The Globe. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1876.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 756, 22 November 1876, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1876.

In yesterday’s issue we expressed satisfaction ;at finding that another effort is being made in the City Council towards placing in a state of permanent repair the footpaths of jlthe city. The subject demands larger attention than we gave to it yesterday. Cr Nathan’s motion has been adjourned to the beginning of next month, to allow ' the Council to examine into its finances. Few people are we believe, willing to dispute the fact that the time has fully arrived when the side-paths of Christchurch should be maintained in a manner more in keeping with the daily-growing advancement of the place. Although we felt it our duty to complain, at the time, of the manner in which the sidepaths were farmed last winter, we must admit that, considering the smallness of the funds especially placed from time to time at the disposal of the Council by a niggardly Provincial Government, under the influence of a legislative body, tainted with ultrabucolic views, vast improvements have been made during the last year or two in the matter of street maintenance. A uniform system of levels has been established, followed out by regular concrete channelling, and the formation of permanent lines of footpaths has been carried out alongside the network of levels throught the city. In fact, whatever preliminary steps preparatory to constructing the paths are needed, have been taken and are almost completed. Now that the Council is in a somewhat satisfactory financial position through the grant of £SOOO lately voted to the municipality, the time appears opportune to face boldly the coat of the undertaking, and to have . this great footsore of the city its wretched paths—removed once and for ever. Mr Nathan has a scheme of his own, and at the first blush it seems feasible and equitable enough. He suggests that the entire cost of asphalting half the width of the paths within the Belt, calculated by him at some £13,000, should be borne in certain proportions by the City Council, the general body of ratepayers and the owners of properties fronting on the paths. One fourth of the expenditure, he thinks, might come out of the municipal chest, another fourth be levied by a special rate over the city, and the remaining half be provided for by the immediate holders of property. Of course these matters of detail are entirely for the Council to determine ; but so long as the burden does not fall unnecessarily hard upon the ratepayers, the feeling is general that something should be done, and that speedily. To whatever conclusions as to the expense of the works, and the mode of levying the same, the Council may come, the ratepayers should bear in mind that the first cost will be the last, and that the contingent advantages to be derived from well-kept paths—especially in the winter season—are many and manifest. So far, it seems that the ratepayers have no cause to regret the late infusion of fresh blood added to their representative body municipal. Newer ideas appear to have come to the fore, and more original grooves have apparently been struck. Yet, in public life, success bat too often depends upon what a great general called the three elements necessary to attain victorious conclusions, viz., money, and money, and again money. It is possible that the finances of the Council are in as great a state of prosperity at the present moment as they will be for years to come. Perhaps our civic representatives, in the case of this incident expenditure needed for the completion of the footpaths, may remember that, financially speaking, the present is theirs, while the future is not. And we trust that when Mr. Nathan’s motion comes on for debate, at the Council’s adjourned meeting, it may meet, in substance, if not in detail, with the support which the importance of the subject demands and which the large majority of the ratepayers eagerly expect.