Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 1881.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 192, 13 August 1881, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 1881.

Ax air of frirkines3 pervaded the Cify Council Chamber last night, when the meet--1 ing wag about as disorderly a one as we have ' witnessed within those walls. We do iiot 1 mean to assert that there was anything objeciionable iu tbe shape of rowdiness or a ' display of ill temper, but simply that there 1 was a complete absence of order. The Councillors were like a lot of school boyg at play, not at a well disciplined game of cricket, but in a footboll scrimmage in which it seems to be everybody's duty, for some reason unintelligible to lookers-on, and without' any apparent object in view, to trip up or tumble over everybody else. When only two were speaking at once there was a comparative calm, but when that number were addressing the chair at the same time, and four or five others were indulging ia a pastime somewhat similar to that known as "cross questions and crooked answers," the discussion became a little mixed and somewhat difficult of disentanglement. Perhaps the chief sinner in the direction of non-ob3ervance of the rules of debate was His Worship the Mayor. Councillor Little, iu what waß certainly a very milk and watery speech, iu which he urged no reason whatever in support of his proposition, moved that the rent for gas meters be discontinued forthwith. Thereupon the Mayor, in utter defiance of the standing orders which provide that no Councillor ahall in speaking address another, proceeded in the most deliberate manner to cross question and catechise Councillor Little a8 to his knowledge of the matter in which he was moving : " Do you really know what yon are doing Councillor Little ? " " Are you aware that we charge less for our gaa than it can be obtained for anywhere else?" "Do you know how much our gas meters briDg us in ! Councillor Little?" "Do you think Councillor Little that we ca-.i afford to dispense with the revenue derived from that source?" and so on. Had the Councillor addressed had his v;its about him ho could have Bcored a splendid point against his irrepressible questioner, the chairman, by calling him to order, in which he must have been backed up by the reßt of the Council, but he was clearly so "flabbergasted" — the expression is a little slangy, but there ia for that reason a peculiar fitness about it when applied to last eight's . proceedings— that he knew not whether he was standing on his head or his heels, and • consequently he maintained an awe-stricken silence. Seeing the plight bi3 trusty henchman was in, Councillor Harley came to the . rescue, but he overshot the mark in attempting to convict the Mayor of a desire to intimidate a Councillor who bad brought forward a motion of which he did not approve, a charge of which he clearly waa not , guilty, as it was abundantly clear that tbe catechising mood into which he had been - thrown was indaced solely by the pardonable , dread lest the revenue should be reduced by £20 a month, the rent obtained from the ! meters. Anyone who has been in the habit of attending the Council meetings and has observed the watchfui care maintained by His Worship over the Corporation "bawbees" can easily picture to himself the horror with which he would view an attempt to knock off at one fell stroke a sum of £240 a year from i the receipts. To this, and not to any wish to intimidate a member of the Council, waa attributable his utter obiiviousness of any • saeh trifles as standing orders, &c. However, if His Worship ia cot above profiting by past experience, he will not again suffer himself to be bstrayel iato a similar forgetfulncss of the rules by -which the discussions in the Council are supposed to be regulated. It was, perhaps, owing to the genera! lighthearteilness and absence of seriousness which prevailed that the resolution relative to the road round the rocks was so hastily and — shall we say it ? — carelessly introduced and so stupidly worded. For obvious reasons we refrain from criticising it too much in detail, but we must say that a motio'n of that character should have been carefully prepared and judiciously expressed, instead of being left to the Town Clerk to write out while nine Councillors were keeping up a buzz of conversation around him. If the Councillors are really in earnest, as we believe them to be, in preferring the request contained in that motion, we would recommend them most strongly not to forward it in its present state to the two gentlemen to whom it is to be sent, but to hold a special meeting for the purpose of preparing and passing a resolution better calculated to produce tbe desired effect. One word more we bave to say with reference to last night's meeting. A proposal was made to obtain a supply of metal from the Boulder Bank, to which exception was taken by Cr Harley on , the ground that disastrous results might follow an indiscriminate, tampering with the Bank. His warning was rather pooh-poohed | by some of the Councillors, but it is one that is deserving of more serious consideration. Not a ton of stone should be removed from the Boulder Bank except after examination of the locality, whence it is proposed to obtain it, by. and under the strict supervision of, some competent and respon- • sible person. Nature has provided that protection for our harbor, and she does not, as a 1 rule, suffer her handiwork to be interfered with with impunity.