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Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1830, 29 December 1875, Page 2

Five Thousand Pounds, the City Surveyor estimates, will be the cos. of cutting down Drake-street aud forming a beach road tr» destroy the frontages at present enjoyed by a number of ratepayers in that part of the city. And will it be believed that this work has already b«en authorised ? The bare fact is so astounding, so preposterous, that we can only contemplate it with a sense of wonder which will be ful'y participated 'n by that large body of ratepayers who dwell in forsaken by-ways, where the ratecollector's visage alono reminds them of their connection with our great city Government. ,It is some relief to know that tenders have yet to be called for tho work, and there is thus time to avoid this outrageous folly, in view of which the Hobson-street job sinks into insignificance. At a meeting of the Joint Committee, on Thursday last, at which Captain Daldy as representing the the Harbour Board, and Mr. Tole the Ponsonby Board, were present, the Mayor and some of the councillors protested against the expenditure, and urged that tho amount available should be devoted to new streets. Mr Tole, in the interest of Ponsonby, spoke very strongly against the money being diverted, and maintained that it was beyond the power of the committee to re-open tbe question. On behalf of the Ponsonby Board he guaranteed to continue the road from its junction with that district. But it so happens that certain other undertakings of the Pon.onby' Board with the city were never carried out ; and after remarks from several Councillors it was determined to re- | consider the subject at the ordinary meeting of tho Council to-morrow, when the report of the Joint Freeman's Bay Works Committee will be brought up. Captain Dal fly, on behalf of the Harbour Board", stated that he had no desire to force tho Council into a' fulfilment of the arrangement if it wero thought undesirable to carry out the work. This 13 satisfactory ; and as the residents in Drake-street have already made known their disapproval we assume that the Council will not be prepared to spend £5,000 to oblige the Ponsonby Board, which might more beneficially expend its own funds on the muddy back streets of that suburb. The cutting down of good streets by tho Council has reached its climax, and we look to the Mayor especially, whose election "was to a very large extent the outcome of strong feeling existing outside on this very subject, aided by the other Councillors who have now moved in the matter, to veto this and all similar works until every street in the city has been placed in as good .a condition as Drake-street, which has already had more money spent upon it than will be collected from the properties there in twenty years. •