Dunedin.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 811, 13 June 1876, Page 7

Dunedin.

i (From our own Correspondent.) One of the ways in which the greatest amount of irritation can be occasionally given is by speaking^ the .truth, and Mr John. Scanlan of Princes-street South has found out that fact by this "time. The City Council in their actionHb wideri^rihces-street Soulb, f,,.^ haVje.arrangedfor; doing half .the, work, and Zi negptiations;for tte remainder are- at a dead "^standstills They have been so forsome ti|ne pa?tj and till the next mayoral and general elec_on*for the -Council are oyer, will likely be sol As I have said, Mr Scanlan is a sufferer because he spoke the truth. He has : noi exactly heen c l*eviled i and persecuted and made a martyr ofabd'-'so^^ forth 'for the truili, ; Ur but |Te"'' : "%iß:"ii : '*l--fii- .bis .\l^t^'«^riierf" to him * '- because^ : it' : c6htdihed r spme ! "things plain apd unpalatable,^^'but v nevertheless ' well deserved. Mr- Scanlan- has had his business, which is almost entirely an importing one, crippled for ..,--/. the past 'two/ years by the action of-Jhs City -„ Council, k The-Gityj Council ; has compensated ,:half;.the"- tenants 1 by ,a: payment* of about .. £30,000, which would have been about £40,000 had the 1 -citizens not interfered, and the Citizens' Committee and a Supreme Court actiohX cut' 'down- their little 'billsio On the balance of the block there is no Councillor :; : to be compensated, and accordingly the City Council: is going .about. things.. leisurely, i lt has been, in treaty with the unfortunate tenan ts on its own property for two years past, and is still keeping them in suspense. It has offered them a lump sum of £2000, which they Would accept were the Council to agree - to Wet a claim which might have to be met out ; of their compensation were they to accept said compensation. The Corporation tenants have been cut down loav enough in all conscience now, arid the least the Council could do in decency would be to accept their : reasonable offer. But no, they will not do so> and to explain their reasons I will quote Mr Scanlan. "It is unfortunate that certain Councillors stand aloof from taking part in the adjustment of this (to me) most important matter. I believe some are umvilling to offend constituents pending the coming Mayoral election, others are are afraid to arouse the ire of the citizens, having in vieAv the notorious Manse Beserve business, and Others again are indifferent as to Avhich way the thing goes, so betAveen them, I have been the suflferer; and so am still." Here is an important public Avork stopped on account of an amount Avhich is a veritable drop in the bucket compared with the whole cost of the widening ; an unsightly projection is left in main street of the city, and the expenditure of something like £30,000 is rendered of no purpose. The Mayor at the Council meeting, when this letter Avas read, gave Mr Scanlan his "sympathies " — Avhich no doubt was all he could give him in view of the next Mayoral election—but thought that the style of letter wassuch as ought not to be used in addressing the Council. An intelligent Councillor considered the letter "most insulting" and the upshot of the aflfair is that Mr Scanlan's letter, which is really as temperate a production as could be penned under circumstances so aggravating, has been returned to him. The action of the Mayor and Councillors in this matter does not place them in the most brilliant light. First they extravagantly compensated the tenants in the Manse Reserve sections, and then, frightened by the outburst of piiblic indignation, went to another extreme. They have behaved to their OAvn tenants, those on the corporation sections, in a miserable huckstering spirit quite unworthy of business men, and are now apparently too afraid of public opinion to do what is right and just. But I think tbey grossly err when they think the public require them to folloAv such a course, and, if I mistake not, the coming municipal contest will see them taken to task nearly as sharply for the last extreme as for the first. Your . correspondent is fully aware that the conditions of the leases of the Corporation tenants are different from those of the Manse tenants, but there is nothing in the agreements of the former which entitles them to the positively shabby treatment they have received from the City. Council. To their misfortune they had not a city councillor on this part of the block ; and Mr Scanlan to Lave worked the oracle for himself should, some years back, have, ,d-.*n n, ri eres *e a 'ly tor the public good, sacrificed his valuable time, and, after getting a convenient friend- to get up a numerously signed requisition, have reluctantly consented tostand' and to get elected for South Ward. Had he done this instead of confining himself to his legitimate business, in which' he now, by the action of the Council, finds himself '-> hampered (knowing not when 1 he may have to pull down 'his place, and not being able to start at' the -work and have done wjth it), he >would have, had heavy compensation, and a few- thousands in .the Bank for some time past. -"'■ y-J-^ '■''■"■'■; '''■-■ '-;' That, interesting little .arrangement 'the railway plant job is gradually having, more light thrown upon r it. Explanations have been made, both by the representatives of an •eno-ineering firm and by a "journal Avhich bleaches the dirty linen of the Provincial - Executive. Said explanations at the first * blush look very plausible, and almost lead one* to think tbat some people had ' been ' " VroDJjid injiteira pf wr ongdpiug • b ß i close

exaniiioaUon "t_e jobbery" looks worse than before. Besides the works not "tendered for already firacedf it is' now*- e6n_rag' out* 'that; orders have been given without competition for the construction of railway^ turntables, ft is to be hoped that the non-accomplishmept of the sale of, the.big . blocks 7WJn; 4 not j; pjape tlie Goverhmentr in the position of 'being unable to pay fat profits on these little pickings. IMr that, at a time^when' things in the iron trade were slack, £500 clear profit was netted outTof bhei.of;these unconsidered trifles. -.*''■.- A meetiiig of; thecHayhor ]3oard made prpmiuent the fact that there is great competition in the building trade just now. For the erection of sheds on the jetty no less than tAventy tenders Avere sent in. j , f -The'^Jnainber of- Commerce' • -Ha- /hejj its annual meeting, and has delivered itself^of a terrifically long report! there jia the consolation of knoAving that we haver a, ! Avh ole year to digest 'it; ' • The Caledonian Society's classes have increased in numbers beyond all expectations. They number noAv 350 pupils':' classrooms are overcrowded, and the clamor is for more room. Thisis a healthy state of affairs, and. one of those things which shoAV~ that a presiShtneed of Otago is not an empty University, but the means of education placed within the reach of all. Speaking of the Univerity reminds me that two of the Professors, Messrs. Sale ; and Shand;/ haA r e Avritten to the University Council, expressing their regret at hearing that a belief existed in the minds :of some members pf the Council that the members of the Professorial Board were acting in a spirit of hostility to the Council, and desiring on their parts "distinctly toi disavoAV any such feeling." This is regarded, perhaps \yrongly, but in greater probability rightly , as a quiet side-slap at some one else. ?. The Premier and the Superintendent's correspondence is at last closed. Good riddance of so much rubbish;