LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4504, 12 June 1883, Page 2

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

(To the Editor of the Kvening Star.) Sir,—One of the most prominent of human failings is the arersion to acknowledge ourselves in fault, and this aphorism applies to a community as pertinently as to an individual, both being equally childish in their egotism and discontent when public or private affairs become involved in difficulties. The slate of depression which unfortunately exists on the Thames may be taken in illustration. I have watched with amubement the endeavours of our local Press, and the correspondents who have taken their oue from its editorials, to prove the local governing bodies chargeable with acts of commission and omission, which, if proven, would in the course of justice consign some of the members to an abode where their physical powers would be more in requisition than intellectual, but it will be nay endeavor to shew they are more sinned against than sinning, and the press and the people between them are largely responsible for the financial complication of our Couuoils and Boards, and the uo-

mistakeable neglect of the Government in the prosecution of public works, and to the urgent requirements of the district. I will first bring under review the efforts made by these much-abased bodies to improve the Borough and County, and develop their resources. The Harbor Board appears to me to have undertaken the most hopeless and thankless task, for nature has given its members a problem most difficult of a practical solution, namely, to construct a harbor in liquid mud of unknown depth and extent. Between Grahamstown and the Miranda the water at low sprint; tides does not exceed a fathom, except in the Thames channel. Tararu offers, some greater advantage for marine accommodation if very costly works could be undertaken. The Shortland creek, if the channel were dredged and the wharf extended, is well adapted to our mosquito fleet of traders and steamers, and these three positions are the only ones to which the intellectual judgment of the Board can be directed. But what has been the result? The people clamoured for something to be done, and the unfortunate Board borrowed moneyand spent it upon silt works, and other unavailing efforts to conquer a prodigious mud bank. It really appears wonderful where this borrowed money has gone, for the only taugible offset are an excellentdredge and punts not paid for, and there is no cash to work them! and Shis miserable position is largely attributable to the people themselves ? Mas not local jealousy divided them?. We are cursed with a leasehold township, and divided, instead of common interests. It would be intolerable to improve the trade of Shortland at the expense of Tararu, and rice versa, and the consequence is neither has benefitted by the expenditure. It is uot, a harbour board is useless (its incorporation into the. Borough Council would not in any way remedy the evil, or improve matters one jot) but its constitution is defective, the administration should be in the hands of more disinterested men, who would .sternly execute initiatory harbor works, and let the £300,000 job at T^raru, or elsewhere, stand over until our trade had established a status important enough to warrant the expenditure. The Borough Council with a tolerably larger revenue at its command has given examples of mis-directed judgment in the execution of some works, but on the whole the public convenience hat been studied, and the town improved. The Council has neglected to enforce sanitary measures, they parted with their pigs with evident reluctance, and still cleave to many abominations injurious to the public health. Guided by the vox populi, they endeavored to run before they could safely walk, and the inevitable consequences are a load of debt and a longing by hook or by crook to participate in the revenues of other local bodies to relieve them of it. The Parawai Road Board is one of those moribund bodies the sooner strangled the better. The epitaph " I did nothing while I existed and prevented others from doing " would be not far wrong, for it was onl j sustained to consummate the designs of a few, and not for the welfare of the district. The County Council, the youngest booh of local self government, though not perfect, has done good service. For nine years the limits of the goldfield were embraced between Tararu and the Eauaeranfja—the latter jealously guarded by a conservative old chief, who was recently gathered to his fathers. The Council, during the first year of its rule, bridged the river and carried a road through one of the oldest and mostssored Tapus in the island, an achievement pronounced impossible by the great authority, C. O. Davis. Since 77, over 120 miles of roads and tracks have been surveyed and constructed, the rivers bridged with excellent bridges* larger subsidies granted yearly to assist mining enterprise, and, admitting many of the efforts to develope the staple industry of the place and the agricultural prospects of the country have been misdirected, and money injudiciously expended, the Council need not bo ashamed of general results. And to what is their indebtedness due, but to the public clamour for work which necessitated an expenditure beyond th ir revenue P But whatever the laches of the Council, they never merited'the coarse abuse which from time to time found prominence in the, columns of the Press fromlthose who would, in my opinion.if tbey were in office,, endeavour to work many '* an oracle" for themselves. The next question, and one of vital importance is, why do we suffer from Government neglect? For this, sir, I fear we have to thank (or curse) the Press. I uphold the liberty of so great an estate, -but the liberty is too frequently abused. Newspapers, instead of being devoted to the interests of the people, are made the media for political chicanery and malignant animosity. We have in this colony society papers, and sectarian publications which are a disgrace to our civilization. The first, immoral and revolting, prying into, and exposing the inner family life of the community, the second flaunting their intolerant bigotrj and sedition without let or hindrance. Their freedom has degenerated into licentiousness. We ask the Government to construct a railway or to assist a oompany with grants of land for that purpose, and to literally recognise the requirements of our beautiful district, and the local press has considered unmitigated abuse the best means of attaining these desirable concessions. The Editor of your contemporary has singularly distinguished himself in this respect and when his own powers have been exhausted he clipped extracts from obscure journals to suit his purpose, and gratify His political hatred, A leader in the disgraceful Bryce-effigy business, and reviler general of the present Cabinet, denouncing the ability and honesty of purpose of the Colonial Treasurer when he himself was successful as a politician in nothing but as a " stone waller," to empty the House, when he rose to speak, and pocket £600 of the public money for three of the shortest sessions on record. And you, sir, have added your quotaof abuse to bis. There is not a man of principle and intelligence who has not, upon reflection, de plored this continual and impolitic abuse of Ministers, because the opinions of a local press are accepted as a reflex of public opinion, and the sins of the editors are justly visited upon tbe unfortunate district. What can we hope to gain by such idiotic behaviour? If you insult a man, do you expect his earnest solicitude for your welfare? Ministers are men holding positions by virtue of a majority, and you cannot insult the one with incurring the indignation of the other. The Thames requires the fostering care of the Government, and the Press realising this fact, and without an assumption of servility, could intreat that assistance, and without servility reprove neglect. lam, &c, Ou> Coiowsx.