THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1880. CITY COUNCIL MANAGEMENT.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2046, 14 September 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1880. CITY COUNCIL MANAGEMENT.

The embroglio between the Tramway Company and the cabmen does not seem to be near a conclusion: and the mode of dealing with the case adopted by the City Council is so unsatisfactory as to lead to the apprehension that more good money, more valuable time, and much trouble will have to be wasted before things are arranged to the satisfaction of all parties concerned, the ratepayers included. All throughout this absurd controversy it is clear that the cabbies have been badly used. It is frequently the case that to very small causes results of this kind are to be traced. In this question of the South Belt cabstand there is no doubt but that the blame must primarily be laid at the door of one of the officers of the City Council. Certainly it is that with the laches of the employees of the Corporation, the public at large has directly nothing to do. The Council is answerable to the ratepayers, whose trust the former accepted at their hands, and the officials in the Council's employment are directly amenable to the Council's jurisdiction, and to no other. During the hearing of the test case brought a few days ago in the Resident Magistrate's Court by the Tramway Company against the cabmen, some remarkable disclosures were made. We lightly commented at the time upon the extraordinary nature of the City Surveyor's evidence, but reserved further remarks until it was seen how the Council would deal with the matter, one of certainly considerable moment. Mr. Walkden, while in Court, admitted having been aware all along that there was a formidable deviation in the line laid down for the Tramway from the authorised plans which, legally sanctioned by his employers, the City Council, had been handed over to him for supervision. When asked to state why he had thus kept the Council, the works committee, and the public in fact, in the dark in so important a matter, the surveyor merely remarked that he did not report the fact of the tramway line cutting through the cabstand, " because no sufficient attention was generally given to his reports," or words to a similar effect. At last evening's meeting, Mr Walkden, in reply to a question made by a Councillor as to how ho had not reported the deviation of the tramway line, gavo what the Council certainly cannot but admit to be a most unsatisfactory answer. It was, in substanco, that he, the surveyor, was under the impression that ho had reported the matter to the Tramway Committee, or the Council, he was not sure which. This is a different version from that given by him in the Resident Magistrate's Court, but for the matter of that one quite as absurd. We have not noticed that at last night's meeting the Council took any steps to make the surveyor understand what was the exact nature of his responsibilities to his employers. We are somewhat surprised that the matter should have been allowed to pass as it has. Officials, whether their employers give much or littlo attention to their reports, are bound to obey their instructions; and in cases so important as tho South belt cabstand encroachment is, there can be no possible excuse for the officer appointed to supervise the interests of the ratepayers having acted as he did. He should have, at once and on the spot, made a written report to either tho Mayor or tho Works Committee. Costly litigation and annoyance of all kinds have gathered together liko the rolling

snowball; and it is evident that to the City Surveyor's singular mode of viewing his position in regard to the Council, it is entirely due. And now that at the ensuing meeting of the Council nothing) has been placed on record to vindicate the jurisdiction of that body in reference to the unseemly attitude assumed by one of their servants, it is plain that the Council is ignoring to a great extent the interests of the citizens by the elasti* way in which they overlook them.

" OUR GRANDFATHERS' CLOCK." What to be done with the tower and clock bestowed upon the citizens by Sir George Grey in a moment of patriotic enthusiasm seems a question as far from solution as ever. At times it proves a bone of contention in the City Council, and we believe that a not inconsiderable amount of bitterness has arisen, now and then, between friendly Councillors when the fate of Sir George's gift was under discussion. This clock has turned out a veritable " white elephant." It is within the bounds of probabilities that the wily ox-Premier, who is supposed to possess a keen scent of how certain peculiar things might fit themselves ahead, intended this " grandfather's clock" to answer a variety of purposes. All kinds of proposals have been made as to the best and cheapest mode of utilising the structure, but none, unfortunately, have come to maturity. The stumbling block is invariably the same, how to solve the old query about the cost. Last evening, at the meeting of the City Conncil, Cr. King withdrew his resolution that the clock tower be erected in Latimer square, "at a cost of not more than £550," because, he said, he had discovered that the foundations would have to go down fifteen feet. The memento of the great pro-consul is, therefore, once more "on hand." And it would appear that the City Councillors, being at their wit's ends, have absolutely thrown up the sponge; this wrestling with the elephant having proved a good deal too much for them. A councillor last night, as a kind of ad misericorrfiam effc»t, suggested that the Government should be requested to take back their clock tower and clock! What a grin will diffuse the features of the Knight of Kawau when he hears of the proposal, if he ever does ! So far as we can see, there are but two courses open wherewith to deal with the white monster. To put it up to auction would scarcely be courteous to the giver. Our friends in Dunedin treated us somewhat badly in railway matters in this removal of workshops question. Why not give their municipality a tnrn ? The Dunedin City Council would, doubtless, be gratified—at first —at the gift of the tower and clock; ultimately, it might cause their proceedings to be enlivened. Again, the tower and clock might be sent to the Melbourne Exhibition, together with a full account of its eventful trials from its earliest days. The story would prove an interesting one from a purely colonial point of view.