The Evening Star. DUNEDIN, FRIDAY, NOV. 10, 1865.

Evening Star, Volume III, Issue 785, 10 November 1865, Page 2

The Evening Star. DUNEDIN, FRIDAY, NOV. 10, 1865.

Pettifogging appears to be inevitable in municipal matters. The late Town Board was brought into deserved disrepute by the tinkering manner in which it administered the affairs of the city. And the City • Council threatens to become leavened with ■: the same element. The last meeting of -, the City Council revealed the fact that the mantle of pettifogging which adorned some >. of the members of the Town Board has descended on the shoulders of two of the City Councillors. The rate-payers must surely feel highly indebted to the gentlemen who to their ordinary position of common Councillors add the qualification of a dabbling in engineering. Mr Ross, if we remember aright, was accused, when he offered himself for election, of a hankering after the Surveyorship—a charge which he indignantly denied, expressing at the : same time his contempt for the situation. But he appears to have been insincere in his professions, for although there is a pro- . perly qualified City Surveyor, he must needs go in for a bit in engineering on his own hook—unfortunately, however, at the •cost of the ratepayers. When Mr Ross said that he went into the Council on a mission of " looking after the Town Surveyor," people generally gave him credit for sincerity, for it is well known that Mr Ross has an opinion of his own regarding the Surveyor's depai'tment. So far that was quite a legitimate object. City Surveyors as well as City Councillors sometimes require supervision, but it is beyond the bargain that Mr. Ross should assume the functions of the paid officer of the Council. The misfortune is that Mr. Ross's ideas of the duties of the office are of a very foggy description ; and those of Mr. Chalmers are about as opaque. Judging of the abilities of these amateur engineers by the sample recently brought to light, the public will be inclined to thank vtheir stars that Mr. Ross was so much abov© taking .the Surveyor's situation, and

only regret that he has not confined himself to his original rofo of " looking aftei the Surveyor/' We are very glad indeed that the Mayor brought up the matter before the Council. If in the opinion of Messrs. Ross and Chalmers the City Surveyor's specifications are unintelligible, by all means let the Council decide the question, but we must emphatically protest against civic amateurs being allowed to complete their engineering education at the expense of the Ratepayers. If Mr. Ross desires to try his hand at road making on antiMacadam principles, let him make his experiments on his own property. We have a vivid reminiscence of the tinkering proclivities of the late Town Board, and of the dire results which followed the interference of ignoramuses with the construction of the Rattray Street sewer, and the public want no repitition of the evil. The question of the proper management of the City Surveyor's department has been brought so often before the public, that it is high time it was finally disposed of. Either Mr. Millar is competent or not for the important office he holds. If Mr. Ross or any other member of the City Council thinks the Surveyor is unfit for his position, let him bring forward his charges in a straightforward and manly manner, and not keep eternally nagging at Mr. Millar with paltry- and undefined complaints—most of which have no Other origin probably than his unconcealed enmity oi that gentleman. The public have a right to demand that the City Surveyorship should be efficiently administered. If it is not, then it is the duty of the Council to replace the present officer by some one better qualified. If it is, then a stop must be put to the pettifogging meddlings of individual Councillors, and the Surveyor be allowed to attend to his own duties.