SUB ROSA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 317, 16 January 1908, Page 4

SUB ROSA.

The "Vi'a-.No" Council sat on Monday i ight, and has again provided utt with xmie amusement. C'an anyone depend two weeks «m any of its decisions? 1 have in my mind's eye the technical stlool ral] t, with its up-an-down back and forward hiutory; the Carnegie library see-Niw; and now the dog-tax farce. Three week' ago the 13orough Councillor-, talked much about the dogla.x, and decided tliat to rid the streets stray curs and to prevent undue multiplication of the genus dog, a tax ot I half a-sovereign per annum should be levied. As usual when touched in the region of the trouper pocket a section ot (lie ratepayers set up a howl and petitioned for relief trom a monstrous tax. Ihe mole-hill grew into a mountain. I'robalily on the principle that no risk wan-attache?, the petition was well lilltd. it's ipiickrr to sign a petition than to argue the point with the man in I charge. And then the Council, without going to the trouble of rescinding the ! [revious resolution, altered their decij s'on. Query: Can a local body at a meeting amend a resolution passed at a I I'ieriouft meeting and duly minuted, without notice having been given in the ] usual way?

The Borough Council took a very s«jible view of the pro|>o.sal to ask the llarbor Board to remit till' passenger toll. U is well enough that the freights and fare* between Auckland and line--I'inga should Ih* lowered, hut that is fure to come about without the intervention of the Council or the Chamber of Commerce either. But liefore abolisiiicg the passenger tax it is well to see how much that tax amounts to in * fear. It would be a fair estimate to say tlut £4500 was derived from this source last year. (Actual figures £4(14!) 10s.—Ed.) Can we afford to lose £4.3(10 which could be used in further developing the harbor t Hardly. And thie £4900 doesn't come out of our own pockets. It isn't a tax on Taranaki people alone, for every passenger, be he Yankee, Hindoo, Chinese, or ordinary John Bull Britisher, pays his two shillings, without knowing anything of it. True, he may grumble at the cost of the One-hunga-.New Plymouth trip, but it would take more than the abolition of the two ■billings toll to prevent his growl.

I sometimes frequent the railway sta- | tiuu at uight about express time. And I've learned something in the school of experience. I've learned that it pays to wait. "Taihoa" pays sometimes. The man who bustles ou to the station just before the express puffs in has to pay twopence. But the girl who by constant attendance has got the run of the ropes, knows better than that. She waits till the train is in, and then the old doorkeeper clears out; she clears in, and ?aves twopence.

Wanganui is becoming quite an adept tt the publicity game. Tressider arrived; was welcomed; saw the river; took a spin in his boat; was feted; had a look ,i* the course; aud did a whole lot of other things which have been duly telegraphed all over the colony. That's publicity. Napier is getting practice, 100, at the game. They're having a ■•(irnival. and they're telling us all about it. That's publicity, l'eople are going '*» !*■ drawn in to see those towns as the ■ ■•suit of that publicity. Bakers, and i.i.telu-rs, and grocers, and drapers, and Iwtelkeepers and boardinghouse-keepers, r< -uurant and afternoon tea rooms are go : ng to'do a bigger business in consequence. snd pocket bigger profits. With attractions like these in other towns is there any wonder that New Plymouth people r-fii-e to spend their holidays at home? For natural attractiveness we can knock either »f those towns into a cocked bat. But the heavy hand of the "taihoa"' policy presses firm on the f«ids of our people. And we sleep. When we wake, well all go off to some neighboring town to refresh ourselves, and to spend our loose cash. Taihoa!

Taihoa, again! The abattoirs are be- | ing enlarged by the addition of chilling rooms, it's an excellent idea for the preservation of meat, and the chilling apparatus will be ready just at wlut time the frosts and snows arrive. Then we'll probably be able to institute coinpirisone between the temperature within the chilling-room and the temperature without—* useful lesson. But for practical purposes the chilling-room stands a' another monument of the '"taihoa" K'licy. The. work will be completed, and will be useless for six months thereafter. With a little more push and less of tire "taihoa"' business the butchers might nave been able during this summer to obtain some benefit from the expenditure of all this money. But why hurry! There's another summer coming. -SENEX.