GLOUCESTER STREET CLOCK.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1747, 25 September 1879, Page 2

GLOUCESTER STREET CLOCK.

To the Editor of the Olohe. Sra, —Why one of our newly fledged City Councillor*, Councillor Cherrill, should assume that the late Council had acted illegally in passing a resolution that the clock presented to the Christchurch City Council by the General Government should be erected at the Government School in Gloucester street, I fail to see. The clock in question, I am* given to] understand, cost about £ISOO. There is a largo and beautifully designed iron frame ; at its base it is about 15ft. square and stands 50ft. high; the centre of the clock, from the base of the frame, is about 30ft.; a pedestal of stone, rose say 30ft. from the surface, would give the clock an elevation of of about 60ft., which elevation would be sufficient for all purposes The cost of pedestal would not, I presume, amount to more than £2OO or £3OO. To remove the clock from the Government Buildings and place it on its pedestal at the school would perhaps cost £l5O, and this would utilise the clock and place it where the Council determined it should go. I ask—is that illegal ? Councillor Cherrill—Tou have commenced your civic career too early; yeu must be more careful for the future. If Councillor Cherrill had moved that the minute concerning the erection of the clock be rescinded, and that motion confirmed by the present Council, then he might propose that the clock lay in abeyance till the state of the finances would admit of the outlay. This would have been a proper move to make, instead of pouncing on the late Council and giving out to the world that they bad been acting illegally re the clock. The legal or illegal part of the matter ig this—the clock has become the property of the city, and, if the city has funds to spare for this object, the clock can legally be placed anywhere that any Council determines on putting it. If the clock in question was taken from its present hiding place, and erected at the Gloucester street School, it would be a blessing to the people living in the north-west quarter of the city. There are three clocks now in a very contracted area, and they genera"y peal out together; sometimes a change takes place, they strike one after the other till at times you may count thirty-six o'clock, and in the eastern portion of the city I believe there is no public clock. I would advise Councilor Cherrill to withdraw his motion, and allow some other|Counciilor to frane a proposal that will meet the matter. I advise this mode of action merely because I believe Councillor Cherrill is either too fast, too young, or perhaps fifty years in advance of the age. A word o'f advice to my friend Councillor Lambert. I would advise him not to be so foolish as to over think that the Council has the morals of the people in their keeping. VOX POPtJIiI, VOX DEI.