THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1880. THE NEW BOARD OF CONSERVATORS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2137, 30 December 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1880. THE NEW BOARD OF CONSERVATORS.

If it is true that a good beginning makes a had end,” it is to be trusted that the converse is true also, and that the somewhat peculiar start made by the new Board of Conservators on Tuesday will result in a career prosperous in itself and advantageous to the public. At the very commencement of operations a difficulty cropped up. Who was to open proceedings ? The Mayor had, in accordance with the Act, convened the meeting, but, apparently, he did not feel it his duty to go any further. Possibly, if he had given the affair a moment’s consideration, he might have foreseen that the units he had summoned to come together at a certain place and at a certain time would be in a very awkward condition if they were left to arrange themselves. He might surely have noticed that the spirit of the Act at all events pointed strongly in the direction of the necessity of his personally seeing the matter through to its bitter end. Ho was in the position of having created certain official molecules with no particular affinity for each other, and he might just as well have kept an eye on the description of crystallization into which they were about to run. However, from some cause best known to himself, he stopped short at the act of calling the meeting, and left the rest to chance. Now let us watch these official molecules assembled in the Board room. Mr J, L. Wilson, being the most active particle, immediately seized the opportunity to read tho proclamation of the Chief Justice as Administrator of the Government, concerning tho election and tho first meeting of the Board. The meeting was at that time in a complete state of flux, and nobody had been chosen to conduct the preliminary proceedings, To such a person would naturally have fallen tho task of explaining why they had been called together, but Mr. Wilson, in tho unbounded enthusiasm- of the moment, constituted himself the mouthpiece both of tho Government and the members, and

HHPpp •HBenlighfSPß.he factor »oi gin i v their being. Struck, no tit, by th., ability displayed at this gigantic crisis, the members, when it came to ballotting for a Chairman for tho ensuing year, rewarded the gentleman who bad stepped into tho breach, by hoisting him into the coveted post. Seated there, the new Chairman immediately developed some peculiar ideas. Mr Harman, the Chairman of the late Board, had very kindly and courteously offered to attend the Board to give any information which might he thought desirable. This was, to say the least of it, very considerate of Mr Harman. That gentleman is in possession of a large stock of most valuable information both on the manner in which the works at tho river have been carried out and on the general working of the office. The present Board are entirely at sea in regard to both these matters, and any hints that might be given by the late Chairman would naturally ho most useful. Mr. Harman evidently did not propose to attend for the joy of meeting the new members. A brand-new Board, as yet in a highly dishevelled state, and a brandnew Chairman, with the first blush of his budding honors still painfully visible, may he interesting objects to a foreigner bent on examining the working of British institutions, but to a gentleman who has their business at his fingers’ ends and who has “ nsed up ’’ the sensation of being a Chairman of a Board of Conservators, the sight of these debutants posturing painfully on the hoards over which ho had whilom glided so gracefully, must have been painful rather than pleasing. No; Mr. Harman presumably goffered his services from a consciousness that he was performing a public duty when so doing and was facilitating a work of great public benefit. The brand-new Chairman, however, was not struck by this idea. He thought it would be advisable to postpone the visit of Mr. Harman, and suggested that he (the Chairman) should meantime see the late Chairman, and get a written report of the state of the Board, Ac. How tho information kindly volunteered by Mr. Harman could gain in force or lucidity by being filtered through the medium of Mr. Wilson must pass the comprehension of most people. It seems never to have struck the Chairman that other members of the Board might personally wish to ask Mr. Harman for information, an opportunity which would be lost if affairs were conducted in the round-about method ho proposed. No doubt it was painful for a brand-new Chairman, hut vaguely conscious of his . duties, to bo confronted before his Board by the apparition of a defunct Chairman surcharged with statistics and a thorough knowledge of the business in hand, and it might be difficult to suppress a Maobethlike start at the entrance of the ghostly visitor. But the attempt should have been made, and it should not have been left to the remainder of the Board to overrule the timidity of their newly-elected chief. The Chairman indeed should have been tho last man to have thought it advisable to postpone the visit of Mr. Harman, instead of being the first. One remark more and we have done. Mr. Wilson is not only Chairman of the Board of Conservators but Chairman of the Avon Road Board, and, curiously enough, the very first remark he makes in his niew capacity has reference to the above Road Board. It was injudicious, to say the least of it, this bringing so prominently forward a matter connected more immediately with a body over whose affairs ha had been for some time presiding, Tho Board of Conservators is appointed to carry out certain functions for the due control of the Waimakariri and for tho safety of a large district. The matter connected with the Avon Road Board might well have waited to have been brought up in duo course of the ordinary business. If matters are to be carried on satifactorily in the Board of Conservators, it will he absolutely necessary that their Chairman sink altogether his functions as Chairman of the Avon Road Board when presiding in his new office. Mr. Wilson’s remark may well have been a slip of the tongue, and there was probably no ulterior object in view, hut it will bo well if the Chairman learns early that the Board of Conservators do not recognize him as in any way connected with the Avon Road Board.

We have said that the first meeting of the Board of Conservators has developed some curious traits, but it is to he trusted that they do not augur badly for the future. The public at large have their eyes bent anxiously bent on the actions of the new Board. The interests involved are very considerable, and the new Board follow a Board that have done their work admirably for a series of years. If the former do not rashly upset the arrangements of the latter until they have thoroughly mastered all the intricacies of their business, they will he doing all that is just at present expected of them.