DEPUTATION TO THE MAYOR.

Evening Star, Issue 9721, 1 June 1895, Page 2

DEPUTATION TO THE MAYOR.

BLOOKINO THE FOOTPATHS,

A deputation of shopkeepers and others waited on Hia Worship the JMayjor at the Town Hall this morning to lay before him the nuisance caused by the obstruction of. the footpaths in certain, parts of the. town:' The deputation c<Mnprised-Jlesßrs'R;<3hi:Ko]in7W. Wood, W. Bull, P. Miller, Mendelsohn, J. H'Farlane, W. Soott, W. Oouston, T:'Moodie, C. Johnson, J. Gray, T.-Rosfc GtJWatsoni C.J.Johnson, and J. Soott. . TUr Chisho&m said the dopu/ation rcpre, seated.a mimber of shopkeepers in Rattray and P-nnpss streets, Their object in waiting upon His Worshipwas to ask him, as ehiof magistrate of the Oity,-to use efforts tostonwhat all satisfied was an intolerable nuisance, and what, Uo believed, the oitiaens generally regarded as a congregating of crowds at the corner of Battrfty and Princes streets ar4 in Princes street from Rattray street to Bich street. The nuisance was becoming to he almost unbearable, more pa now than previously because the Government were building on the opoosite corner and had erected a. hoarding that ceauMod a considerable . portion of the street The nuisance Was such between Rattray street and High street that at tlmea the" nubile had to loaye tho footpath and wail<. on tho road. Ho understood that under the*ld by .law a diffl. oulty was experienced m doling. with the nuHinoe from the fact that Mr Oarew g&vo * decision which to some extent nullified the operation of the by-law on the bubjeot j but tho Council had recently passed by-law No, 2, which he ventured ta think would meet the case. Thedeputationwereextrsmelyanxious that His Worship, aschiefmaglstrateoftheCity, would uso every endeavor to get the nuisance abated. Speaking for himself, he might say that while his remarks had applied exclusively to the nuisance between Rattray and' High Btreets, tin same objection held good respecting other places in the City, Strangers in tho City had frequently asked why the police were not alive to their duty, .and why they did not prevent knots pi people from congregating in various parts of the City. While he had every confidence in Inspector Tardy, and while he tried to uphold the police in their effosts to keep order, he did not think there could be two opinions on the point that the police had been sadly lacking in their duty in this respect. Mr W. Scott said that; constables had told him they were powerless to deal with the matter, as they had taken cases before the court, and Mr Carew s decision was that so long as people could get past, no matter what trouble they had, there was no obstruction. The majoritv of the police, ho believed, were anxious to do what was plainly their duty, but where the difficulty came in was in this fact: one or two of them would not take, any active part in keeping the streets clear, and when an officer came on duty who dispersed the gathering he was told he was officious, so that the good that was done by some of the police was counteracted by the indolence of others. One reason whv the nuisance should be put down was that it'intcrtered with business. People were hindered from getting near the shop?, and often ho had seen ladies turn into Rattray street when they saw the gathering, instead of proceeding alons Princes street, as evidently had been their in° tcution. Another reason why the. streets should be kept clear was so that accidents might be prevented, and a third reason was on the ground ot common decency. If His Worship would take any action in the matter he would confer a, boon not only on tho shopkeepers in the locality, but also on the citizjus as a whole. Mr Moodie mentioned that as owners of the property at the corner they had written to Inspector Pardy about the nuisance, but nothing had been done. The Mayor, in reply, said that if anything were wanting to show tiie serious evil and the nuisance that existed it was contained in the tact of so highly influential and respectable a deputation waiting on him that day in respect to the matter. He fully sympathised an-l endorsed every word that had been said by Mr Ohisholm and Mr !-'cott. because from his own observation he could not have failed to see all that had been stated, and he might further say that so far as he was conc-rned as mayor of the Uty he had before now endeavored to impress on _ Inspector Pardy the necessity of taking action. On February 19 last ho wrote to that gentleman as follows: —"I desire to draw your attention to the constant assembling of crowds upon the footpath at Hardie's corner and m front of Mendelsohn's and the Hotel, and to express the hope that you will give imperative instructions to the police to clear the street and keep it clear, there is, as you will be aware, ample power under by-law Ko. 2to do so. Ju*t now, as the races are about taking place, tho time is exceedingly apropos for a rigorous cam ing out of the law It has been reported to me Hub morning hat yesterday a young lady „p an i eav h. s the U.1.L., in Rattray street, and passing through the crowd at the corner and adjacent thereto, had her pocket picked. I think if you were to summons two or three people and get them fined it would have a salutary effect" He had therefore not been lacking in estimat'ng the seriousness of the nuisance, and in drawing the attention of the proper person to the fact! Why the police did not do their duty he could not say any more than the deputation could It was most disgraceful on the part of the police -and that must be the inspector, who controlled the police-that they-did not do their duty m this respect.—(Mr Chisholm : Hear, hear.) He regretted to have to admit that the police had greatly failed in carrying out their * £ x W » th , re Sard to the statement by Mr beott that the police say they have no power, inasmuch as Mr Carew had ruled before now that the by-law was ineffective, he could only say that howevergoodthat might have beensometime ago it did not apply because by-law Iso. & was passed, among other things, expressly to meet this evil. Ample power was given to thep.dice.toactand to the magistrate to fine and he was certain from what he knew of Mr Carew that he would without hesitation iuilict a fine in any case which was proved. Section No. 1 of by-law No. 2 wa3 as follows—-'No person slnll loiter, stand, or remain in any public place or use the same so that the same or any neighboiing street, private street, carriage road, footpath, or footway, or access to any house or building shall bo disturbed, or the traffic therein or in such street, private street carriage road, footpath, or footway shall be obsiruited .or disturbed." Then section 5 of by-law No. 2 put it conclusively as follows:-" No person shall be cleemocl to be making a proper use of any street private street, carriage road, footpath, footway or pubiic p.ace such as shall afford an answer to any charge under any of the foregoing provisions by merely proving that he was moving through such street, private street, carriage road, footpath, footway, or public place, or unless it shall appear that he was in good faith i using the same for the purpose of a thoroughfare. ° Mr W. Scott : They look on that as not in force.

