The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1878.

Kumara Times, Issue 621, 24 September 1878, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1878.

A. special meeting of the Westland Gotfuty Council is convened for t«-mor-row, ostensibly for the purpose of public business, but with the ulterior view in end Df rescinding a certain resolution carried at a previous meeting. The resolution referred to is relative to the deviation of the proposed railway line, between Greymouth and Hokitika, and is worded so as to endorse the centres of population en route, as carried at a meeting of the Council on the 21st inst, the whole of the

members being present with the exception of the Chairman. In dealing with the matter at issue the question naturally arises. Are those members at whose instigation this special meeting was called—representing as they do but a section, of the minority—justified in their action in this matter-1 We say and say unhesitatingly, that riot alone were they not justified bat that their action is deserving of the highest censure at the hands of their constituents. To briefly summarise the whole case, we find that a motion tabled by one of the representatives for this district having for its object the very laudable motive of connecting the inland towns with the two-ports byrailway communication, was, after being thoroughly discussed, carried in the Council by the casting vote of the acting Chairman. Now mark -what follows. The -minority, urged on no doubt by the .repeated attacks made by our Hokitika morning contemporary—blind to his own and the people’s interest on this question—convene in accordance with the-Act a special. meeting to rescind this, resolution, on the very complimentary (?) grounds that at the previous meeting one of the members (the chairman) was absent. We trust that those members who have originated this game of battledore and shuttlecock with the business of the Council will yet see:the error of . their ways and expunge such a highly Injudicious motion from the notice paper. To show the utter absurdity of the proceedings we might illustrate a case in point. The Municipal body of this town, like the County Council, consists of nine members, the only difference being that streets are represented, inihstead of districts. A meeting of that body is held, and in the absence of the Mayor, a resolution is carried in the interests of the inhabitants, by the casting vote of the acting Chairman.' Would the minority in this case call a special meeting to rescind that resolution through the agency of the IHayor on his return 1 We apprehend not; or, probably, the ratepayers, when those gentleman were again seeking their suffrages would remember those who acted in this farce. Such is the present position of the Westland County Council. The resolution regarding the inland railway line has been carried by a majority, and actuated by. no other motive than opposition, the ( minority wish it rescinded. in the interests of the residents of this and all the.intermediate towns affected by this resolution, we trust that at the special meeting of the Council to-morrow it will be conclusively proved by the withdrawal or throwing out of this objectionable motion, that .the members as a body are not alone cognisant of the wishes of the majority of the people, but are desirous of carrying them Out. and thereby benefiting the -community generally.