MORE POWER OVER THE PURSE. Councillor Nathan's Idea.

Free Lance, Volume IV, Issue 204, 28 May 1904, Page 6

MORE POWER OVER THE PURSE. Councillor Nathan's Idea.

MS David Nathan is a City Councillor of an enterprising spirit. He wants the Corporation to move forward more briskly and spend money freely in suDTDlYing those municipal convemS which are now lacking. We sympathise with him in his progressive views, but don't approve , of the short-cut to municipal perfection which he advocated at last weeks meetins of the Council In short, The C% Fathers did the right thmg for once in giving a short shrift to David's proposal to seek enlarged powers for raising loans without the authority of a poll of the ratepayers. • In the first place, the knocking of the project on the head in the moment of birth saves time and worry. Of course, it was only submitted for the consideration of the Municipal Conference. But there was only Buckley's chance of persuading Parliament to hand over the municipal purse to the City Fathers to spend as they pleased. Besides that, the Wellington City Council is not a body that invites public trust On the contrary, it seems to be afflicted with an incurable bias for locking the door in the face of the public when it has any public business to transact. Like the ostrich, which will stick its silly head in the sand and reckon it is safe from pursuit, our local Council seems to reckon that its business is nobody's concern but its own. * * * Under these circumstances, the burgesses had better keep m their own hands all the power they have got. If the Council has any little schemes on hand for which it needs the sinews of war, it is obliged to take the public into its confidence. It may be disagreeable, but it is salutary. It secures for the ratepayer a say in the spending of his own money. His credit can't be pledged until he is satisfied the investment is going to be all right. On the other hand, we appreciate Councillor Nathan's very laudable desire to push on with that ampler water supply which has been defeated on two occasions at the poll. At the same time, we don't want to see the

latepaycr relax his grip on the pursestrings. * * * Let the City Council modernise its methods, and welcome the play of the searchlight upon its proceedings Less committee business with the blmds down and the door locked. A keener desire to work under the eye of the public. That is the first and most urgent change that is called for. When the Council has got into the habit of working without feeling nervous because press and public are present, it will find that the public will be prompt to find all the money that may be wanted for works that are beneficial.. But furtive methods and secret deliberations are always to be distrusted when public bodies resort to them.