The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 1899. THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE NEW MAYOR.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 10, 13 January 1899, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 1899. THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE NEW MAYOR.

For tie cause that lacks a_.siatai.te. Par the •wrong that aeeds rssistaste, Tor the filters ia tho distance, And the jssd that vz can it.

Quite a new spirit seemed to inform the proceedings at the meeting of the City Council last night and to dominate the councillors almost to a man. In place of the perfunctory somnolent and sometimes crooked methods to which we had grown accustomed, a keen and nervously attentive attitude characterised the assembly. For the first time for some years now the body exhibited unmistakeable signs of a new born sense of its dignity and its responsibility to the public. DoubtlessN the change was not altogether the effect of the hour. For some little time past the spirit of reform has been in the air and the councillors have not been uninfluenced by it. But it was plainly to the presence of the new Mayor, who was in the chair for the first time, and to the admirable manner in which he controlled the meeting, that the

striking improvement it presented as compared with former meetings was chiefly due. It was unquestionably his straightforward, alert, and strict way of handling the councillors and the business in hand that was the most noteworthy thing in the meeting. Mr Goldie has created a most favourable impression in this respect. So far as one can judge from last night he promises to prove as tactful and energetic a civic manager as any we have had—the very man wanted in the present unsatisfactory state of the city's finances. We believe he is inspired by an honest desire to set, filings on a better footing and wc believe too that he brings to the task qualities which axe calculated to ensure success. The citizens have chosen him as the best man available at the present juncture, and of course he feels bound in honour and reputation to justify their confidence. Whatever may have been the views and inclinations of the councillors some time ago, the new Mayor may rely on the mapority of them following him willingly enough along the path of reform which he has marked out for the Council; and he can be still more certain of the unanimous support of the public. The large attendance of the latter at the meeting last night may be taken as a true indication of the revival of interest in civic affairs, and still more as an expression of trust that under the new Mayor will be better administered than they have been in the past.

In moving the motion for a special committee to'lnvestigate and report on the financial position of the various departments under the Council the Mayor passed in review the alarming increase of the/city indebtedness during the last few years.* The figures have already been quoted and commented on in these columns, and our renders may remember that while in 1806 the Council's total debit balance was £13,164, a year later it had risen to £22,530, and in last December had

reached the sum of, £20,027. In addition to these liabilities the Mayor directed attention to the expenditure the city has incurred in other directions, representing a sum of about £8000. The upshot of his' remarks was, what every one will admit

is necessary, a thorough revision of the Council's methods of doing business. To indicate what steps should be taken to correct the present unsound position and to bring the affairs of the^cify into a satisfactory state did not fall within the scope of the Mayor's remarks. It will be easier to do that when the Committee has made its report. The point which Mr Goldie strove to emphasize was the unbusiness-like policy of drift that appears to have prevailed in the Council. So far as one can judge, scarcely a Councillor troubled his head over the accumulation of debt, and if it had not been for men like Mr Goldie and Mr Entrican the piling up of the. thousands on the wrong side of the balance-sheet might have gone on for years-so far-as the Councillors were concerned. That there has been

reckless expenditure we do not pre-tend-to say. The Committee will make it. its business to find that out.