THE Thames Advertiser. TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1874.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1811, 12 May 1874, Page 2

THE Thames Advertiser. TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1874.

! « . ■ Air incident occurred in the Provincial Council on Thursday last which is worth some notice from us, as it shows how ready the people of Auckland are to endeavour, to obtain at the cost of 1 the province advantages which they ; ought to provide for themselves. The Mayor of Auckland moved that £250 ■ be put on the estimates as a contriou- ! tion for the purchase of a steam-engine , and hose, and supported this by the argument, not that the inhabitants : were willing to do so much themselves, but by showing that the General Government, in answer to a begging 3 letter from the Mayor, had offered to - contribute a fourth part of the cost. • It never seemed to cross the mind of the Mayor that it was not very creditr able for the wealthy city of Auckland, having valuable endowments from the " province, and having lately got a free gift of £30,000 from the province, should now come suing for the appa- ; ratus to extinguish fires—suing to the people of the Thames and other country ' districts. Auckland seems to think it has a right prescriptive to live upon the rest of the province. As it is, the domain supply, which Auckland has had for years, .was furnished by the 1 province, which has also paid £500 for the supply obtained from Messrs Seccombe. Our own water supply, on the contrary, was constructed out of our own goldfields revenue. In the circumstances, therefore, Mr Swan was quite right in moving, by way of showing the absurdity of the motion, that a similar sum be granted to the Thames Borough Council. - If those who own property in Auckland will not ' adopt the necessary measures to protect it they must take the consequences; ' they surely cannot be absurd enough to fancy that they can have their shops and warehouses preserved from fire at the expense of the whole province. After some discussion on the subject the Mayor of Auckland withdrew his motion, and in the circumstances we should probably not have said anything about it had not the ' Southern Cross' j seen fit to come down upon Mr Swan for having the audacity to oppose it. ' The ' Cross'v says: — " Immediately 1 Mr. Swan, the member, for the Thames 1 (goldfield membere are every where, like hungry Oliver Twists, asking for more, I continually saying give, give, although with far less reason than Oliver or the daughters of the horseleech); demanded a like sum for a similar purpose for the Thames.", Now, in the first place, we may say, that in. proposing his amend- - ment, Mr. Swan, as he himself stated, had no other intention than to show the absurdity of the motion, so that the point of the above attempt at jocularity is lost. As to the general accusation 3 against the goldfield members, it is 1 simply not true; for no industry has \ done so much for the spread of populas tion and increase of wealth as gold > mining, while none has received so i little legislative care and protection. The < Cross' then declaims about how s the town and country aro" mutually i interdependent," and says, ".woshould ' rejoice to see that' small spirit of localism which prevails replaced by a wider and more catholic- seatiment ° 'which seeks the general good." _ This a all right enough, but w nothing to

the purpose, We do not care much ' about these fine sentiments, but we are , sure that common sense says that the wealthy citizens of Auckland should get fire-engines themselves, and not seek'to sponge upon other people. Our contemporary then goes on to say that the Council "would exercise a wise generosity in complying with the application of the Mayor." Possibly, but as the Council cannot get funds to be 1 , just, with, it has no call to show generosity—wise or otherwise. The ' Cross' then shows how. much property' has been destroyed by fires in Auckland lately, all of which may be a powerful',argument, for the Auckland - people a fire-engine for them- 0 - is none at all for other.;' .\ people making them a present of one. ■■