THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1882. AN ACT OF SPOLIATION.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2697, 29 November 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1882. AN ACT OF SPOLIATION.

't will be remembered that a few days ago we called attention to the peculiar conduct of the City Council in proposing to demand from a private citizen a certain sum of money for the use of the fire prevention plant outside tho city boundaries. It was not carried into effect, but the fact remained that it was supported very strongly hy several members of the City Council. The discnssion appears to have had the desired effect, as the gentleman referred to forwarded a donation to the JBrigade. Wo have emphasised the intended destination of the money because for tho first time I during a series of years the Fire Brigade Committee have interfered most unnecessarily with what belongs exclusively and entirely to the Brigade, and with which the Council have no more to do than any private individual. The donations on former occasions have gone through the Superintendent of the Brigade, and been acknowledged by him on their behalf. But since Cr. Hiorns has attained to the high dignity of Chairman of the Fire Brigade Committee, he has altogether discarded that native modesty and retiring disposition* which so eminently characterised him in the past, and has gone in for startling innovations in this particular department of the Council. Amongst other things, tho latest freak of the Committee is the appropriation of half the donation forwarded by Mr Rhodes to the Brigade. As we have before stated, the Council —nay, even that most august body tho Fire Brigade Committee—have not a scintilla of right to touch the money. It is the property of the Brigade, and as such should be handed over intact. Had the ideas of some of the more impetuous Councillors prevailed, and a request been made formally through the Town Clerk to Mr. Rhodes for a earn as compensation for the use of tho plant, we could have understood the interference of Or. Hiorns and his Committee. It. would then have been a payment for so much wear and tear of plant. But as given it is quite a different matter. Mr. Rhodes was not asked in that way. If our readers will remember the clause of tho report of the Committee, urging that £25 be demanded, was not adopted. Therefore this donation to the Brigade differs in no way, except in amount, from the many which have preceded it. On nearly every occasion when tho Brigade have rendered service, it has been acknowledged hy a donation. Neither the Council or the Fire Brigade Committee of those days would ever have descended to the paltry meanness of confiscating £2 10s out of the £5 thus presented. Yet that is jnst what the present body has done, though on a larger scale. Acting on tho recommendation of the Fire Brigade Committee—not directly it is true, bat the motion was moved by one and seconded by another member of it—the Conncil have not only done an act of injustice, but have, we consider, treated the Brigade in a very slighting manner. The men are volunteers in the truest sense of tho word, and the only recompense they receive for their arduous labors is the use of their library and the various methods of recreation which they have been enabled to procure through the means of the very kind of donations of which the Conncil have on this occasion taken toll. We cannot bat think that the action of the Conncil has been taken without due thought or consideration, and that, on consideration, they will seethe error which has been committed. The diversion of half the sum to a totally different object to that intended by the donor cannot but be regarded as a great mistake, without the more serious consequence of it being likely to bo the cause of well founded discontent amongst the members of the Brigade. For the action taken we cannot but blame Or. Hiorns. As the chairman of the Fire Brigade Committee, he wonld, of course, have some weight with his colleagues in tho Conncil on matters specially referring to the Fire Brigade. We cannot understand why some of the loud-voiced champions of the working man, who on other occasions take great pains to assure him that “ Codlins’ their friend, not Short,” did not protest against what is, on the face of it, to put it mildly, an act of injustice. That such] a proposition, which in reality amounted to an illegal conversion, should pass in silencs is certainly very surprising. In tho interests of . the Brigade and of the city, we trust that the Council will see its way clear to retrace its steps in this matter despite Cr. Hiorns. That they have committed an error, and a very grave one, must be at once admitted, and to persist in it may cause an unpleasant feeling to grow up between the Brigade and tho Conncil; in fact, it is more than probable that the peace and harmony so gushingly dwelt upon by Cr. Hiorns on a recent occasion will reign no more. The public will, wo aro sure, agree with us that anything likely to do this will impair the efficiency of tho Brigade. What comparison can this boar to the miserable £25 which tho careful and economical chairman wants to go towards tho fire prevention fund, whatever that may be. Why, it wonld not pay for the ladders broken in the recent trials of the white elephant. We know that this matter has created great soreness amosgst the members of. the Brigade, and the Conncil will do well to consider the subject more carefully than they appear to have done, remembering that they are striking out an entirely now course, and interfering with money not in any way under their control.