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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 927, 19 March 1881, Page 4

The Borough Council have decided that the reserve at Patutahi, shall be offered for lease by public tender. It is gratifying to see that the Council sets its face against “ remunerating” contractors for insufficiency of tender. We fear that it is sometimes an element in the calculation of some tenderers, that if they lose by their contract, and throw themselves on the consideration of public bodies all will be right. We regret that Petersen’s drainage contract in Greystreet did not pay him what he expected; but as he would have to “put up ” with the profit, so he must stand by the loss. A motion to sow grass seed on the unused streets should find favor; but why the operation is to be confined to the Aberdeen-road, unless for an experiment ; and why the footpaths should be made extremely uncomfortable for pedestrians in wet weather, we know not. There seems to be something very paradoxical in the municipal management of our roads and paths. First we turn the sods on well grassed streets, so as to expose the dust; we shingle the paths to keep the sand from blowing away ; and then we propose to sow grass seed over all to effectually cover the shingle. Cultivate grass as much as you like in the streets ; but let us have our footpaths walkable.

The return asked for by Cr. Piesse, showing the amount and nature of the loan expenditure, and sums required to complete existing contracts, should have been asked for before. The Burgesses have been anxious to learn how the account stands, for some time past; and we quite agree with the worthy Councillor’s remarks, that the money is “ dwindling away,” and unless a better system is inaugurated for spending the balance, there will be very little to show when the whole of the loan is expended. Money goes far quicker, and much more unsatisfactorily in a succession of driblets, without a settled plan, than it does in bigger sums with a definedness of purpose. Cr. I iesse s motion was not pushed, owing to the Mayor’s assurance that all the information required would be forthcoming in the annual Financial Statement, to the 31st March, which must be laid before the Council not later than the 15th of April next.

His Worship the Mayor is public spirited to a degree worthy of all imitation; but for which we predict, that some day, he will be remembered with no more gratitude than if he kept his public spirit in his pocket. The instance we allude to is his request to the Council that if the Borough Engineer is permitted to take the levels m Harris and Custom-house-streets, at the public expense, he will execute a

large portion of the drainage, which must, sooner or later, be undertaken by the Council, at his own cost. There are few men to be found willing to spend their private means on the public streets, even though it should be an indirect advantage to'themselvesi But Captain Porter is an exception ; and while we admire his generosity, we think it unfair that any burgess should have to place himself in such a position. The work suggested by the Mayor should have been done long ago ; and it is a scandal that while neat-looking sand formations are made in the suburbs, works of absolute necessity in the heart of the town are left untouched. The question of water supply is again hooked up for another period.