MUNICIPAL MUDDLERS.

NZ Truth, Issue 234, 18 December 1909, Page 6

MUNICIPAL MUDDLERS.

Dunedin's Chuckle-headed Council.

The Duaedin Qity Council is a crank* dominated body, which, after disfiguring . its public parks and reserves by permitting the prohibitionists to erect unsightly notices m them damning the "cursed der-rink," s?t to work and constructed the most intricate and harrassing set of by-laws that ever interfered with public liberty. Tho by-laws govern everything under the grey sky of the devout city, and an average law-abiding citixen can fracture about 47 cliiierent sections': m one afternoon's drive along the main., streets. About the most iniquitous of the I lot arc the regulations which govern street and tramway trallic. These by- • laws put the Corporation tramways first and everything else second. In fact, the. tramways are the chuckle-headed Council's joss, and anything or anybody in-, terfering; with, joss or the takings is soon, shown the error of his ways by being promptly hauled to Court. The pohce • do all the prosecutions for the city authorities, and "Truth" wouM like toknow how it is that the City Corpora- i tion does not conduct its own cases, seeing that m other centres by-law cases are generally conducted by " either the City " : Softcitor or the . City Inspector. This should be so, seeing that a portion of the fine inflicted goes to .the City: Council. Dunedin's brainless law-makers^ got' a .shock, however, ' from MagistrateWiddowson on Monday regarding sundry cases against cabmen. Eight cabmen, PaulWalsh, James Williams, William Gardner, Jossp-i ri-..i:»r, Aifrod J"-v»r, Joseph*, Flanagan, Joseph Brown and W. T. Wal~< den were sued under the following beautifully impartial section of By-law No., 18 : "That they did, on November '£5, commit an offence by stopping m a puft--lic street between tne noar side of the 'footpath and a tramway car stopped for the purpose of setting down and taking up passengers." Lawyer Hay appeared for the men and pleaded not p-uilty.' The occasion of the alleged obstruction was -the Agricultural and Pastoral ••vtd'.v, and ' the place was outside the Post Office; \ where all the trams left for the Show Grounds. The prosecution alleged that the accused stopped outside the Post Office for the purpose of .soliciting fares, and the place was not a cab-rank. The defence clearly showed that the cabnien were not soliciting fares, but were merely conveying passengers to the grounds and their progress was arrested momentarily by the crowds outside the .tramway 'ticket boxes waiting for trams. Also, Mr Hay brought into the broad light of day a gr a vie ' suspicion that special men were put on by Tramway Chief and Traffic 3Vfanager Alexander, as m cross-examination it came out that Motoruian Archibald Drummond had been put at the place, ostensibly to help with the trams, but m reality to keep his eye en and report cabbies who might compete with the cars. It was further elicited that Assistant Traffic Clerk Clarence Umbers was on the scene with no very clearly defined duties. These two • witnesses' practically contradicted each oxher. Drummond said that it was not by his chief's orders that he watched the cabs, and Umbers said he thought Drunvmend was acting under the Traffic Inspector's orders. Mr Widdov/sm dismissed all the cases, and this, m "Truth's" opinion, should demonstrate clearly that a city council is I not entitled to vexatiously interfere with a private citizen's right to make> an honest livong.