FAIR PLAY.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4697, 12 September 1872, Page 3

FAIR PLAY.

ITol To tho Editor : fair, — Tlie action of the City tfouhcil in/tith§ /gr^pogfd bj-law, hafc given ) to what ii called the "smoke nuisance a prominent portion jjquihs.~queations which "iiist now agitate our little local world. This ly-law pr6J>(ssi^' v »fd WBfiffli, e|«W! K^P^i dp stoker of I i tanafactory "wnaraoever who shall saner I 1I 1 xioke to issue therefrom,- except for the T x eriod of thirty minutes after the commence)t jen^«Wigh*i^infclttflt!6 M/att^ A*#>%oMrhfe' I Evymeut of a penalty not exceeding £5 for c ich- offence. It majH)«--«aid there is no ! H itention of enforcing such a law. 'i hen N hy make it VMMi%% believe t ifbcgba^p^p^y^t^^W^fl^^"^' onJ y j itblbafo ai J u||ance^tat^%^&tt ?^ss, !ither upon the citizens or the city, ndjkij-erfio Ibis ifeitaßCt) hardly' a(gree ir aofcions. .Lei.us kpk aft oar posiUThSV^#«Qh«W^r, by its b and abundant coal and iron, as .well s&pfeP, %m, : Mnd s ffor& rr d !{ Ha^our«, Bstinedto become a &reat ieat of atts liafa&m w W(2?f*lfeWy w^^ave 5 manufactories,, jgch as foundries, a. t employing 28 steam-engines, of ese eicabiishmeniij qiE understand, about; 600 hands, upon which may Indent some^OlJO^people, besides A t|JJ»fjJil«fi9ibifi B{v&uncu^<Mi^ kBef|OQiii k 8ef|OQiiiy k t£propose to the daily bread of such aljirgenumifdnstrious or h»lple*»-peop!j& because our city magnates are an«rvit*£a?, this awtnuch fito be, done which canno£bj^<ifiAe without thjs "3^l p l o£ jmacbiiSery, money, and men, is it « : at" the onteM.^i^pQ.tt ?ejli?idjaons upon ;th r'he^lihv dev.ejopmejat*o%manufaotuieBil T( jwfipbut mrimanuf pn does i.ngftnd .o 1 ? ekm>ofi&>ii*e^refctotf ?«'" r manufactures hid taken! btoo±a^ii>ogi and, be»ide», 4 lia|;;ni>f HBuoo^d«4 ty^fofy ,

or we may find, when too late, that if we begin where England ends we may end where she began. The plainest common interest ought to make us all anxious to encourage the introduction of, manufactures amongst us, so that employment maybe abundant, and our wants provided for without sending away so much money to pay for what w,e shall certainly make for ourselves before long if fair play be shown. At present it appears as if the only machinery 1 upon which no restrictions are imposed is taxing machinery, and 'that, by means of our General and Provincial Governments and City Councils, has certainly full awing. If our Council would lessen the taxes, they would the better promote the welfare of all classes. Suppose our city rulers succeed in putting down all the smoke by putting out all the fires, the work will not be half done. The steamers alongside our wharves will still send out dense volumes of "carbonaceous matter." Will the Havbour Board follow suit, and provide the usual remedy by making a by-law to fit the occasion, and aompel all steamers to burn their smoke ? Suppose Grahamstown becomes enamoured of the costly appanage of a Town Council, will that body, anxious to make its power felt, also make a by-law compelling all the pumps and batteries to "burn their smoke " or shut up, and so remove at once and for ever the canopy of smoke from the "Golden Town"? or 'will they permit the batteries to help to hammer out fame and fortune, for the colony ? Now, I .think, before our City Council permits this obstructive policy to proceed further, they qu'ght'to jbe in a position to point to some smoke-con' * suming apparatus in actual operation in the city, capable of carrying out, their proposed- * demand under the local conditions affecting it, and at a reasonable cost. Whenever they j are in a position to do that, I, for one — and, ,1 doubt not, others -will 'readily apply it. In the meantime, every man whose daily .bread is imperilled ought resolutely to make his opinion felt regarding the proposed by-law ; by voting against any candidate who may 'have supported it in tho Council, and by j> voting in favour of those candidates only who ;ave piepared to make a determined resistance to all such foolish attempts as the proposed .by-law to do not only great injustice to a large and industrious body of citizens, but a grievous injury to the whole community | by effectually preventing any further manu* i'faefcuring enterprises in the city of Aucki land. — 1 am, &c, J. C. Firth.