THE MUNICIPAL HERCULES.

Observer, Volume 6, Issue 141, 26 May 1883, Page 147

THE MUNICIPAL HERCULES.

; The Twelve Labours of the Grecian Hercules ,v are. eclipsed in these modern days by the tasks .' imposed on Mr G-oldie, the Sanitary Inspector, Inspector of Lodging-Houses, dogs, and of good- ■<■' Bess knows what else besides. In fact, like another Atlas; poor G-oldie is saddled with a weight of .. responsibility which threatens to crush him. ..Tinder such circumstances as these, it i 3 scarcely ■'■'4 possible .that he can efficiently discharge all the : ' multifarious duties that are imposed upon him, .atid-we do'riot wonder that the city revenuo is defrauded' to a considerable amount by persons ■who 1 escape supervision. We pointed out in a former issue of the Observer how many, of the . lodging-houses in Auckland evade payment of ' license. The difficulty ha 3 been to define what - sort of place comes within the legal definition of a lodging-house. The nearest approach to a defi- : nitioh is a house which receives lodgers for the ./night, as contrasted with one which takes boarders by the week, but the difficulty, of course, has ;'.. been to keep any check upon ttem. It was at '. one time proposed to obtain the service of informers, rewarding them with half the lines where convictions were secured, but, to the credit of ' Auckland, no men were found mean enough to ; engage in a service which is one of the legitimate duties of the police. «©,

It is notorious, however, to observant people : ; that. many of these so-called lodging-houses arc ■little better than brothels in disguise, and that "I - some of the boarding-house-keepers are not very ; particular as to the character of the people vrhoin .■.they .entertain. At all events, the hotel-keepers fcnbw that when their suspicions have been ■ "aroused, or in cases where they have known appliaants for accommodation to be immoral persons, and have refused them admittance, the , latter have readily obtained apartments at some of the inferior lodging or boarding-houses. In fact, there is one street in Auckland which is known to the police as the rendezvous of a nest of harpies, who prey upon unsuspecting strangers and draw weak women into their toils. We have ■beard of some shocking eases of this nature which ' haY_e not been made'public because the friends of .fchefc'ic tiros shunned exposure, and preferred to . sufier^oss or pain rather than obtrude their injuries bbfore the unsympathetic eyes of tho habitues of the Police Court. „ . "We hear that even the billiard-room licenses ]iave fallen into arrear, and that the city authorities find the machinery at their disposal insufficient for. the work of collecting this tax. The • .police, already over-worked and short-handed, are unable to render all the assistance expected of them, and, naturally, they have no stomach for the thankless and unpopular duty of ensnaring : , stray dogs, or license-hunting. Complaint is made by the municipal officials that the police, being controlled from Wellington, and independent of • local' supervision, cannot be called upon to render assistance in enforcing the City By-laws. The . remedy, however, appears to be in the hands of , „ the Council. If Mr G-oldie is saddled with duties and responsibilities beyond his powers, it is surely ' . not.asking too much that some of these burdens shoifid be transferred to other shoulders, es- , Specially when large sums are being expended out ',;. of city revenue on questionable objects.