with their roads in a half formed state, their footpaths mere lakes of mud, utt-rly impassable during the winter mouths, and the residents practically cut off from communication with the more central portions. This has been the case under the present system, hut would not occur if the city were divided into wards, and these portions had their representatives in the Council, able to make their wants heard, and demanding as a right that a portion oi the rates therein raised should be spent in works for the benefit of the particular locality. Works would then be carried on systematically and simultaneously in various parts of the city, instead of as now four or five men and a wheelbarrow being for a few clays in one part, and then removed on to another, before the first job is finished, and then to a third locality, leaving both the former works in an unfinished state, and the general improvement of the whole city would be marked and rapid, besides doing even justice to all. The principle we seek to see established here is not new to the colony ; on the contrary, Christchurch, is, we believe, the only Municipality in the colony in which the ward system does not prevail. In Otago, Auckland, and Wellington, the system of wards prevails, and w T orks well. There are no special circumstances in Christchurch which do not apply with equal force to the other Municipalities of the Colony, so. that it is only fair to assume that,having worked well and satisfactorily elsewhere, it will do so in Christchurch. Now, with regard to the difficulty of the central portion of the city. There is no doubt that, divide the city in whatever way you will it is a matter of difficulty to adjust the wards so as to make the amount of rates raided equal; but by taking Colombo and High and Hereford streets as the dividing lines, the one north and south, and the other east and west, Hereford ctreet continuing the line Irutn the Bank of New Zealand, the central block will be divided into four quarters, each ward having one quarter within its boundaries, so that no one ward can say that it is being starved by having a large area of streets to look after with a small income of rates. It is not necessary now to go into details; what is wanted is a vigorous and well directed movement on the part of the ratepayers, or even the Council itself, to get the principle accepted. Councillor Raphael, on the occasion of the public meeting, de, dared himself as being in favour of the system, and we hope that now he s in a position to do so, he will venti j late the subject in the Council, with a view to having the ward system carried out. It is an inevitable necessity, and one which, more than anything else, will tend to aid the progress and levelopment- of the city in a marked degree, ll is to be hoped that the citizens will not allow this matter to Imp, but. "ill agitate until they get lie city divided into wards.