Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER & ADVERTISER WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1873.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 315, 24 December 1873, Page 2

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER & ADVERTISER WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1873.

" MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Christmas has come. It is the anniversary of the birth of the greatest religious : reformer the world ever saw. He differed from all other reformers, inasmuch j as he substituted faith, hope, mercy, and charity, for compulsion. But it is not our place to preach a sermon. We leave that to the occupants of the various pulpits. Here, Christmas has few of, the characteristics of the great anniversary as it ia observed in Europe and America. We have no frost, ice, and snow, ho poorrates and genteel poverty, no crowded cities, an,d crowded contrasts of society where the palace is within a few yards of the beggar's hut. Here^ distress is the result of acquired or hereditary disease, vice, or crime. In Europe aud America, distress is the result both of the individual's own bad habits, and the nations' system of monopoly, "whereby land is inherited in thousand! of acres by men wjio. have never sweat for their privileges. Of course, a desire for a monopoly in land is inherent in human nature, and consequently land monopoly prevails in the colonies as well as in England* for human nature ia essentially the same everywhere. But here^ we have a far better chance in the competition with monster capitalists. Here, the common day laborer ou ajiother man's land may, at the end of a few years, abandon such hired, labor, and till his own soil. Here it i# that a few year's toil may purchase almost a life-time's leisure. We must not take our view of the colonies from the libertine, the sot, the spendthrift, or the loafer. Successful and, suitable colonists never regret the vlranafer of thei? services to tha colonies. They know that however thei? hard work and. sel£-denial would be rewarded at home, it w,ill be, infinitely better rewarded here. Of course, we rn^iy be too contented here. Because we are in a superior condition here to what w,e were at home, tliaj; is no.oausefor enduring local evils. Th,e hpme aristocrat, who, is prosperous, will complain, should fortune frown, and we also should complain if we see the evils, of home reproduced here. Bui it ia one thing to complain as a preliminary to local reform, and it is another thing to dream that our fate at hpme was' better than that we share in the colonies. We consider that we are justified by future prospecta in wishing our readers a merry Csristhas and a happy New Year.

Every, one will agree with as in thinking it is high, tijus, the^ Tow,n BjaU bu.ain.eßS, whiclj, has engaged the Mtentian of our local deliberative body for the last six months, was settled in aonra way or other. Unless something" is very speedily done, the ratepayers -will imagine their representatives are incapable uf dealing with tlie matter. It strikes us very, forcibly that, "owing to ; the divided state of the Council, they are. not in a position to decide the question in a manner that will ' be just and equitable towards the ratepayers. One party .wish to have a Town Hall at any pace— £4ooo according to them is mot to 6 miioh. ; the other party, %hklvmay to^mcrt fctes«rty of common^

sense, see no necessity for expending more than £2000, or £2500 at the furthest. To the latter party the Mayor belongs, and Owing to that, <sircumstance several extreme resolution* which h^vo' been moved in the Council by the ot^er party have been either ruled out of order or quietly allowed to pass ;by' unnoticed. This action on the part of the Mayor (which we do not approve of), while it may seem disrespectful to honorable membora, seems to us to be founded on a true interpretation of the wishes of the ratepayers. TBe" action taken at the Council meeting held on Monday evening proves exactly our Sssertibn that the Council is divided against itself in this matter. The lowest tender received for the erection of a building according to Mr. Lawson's plans was £3429. Mr. Lawson was asked to modify the plans, which he did, and re- . duced the amount to about £2700. y This sum, we believe, would meet the approval of the Councillors generally ; but to shogr how the ' Council are in the matter, a resolution was moved and seconded that the lowest tenderer have the option of performing the contract:aa modified. The Mayor Would not receive this motion, as he considered the alterations and reductions made in the plans, amounting as they did to £800, sufiioient to warrant the Council in calling for fresh tenders. On the motion of Cr. Hay that the matter be left in the hands of the Mayor, Cr. Armstrong moved an amendment that the question of the erection of a Town Hall be considered that day six months. The Mayor, although pressed to put the amendment, would not do so. He considered the subject too important to be thrown aside in that manner, and decided to hold over the amendment until next meeting of the Council. It will therefore be Been that the question of a Town Hall is no nearer a settlement than it was some months ago. To bring it to an issue, wo would strongly recommend the Mayor to call a public meeting of the ratepayers, and leave them to decide the question. By this means both he and the Council would be relieved of all responsibility in the matter. While we believe the Mayor is representing the feeling of the ratepayers in endeavoring to curtail the price of the proposed building, we cannot approve of the persistent manner in which he refuses to put to the vole resolutions that are laid before him, couched in respectful language. By this course he is simply making a laughingstock of those who are supposed to aid him in the municipal deliberations. If the Mayor finds he cannot work with the majority of the Council, and believes that that majority does not represent the views of the ratepayers, then let him dissolve the Council and call for a new election ; or ahould he not have that power, let a public meeting of ratepayers be called, and they will, we feel confident, briDg matters to a speedy and effectual settlement.