The Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1877.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 31, 3 February 1877, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1877.

Foe well known reasons there was more than, ordinary interest attaching to the proceedings of the Manawatu County Council on Wednesday last. It was feared that the exhibition of party spirit which characterized the first meeting of that body would develope into log-rolling, and that nothing short of a division of the County into two would remedy the evil. We are happy to be able to say, however, that such anticipations were far from being realized ; that the Council set about its work at once m a very satisfactory manner; and that harmony and good feeling prevailed throughout the proceedings. Allusion was made, as will be seen from our report, to the original cause of the unpleasantness, namely, the Sandon and Carnarvon railway ; but m bringing the matter forward, Mr Grower distinctly repudiated the imputation that he had sought a seat m the Council for the purpose of getting this railway made at the expense of the County. He said he did not want more for that particular line .of road than would, upon a fair distribution of the County expenditure, be apportioned to it ; but that he should like to have such sum devoted to the purpose of surveying and estimating the cost of a railway, if that purpose could not be attained m the way he proposed and which the Council adopted, viz., by asking the Government to have the estimate made. On this matter we may remark m passing that we think it would be wiser to propose the construction of a branch line, con-

necting with the Foxton-Feilding railway via Sandou aud Carnarvon ; to form a company for that purpose ; and to ask the Government to guarantee interest on the outlay for a certain time after the line should be opened for traffic. Such a line would expedite the progress of settlement m the rising townships through which it would pass, and would probably render that mythical township of Rangitikei, about which Mr Gower is so anxious for information, a reality. — This, however, by the way. The Council has resolved to take charge of all the roads lately under the management of the Provincial Government, and also the main road from Bennett's corner at Awahuri to the northern boundary of the Kiwitea Block. This is all the work which it has cut out for itself for the present ; and m preparing for the execution of it the Council displays a regard for economy which is perhaps carried to excess. It is useless, we fancy, for the Council to ask the Government to employ the District Engineer m making estimates of the work necessary to be done on the County roads. The Government will be likety to look upon this as a dangerous precedent ; and it would have been better, m our humble opinion, for the Council to have procured the services of an engineer at once, and set about putting the roads m order before tbe winter. However, if they have erred m this matter the error is on the right side — that of economy — and m the same spirit they passed a resolution that no rate should be struck for the present, relying upon the Government subsidy and the license fees to meet the necessary expenditure. A somewhat amusing instance of the Council's frugality is to be found m the fact of its making a clerk of its Chairman ; at his own request, however, for he remarked that, as matters stood at present, he should have very nearly as much trouble m directing the clerk, if one were appointed, as m doing the whole work himself. The arrangement is of course a temporary one, which will only last until the business of the Council shall have been reduced to something like routine. Upon the whole, the contrast between the second meeting and the first was as striking as it was gratifying ; and the very promising beginning of actual business which has been made augurs well for the future. Of that future it would be prematura to say more than that we believe the Council will get rid very speedily of a certain timidity — a tendency to shrink from serious responsibility — which seems to embarrass it at present, and recognize fully the necessity of taking a wider view as to the scope of its functions than it does at present. As regards Mr Halcombe's motion for giving Manchester Riding an additional member, it was decided by the Chairman (Mr Halcombe himself concurring m tbe decision) tbat according to Section 77 of the Counties Act, tbe motion could not be put at an " Ordinary meeting," and that it was therefore necessary to hold a special meeting for the purpose of considering it. This acaccounts for the resolution appointing a special meeting for 5 o'clock on tbe 28th February, after tbe ordinary business shall have been dispatched. Judging from the tone of tbe discussions on Wednesday last, we do not think Mr Halcombe's motion is likely to be made a party question of. Tbat it will be discussed upon its merits simply we are induced to believe, partly from tbe general harmony which characterised tbe proceedings of the Council on Wednesday last, and partly from tbe fact — proved by the divisions, one of them especially — that there is now no party m tbe Council — a state of things which, for its ovyn credit and that of local self-go-vernment m general, wall, we trust, be perpetual.