The Mayor said it was absurd to say that, as the by-law was confirmed on the sth M-jrch, Jdol' a m! f" 16 ™ to { orcs on the 15th March, 189*. # That was the law, and it had been the law since March, 1894. He could sympathise with the deputation as a shopkeeper and tradesman himself. He was sure that if he occupied one of the shops obstructed in this way-well, he would hardly like to say what he would do. At auyrate, he would be loud m his complaint, because he was certain from his knowledge as a tradesman that the congregation of crowds such as gathered at this placa must seriously affect the trade the gentlemen before him had a right to expect, and which they would do if the place was kept clear. It had to be borne in mind, too, that for shops m this locality large rents had to be paid He was sure that few ladies having once pa-sed the ordeal of going through that " band of warriors would venture to do so again if they could possibly avoid it. As to the common decency of the question, it was within his own knowledge that thejanguage used by several of the gentry " who assembled there, and which language ladies could not help heaiing, was most offensive. He believed, too, that youn" women had been accosted there, but no stoppage of any woman or girl had, to his knowledge ever occurred. The whole thing was a scandai and a disgrace to the City, and an absolute disgrace to the police force. If tho police could not attend to a civic duty of this kind they might as well have no police at all.—(Hear, near.) He looked on Inspector Pardy as a most estimable gentleman, thoroughly zealous in carrying out his duties, and that ho did not do so m this case led him to think that Mr Pardy must have some superior orders from another quarter that prevented him from acting. With regard to the regulation of the liquor traffic thore was reason to believe that orders had been sent from a certain phuv detailing what the polico shall do and what they .shall not do respecting it, and when he saw such Kupmeness s~huv.ii in this other mutter he-was compelled to think that some order of the .same kind bad been issued re the obstruction of the footwavs. Inspector Pardy was so thorough an oflicor it was surprising he should not have taken action particularly after tho letter which he (the mayor) sent to him. He would again inform Inspector Pardy of the complaint which the deputation had made, and ask him to fulfil his duty, and if the inspector did not do so he would then ask the reason that prevented him. (Hear, hear.) He would promise more. If the police failed to do their duty after this morning he would instruct tho Corporation inspector to take action in the matter.—(Hear, hear;) It was not a duty the inspector ought to perform, because he could not perform it as well as the police, but if the police failed to do their duty

he (tile would,detail -fiispector Morri--Bon ftir this PpecM duty. '-Thbaeptitiitiondould. lest assured everything be done 1 'to remedy thenuisance:—{HearVheftr.) ' C? The deputation 'then retired, %\X:'