The Globe. MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1874.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 164, 14 December 1874, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1874.

One of the principal objections to the present theatre, and one which has been urged with considerable force, is that ladies attending it have to run the gauntlet of a crowd of men smoking and chaffing on the footpath. It seems, however, that both the City Council and the police authorities are determined to shut their eyes to the fact that they are tacitly encouraging the nuisance by their action in tire matter. Lot any one go by the Criterion hotel of an evening, and he will there see ranged up against the footpath some ten or a dozen hansom and other cabs, whilst their drivers and attendant satellites crowd the pavement to such an extent, that without absolutely elbowing one’s way through them, it is impossible to get past. Their language is anything but refined, and scarcely such as any one would care that his wife or daughter should hear. Besides this, the annoyance of having to hustle and push through a crowd such as this is far from pleasant. We venture to say that in no other town in New Zealand would such a scandalous state of things be permitted to exist for one moment, and it is a crying disgrace that in Christchurch it should be allowed to go unchecked for months past. There has never been a public stand proclaimed in the part of the city alluded to, so far as we are aware, aud therefore the cabs have no right whatever to congregate there. Even supposing that under the present muddled state of the bye-law the City Council have no power of interference, it becomes the duty of the police, most certainly, to see that the footpaths are kept clear and that pedestrians are not obstructed in the way they are every evening. There is a power, we believe, allowing vehicles plying for hire to stand at a distance of forty feet from any place of public amusement: but even this cannot be strained into permitting what has grown to be an unmitigated evil. If the vehicles are required at places of amusement —and as a matter of course they arc, then let them be so stationed as not to interfere with the convenience of the public. In the present case the cabs could be drawn up on the other side of the street, where they would be within hail of any one requiring them, and at the same time leave the path free for traffic. As it is, the present, state of things is a disgrace to us, and certainly calls for the immediate interference of the police authorities, because the thoroughfare is obstructed. Let an unfortunate fish hawker leave his barrow in the street for a few r moments, or a shopkeeper put a case of goods on the footpath, and the majesty of the law is at once exemplified by a fine, but here for months is a palpable and unchecked obstruction, and not only so, but a positive nuisance to a large section of the community and yet no notice is taken of it; indeed, the guardian of the public peace in the neigbourhood may be seen placidly looking on at the obstruction to progress without any effort being made to remove the evil. We have deemed it our duty to write strongly on this point, because for so long a time this state of things has gone on unchecked that it has become unbearable, and we hope that though late, some action will be taken to do away with what has become an intolerable nuisance.