The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, MAY 22, 1882.

Kumara Times, Issue 1760, 22 May 1882, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, MAY 22, 1882.

The attempt to abolish the Borough of Knmnra will end in smoke after all. The 354th section of the “ Municipal Corporations Act” provides that “If within three months after the publication of a notice of a petition to abolish a borough, one-fourth of the burgesses of the borough petition the Governor praying him not to dissolve the Corporation of the borough, no such proclation shall be issued.” It is further provided that “ the number of votes which each ratepayer or burgess is entitled to give at any local election may be set after his name in any such petition, and the one-fourth above-men-tioned shall mean one-fourth of the whole number of votes which miaht be given at any such election.” Every signature must be certified to under a statutory declaration. We understand that there is so strong a feeling in favor

of the retention of the borough, that already more than a sufficient number of signatures to the petition have been obtained, but that the rest of the ratepayers will be afforded an opportunity of signing before the document is forwarded to its destination. In all probability, a clear majority of the resident ratepayers will send up their names against dissolving the borough, so that instead of it being a “minority coercing a majority,” it will be found that the wish of the people as a whole will have effect given to it. At the recent public meeting, there were but comparatively few ratepayers present, and of that few but a small proportion held up their hands for Mr Seddou’s resolution. The only substantial reason for dissolving the borough which was given at the meeting was that the revenues of the borough would be much better spent outside the limits of the town than within it. This is very poor argument indeed, and we are not surprised to find that it does find favor among the burgesses, who have to pay the rates. Rome was not built in a day, and it is utterly absurd and preposterous to suppose that in the case of Kumara, the work of twenty or thirty years could he aocomplished in three or four. Already much has been done, and although much remains to be done, the way to do it is not by making a present of all our funds to the county, to be spent elsewhere. Asa general rule, within all boroughs, almost everyone has his petty grievance, and such will he the case. Some want a few loads of gravel placed immediately at their doors, while others cannot understand why certain drainage works are not nndet taken and carried out, while the general crowd of grumblers are thoroughly convinced that there is something wrong somewhere ; and although they are unequal to the task of explaining exactly what is the matter, are never weary of holding forth, in season and out of season, upon the imaginary wrongs which they seem to believe are being inflicted upon them. Such things happen everywhere i but that is no reason why we should deliberately abandon the form of local-self-government we are living under. The most senous municipal trouble we have to contend with is the cantankerous conduct of members of the Borough Council, who, when they meet for the despatch of business, seem to at once differ upon every question that is ivdsed. It is tolerably certain that the Council as at present constituted is in a most unworkable condition, and perhaps the best way to get out of the difficulty would be for the members to resign in a body, and then, if they presented themselves for re-elec-tion, the ratepayers would iu all probability treat them according to their merits.