HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1179, 26 May 1874, Page 4

HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS.

[WESTPOUT ETESUra STAR.] The ratepayers of Westport .are enquiring, now that they hear of another valuation being to bo made of their property preparatory to the levying of another rate, what they are likely to get for their money. So far the energies of the Town Council have been absorbed in debate and in oftthwarted efforts to get the municipal governing machine in motion. Public works have not been attempted and the highways and byways of the Borough remain in the stato existiug when the Corporation took office. There are reasons for this, and chief among such reasons is the one stumbling block which ever stands in the way of progress in Westport. Whatever one individual or more may suggest as worth doing that of a certainty others must condemn and oppose Thus it has been with the

Borough Couucil. Having not within itself a sufficient clement of independence it has been compelled to submit to outside pressure, and leave undone much that should have been done in the true interests of the general ratepayers, simply because the ideas of the Couucil may not chiine in with tho ideas of a few individuals. It may bo considered expedient to thus temporise but it is not satisfactory to tho body of ratepayers, who in electing a Borough Council depended on the members to do their best in promoting general interests, and who find a periodical tax levied on their pockets, and obtain in return absolutely nothing save the occasional privilege of hearing the Councillors, in solemn conclave as sernblel, give utterance to the profundity of their wisdom. The streets of the Borough are a standing reproof to the Council, the narrow and uneven track doing duty as a main thoroughfare a disgrace to any community. It amuses, even while it exasperates, passers by, to hear the remarks often made by casual visitors to Westport who enquire where the streets and pavements are, and where the long track leads to. Ratepayers begin to protest strongly against the do-nothing policy now prevading.