THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOOK P.M. Resurrexi SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 1879.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3220, 14 June 1879, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOOK P.M. Resurrexi SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 1879.

Tun Star derotes a leader to Thames matters in its issue of' Thursday last, and while some of' its .remarks arc" called for under the circumstances, many of ita statements are altogether erroneous., It goes to flay that while the field is in sueh 1 straits the local bodies are squabbling about the ownership of the Pump securities. Not at all, the mortgages are held' by the County Council, whether' rightly* or not is a matter of opinion, but the Borough Council has never had any squabble with the County authorities orer the securities; bat on the other hand,, liberally roted its gold duty for two years/ to < maintain pumping operations. It must be remembered that the Borough entered into this arrangement without j the slightest prospect of ever getting the, amount so devoted returned to it, purely > as an offering for the common good; the County, on the other hand,' looking on the securities as an endowment to be 1 sold some day, have always counted upon being recouped all their .outlay ,in the past. The Star, goes, on" to say that the grap-all-and-do nothing propen-i sity, which has been the chief failing of Thames rulers, comes'out strongly even , when the dispute is one of local concern' and effecting a common interest. Such 1 remarks coming from our Auckland contemporary are very uncalled for. The grap-all-and-do-nothing propensity has been the characteristic of fhe Auckland people, who were only sared, from universal bankruptcy by the opening of this goldfield, and through the energy and, industry of the Thames miners. The expression just meets the. peculiarities of the citizens of that city in all their dealings with the Thames. In no instance is it better exemplified than in this matter of the pumping securities. Because a number of shareholders in an association spent a certain amount of money in pumping works in this place, they seem to imagine that either: the Government should continued to! 'tote j more public money for the maintenance of' such operations, or the public bodies of the Thames; should do so. Keep ; pumping works going by all means, but don't ask any more money from them ! They have been nearly ruined by contributions for pumping works, end such; like remarks. are they fond of making, forgetting that all the> wealth; a number of the individuals so loud in'tiieir censure of the Thames authorities have, has been obtained from

successful! manipulation of the share market, or dividends received from the exertions of the working community of the Thames. While ifl error, and looking at the question from a selfish point of view, our young namesake is right upon the intention of the Government :in handing the securities to the County, and fully endorses the opinions expressed so frequently in these columns. It says.:■— " There cannot be a doubt, however, that neither to endow the Thames County Council nor to enrich the Borough were the Pump and , its, .securities handed over to local control by the General Government. It was thought that local management in a matter of such moment to the people would ensure the application of the Pump and securities to the purpose for which they wero designed. The Government nevor intended the transfer of the property to be a gift of so much old iron to the local authorities, but this is what it rirtually represents now. In failing to give effect to the trust, tho County Council tacitly admits its unfitness to; have the custody of it. .We caro not; for tho "why or wherefore," an onus was laid on tho Council to continue' tho work, and the mere fact thatj the' pump is not- working' carries! condemnation. A confession that thej Council docs not possess sufficient genius; to inaugurate a workable plan, can: hardly . be,- said to >„improve its position. The credit of a success is proportioned to the magnitute of thejur-j rounding difficulties that liave^ been! overcome. . The ; do-nothing policy at no time strikes one as very masterly 6v; origin al, but wlien it is persisted in.whilef the interests of a whole community depend upon doing something, it has all the vices! of a wilful and aggressive offence. Wei repeat that it is for the trustees of the property, and not for others, to devise the' plan upon which this valuable estate may be legitimately utilised, but a suggestion in our Thames evening contemporary that the gold field revenue should be devoted; for jthe purpose until legislation can be; obtained,, enabling contributions to be collected, from the mines benefittcd,; seems a feasible and sensible suggestion."' If a true knowledge of t&e situation in all its details had been: possessed by the Star, we believe some worthy|snggestions would have been made by it, but the error in supposing there was quarrelling between the lscal bodies on this question, has led them into some uncalled-for remarks. We trust that space may be devoted by tho Star on another occasion to ventilate this question, which, while it more immediately effects this community, also bears much on the future of tho City of Auckland. The remarks in this column in late issues, suggesting an administration of the trust by a joint committee of the Borough and County Councils, who should hold the securities and the property in trusc for the public of the Thames, we believe> will be found to be the best solution of the d:fficulty, and one which, while it would carry out the intentions of tho Government of the Colony, would not at the same time do injury to the interests of the County of Thames.