New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4131, 17 June 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1874.

The business discussed by the City Council at its meeting on Monday evening was of more than ordinary interest and importance. The Coxmcillors were all in their places, and the Mayor was anxious that reforms of an extensive character should bo proceeded with at once. All this bodes well for the future, and the more especially as the Council, which is evidently in a working humor, will meet for the further consideration of most important affairs on Thursday afternoon. That they should have turned out, en masse, on such an inclement night as that of Monday, must be taken as conclusive that there exists the disposition that the present year shall bo one to bo remembered in the municipal history of the town ; and, notwithstanding the delay that has taken place, there is yet plenty of opportunity to make up for lost time. No more important matters can arise than the two sot down for discussion on Thursday, and the decision the members of the Council may arrive at will be looked for with interest. The public will, wo feel certain, endorse the conclusion they arrived at respecting the future election of the Mayor by the ratepayers, instead of by the Council. This is not the course pursued in the corporate towns of England ; but then circumstances hero differ so much. There the ratepayers have a much wider choice, in the first instance, of materials with which to form Councils. To bo an alderman for the City is the height of the ambition of many a wealthy Londoner ; and the Lord Mayor is always a man of mark. Tho office comes down to him with tho halo around it of glorious traditions and patriotic deeds ; and tho highest and most distinguished persons in tho world

are guests at the Mansion House. Here we cannot exact that such honor should attach to civic dignities, and in most Colonies it has been found desirable to permit the burgesses to elect the Mayor independently of the Council. As yet the resolution of the Wellington Council is but a resolution, and nothing more. Before the wish can become law a Bill will have to be brought into Parliament, and the Government will have to consult the feeling in other Provinces. In some other Provinces the present system is said to be working satisfactorily, but this will be more accurately ascertained when the Rill slisill be before Parliament. other resolution passed by the Council to meet at four o’clock in the afternoon, instead of seven in the evening, was carried by a majority of only one, but, generally speaking, it will he accepted as an improvement. To leave their offices at such an early hour will sometimes bo found inconvenient by business men, and indeed incompatible with some of their arrangements, but the hour that the Council has hitherto met at has been found inexpedient by some members, and not always possible to bo observed. Turning out from a warm fireside, after a hard day’s work, during such weather as wo have recently had, has been anything but a comfortable process. Two meetings of the Council have recently lapsed, very much on this account. The first subject set down for discussion at the ensuing special meeting relates to the reclamation of a portion of the To Aro foreshore, and about this there seems to be no diversity of opinion. Reclamation is not an experiment in Wellington, and hitherto it has been found remunerative. We presume it will be equally so in the future, and therefore the Council will bo consulting the interests of tho ratepayers by making a fifth attempt to wrest land from the sea. Whilst deciding upon reclamation, the Council may very prudently have an eye to eventualities. That there ought to bo a graving dock in Wellington is indisputable, and that there will be one we do not doubt, but it is at present a question of money and means. If the Wellington Provincial Council had but the funds of that of Canterbury the way towards this and other much needed reforms would be very much smoothed, but, because it has not, tho ratepayers of tho town cannot be taxed for what is essentially Provincial work. This is a consideration that may be put off from time to time, but arise it will until it be finally dealt with. That the Mayor should be strongly impressed with the necessity for the dock is creditable to him ; but it is difficult to understand how the Council can follow his lead in the matter. The discussion that will take place on Thursday will have a beneficial effect in ventilating the subject, and directing public attention to it. A more fitting time than this, just prior to tho meeting of Parliament, for taking an expression of opinion on a subject of such general importance could not be. Not that it will come before tho representatives of the Colony for discussion ; but it may be cognate to subjects introduced into the House.

To pass from the subject of a gravingdock to that of further wharf accommodation is not travelling far, and this again wo suspect will be ruled not municipal business. But although it may not be, it is business that the Council has a right to have a very decided opinion about, and also to give official utterance to this opinion. And in any scheme for further reclamation, it ought not be lost sight of. We have no doubt that when the railway is brought to the heart of the town, there will be a public wharf constructed ; but in the meantime, there is the question of funds. The present wharf cost a large sum of money, and it is very inadeqiufte to the requirements of the town and trade. The Council bought it from the Provincial Government for a very much smaller sum than it cost; but the inference by no means follows that the difference between the cost and the price realised was money wasted by the Provincial authorities. It is rather money, sunk it is true, but still invested for the good of the Province in the construction of a public work that, inadequate as it is, is nevertheless indispensable. The question of funds for the dock and the new wharf is one that has to be grappled with and decided. With the growth of Wellington, the expansion of its trade and commerce, and the extension of the great northern trunk railway, both are becoming every day more necessary, and the Council will be acting in the interest of the ratepayers by bringing them into the prominent attention of the public. And, if it be expedient for individual members of the Council to allude to the mismanagement of the present wharf, it does seem that the attention of the proper authorities might bo formally directed to this. Dual government has its blessings, but it must not be made the scapegoat for responsibility. One body sells a. wharf, some one else leases it, the one appoints a harbormaster, the other confirmshim in his authority, and what is, after all, public property, is cumbered for the sake of a little convenience and profit. It is the same with the present wharf as with the proposed one and the dock. The power that should manage the one and construct the other does not, and the town and trade suffer. It is satisfactory to find that the Council is prepared to investigate these matters, and thereby bring them before the light of public opinion.