The Press Tuesday February 10, 1925. Hoardings.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18303, 10 February 1925, Page 8

The Press Tuesday February 10, 1925. Hoardings.

It still impossible to say if the City Council has u hoardings policy, or is looking for one, or realises that Olio is necessary. The long discussion last night proved otlly that some councillors think hoardings arc things of beauty anyWllflfC, that some like thoffl in some places, and that most see no objection to them till someone else protests against them. So far as the application is concerned which was responsible for most of the talk, it is to be remembered that the Kugby League has a provisional permit already to use its fence as a hoarding, and that the Council's action last night amounted simply to balancing this permit, or its desire to grant it, against the amount of hostility aroused in the neighbourhood. But as we liare pointed out before, this is mere jugglery and weakness. Even if it were not discreditable for the governors 6f the City to surrender their authority, it would be impossible for them to employ such a method and achieve a useful result. Hoardings are permissible or they are not permissible, and if they fall into one group they cannot bo wafted into the other on the breath of publicprotest or approval. We pointed Otlt last November, and again in December —and have had ample proof since that what we said W&S trile —that a Council which permits some hoardings and disallows others is not only digging a' pit for itself, but has no clear idea of the principles by which its conduct should be guided. Last nighty for example, it gavo very cavalier treatment to Dr. Chilton's letter, though it voted him as an afterthought "information d£ tllO polidy of the Council regflfdiflg JioUfdiflgS.'' It would hate shown mGrtf wisdom if it had used the opportunity lie gave it to clarify its principles And grit "them honestly expressed. BUt perhaps that is what it proposes to do now: While it is ridiculous enough that it hfis postponed the road decision till thOse who object to the permit have had an opportunity of edmirig to terms with those who have atye&dv received it, the absurdity may be pardoned if the delay it involves is used by the more thoughtful members in searching for tt few leading principles. And what We have Said about first permits applies, Mutatis intitiildlS) td renewals. Until the Cduiicil has decided Whether hoardings are right or wrong always and eVerywherej it Will »dt recover its dignity Or authority, or Bhow any more firmness in dealing with renewals than it is Bhowing now in its handling of the Terry road Application.