THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, MAY 7, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1935, 7 May 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, MAY 7, 1880.

Councillor. Wyatt, whose broad and liberal ideas, and highly cultivated mind, it is the good fortune of tho ratepayers of the north-east ward to havo secured, lias of late boen distinguishing himself in a mannor that may or may not bo satisfactory to the main body of Ms constituents. This will much depend on their views of the duties of ratepayers. If they are of opinion that rates struck by the City Council are to be avoided by all means, then Councillor Wyatt must be in their eyes an heroic personage. For that gentleman, not content with going to a court of law to tost the legality of the very by-laws made by the body of which he is a member, has assumed the role of Don Quixote, and sallies forth as the champ'on of the discontented, and those who desire by any means to avoid payment of just dues in the shape of city rates. In the fulfilment of this self-imposed task, Councillor Wyatt—the chessn of the nortkeast ward—not only incites the people to resist the payment of rates, but also obstructs and abuses one of the officials of the very Council of which he is a mombor whilst in the discharge of his duty. Such rare chivalry and high notions of duty as a councillor will not, we trust, go unrewarded at the close of Councillor Wyatt's brilliant municipal career. No doubt the ratepayers of the ward ho so worthily represents will fitly recognise those great merits and statesmanlike ideas which have so characterised his appearance in the municipal arena by a presentation. Deeply impressed as we are with the Councillor's grand disregard to the openly expressed censure of all his colleagues, we venture to suggest the form of this testimonial. A historical painting might be presented to him of a Councillor felling to the ground a rate collector. On the Councillor's face might be depicted a noble disregard of the A B C of the duties which are incumbent on him. A ferocious hatred of the by-laws might gleam from his right eye, while from his left might shoot an utter scorn of those of his constituents who are weak and wicked enough to abide by the Council's decrees. It might perhaps be well to hide, after the manner of a once famous painting, the face of the felled collector. There are emotions which baffle the skill of tho artist, and the feelings a rale collector assailed by a unit of the Council itself, might well rank among them. But there may be individuals who might object to any memorial whatsoever being presented to such a gentleman a 3 Councillor Wyatt. They may consider that he should be ai once called upon to vacate tho seat he retains in face of a resolution of tho Council. They may say that any man with the least spark of self-respect would immediately, on such a resolution and such a unanimous vote of censure being passed, have resigned his seat. But Councillor Wyatt is of different stuff. No questions of self-respect, no absurd old-fashioned and exploded notions of honour, are allowed by him to stand in the way of his high mission. He has set himself the task of preaching rebellion to the body of which he is a member and of resistance to those very rates in which he has acquiesced. What cares lie, therefore, for the sneers of the envious. Wrapped in tho mantle of his own self-esteem, votes of censure are as straws to him, and ho will continue to take his place at the Council table week after week, serenely unconscious thai his colleagues have said in so many words that he is no longer fit to sit with them. How many men are there that would havo the moral courage—some people would call it obtuseness—to do this? Therefore, wo say that the north-east ward has reason to be proud of its representative. There is one thing of which that ward may rest assured, that, brilliant though Councillor Wyatt's achievements have been, there is no other ward in the city which would bo so selfish as to attempt to deprive them of such a member. Wo leave Councillor Wyatt with regret. Any efforts of ours to ''hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature" by dilating upon his numerous qualifications would be but gilding the gold and painting the lily. In this brief but sincere panegyric of this remarkable man's heroic conduct, wo have tried jto bring out in bold relief the high qualities ho possesses. If it should be thought that the praise has been lukewarm or that the colours havo not been so vividly depicted as they should have been, inability to grasp so large a subject must be our excuse.