"THOSE INTERESTED."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXI, Issue 7933, 15 December 1909, Page 4

"THOSE INTERESTED."

To the Editor. I Sir,—Were it not too big a task for even you, I might; summon up courage to ask you to define the duties of a borough councillor. The. duties of these unpaid and often-kicked servants of the public are indeed manifold ;• but,, while I frankly admit this, I must also as freely confess my utter astonishment when, in reading the report of the last 'meeting of the Council, L^ame to the I report of the. Domain and" Works' Oomjmittee, which, stated tliatj after discussing the question „pf: ; erecting a [swimming bath, tli^v;Council, had deI cided to leave thfe'matter Jn the} hands of "those interested.", to _place , some I definite proposal before;Csie 'Council. Who, .then, much-maligned and guileless borough councillors, are "those interested".? Has.it not penetrated to even your open minds that "those interested" .are, in this case, every resident of the borough—man, woman and child—who want in the first place to keep thci;- bodies cleanly, and; in the second place, to learn the useful art of swimming ? That -being'the case, why then should the representatives of those same residents try the miserable expedient of shifting their responsibilities: on ,t(> the shoulders of " those interested ". '? '■' Did the. authorities in Waimate, Geraldine and other small centres where baths have been established try to .shirk their responsibilities in this indifferent fashion ? Surely not. They recognised a, public [need, and set themselves the task of supplying it. I appeal to Cr Nicoll, who, seeing tho need of a high-pressure water surely, so..ably shouldered: the burden and carried through his- proposal, to again step into the breach and give his follow-councillors, a , muchnoeded lead in municipal enterprise. ONE OF " THOSE INTERESTED."