DECENT STREETS.

Evening Star, Issue 12313, 30 September 1904, Page 1

DECENT STREETS.

Wb arc pleased to note that at least one Councillor is iu harmony with us in our contention that one of the meet legitimate functions of the. City Council is to provide good streets and roads. The intimation comes under the heading of things that are “obvious.” It is, in fact, so obvious that it gets overlooked or buried beneath an accumulation of municipal undertakings that are not characterised by sagacity or prudence. Councillor Ixmdou even went so far as to say that “it was “ ‘ notorious ’ that the streets had been “ ‘ starved ’ for the last twenty years, and “ that to make a ‘ fuss ’ over the spending “of £IO,OOO or £20,000 on the City’s “ streets after such an unenviable record “ was like swallowing a camel and then “sticking at the tail.” We have never tried to swallow a camel, but we have honestly tried to swallow many statements made at the City Council table, and we do not think that there, is niuch difference. The process of deglutition is in each case beyond the normal capacity. Wednesday night’s discussion, however, had this redeeming feature to commend it: it evidenced an apparently sincere desire to return to the simple yet sufficient duties for which CouccaOdrs are primarily elected'. Had as much zeal.been displayed in attention to the legitimate functions of the City Council as hue since been devoted to check the injurious effects of past civic mistakes, wo should not at this hour be the laughing stock of tbo Colony, It is not reassuring to he told, nor conducive’to our material comfort to lioar, that perhaps the City’s most important municipal duty has been “notoriously” neglected Jot twenty years. Not that we are prepared to endorse this sentiment in its entirety. Councillor Loudon instituted a comparison between the finely-metalled, well-crowned roads in country districts and those of the City. The comparison, as Mrs Mftlapiop would say, is “odorous” ami hardly legitimate There is no parallel between the traffic on the one and on the other, and visitors from many New Zealand centres admit that the main thoroughfares of Dunedin compare favorably with those of any other dfcy. We are certainly in advance of Wellington, and not far (if at all) behind Christchurch. But, even after making all reasonable allowances, there is too much truth in Councillor Laurence’s criticism that " absolutely necessary ” works had been allowed to remain in naked ugliness if not possible danger. The question natur. ally arises, What works should bo undertaken? and this query is necessarily met with the further one, What money is there to spend? We are disposed to think that the Council were wise in referring the Works Committee’s special report back for further consideration and readjustment. Councillor Crust’s ideal is a worthy one t and, in happier times, may be pushed to fruition. But the evil that meu do lives after them, aud just now the City is iu that extraordinary position described in the song—of not knowing “where ’e are.” We have Lee Stream, with its possibilities of unknown thousands, ahead of us; the gasworks opening its voracious maw for a eop of £89,000; the Waipori Company negotiations, involving a liability of anything up to £35,000 ; the electric tramways still unfinished, and their total cost yet to be ascertained; to say nothing of the water supply and the permanent business undertakings that are always with us. The City cannot, therefore, move as freely as it. might (even within its own legitimate field of operations) at this crisis in its municipal history. The amount asked for in order to improve the Town Belt is comparatively small, but we are in that condition when every little helps. The City’s 'policy for some time to come will have to be confined to a bare regime of absolute necessities. At the same time we deprecate anything like scare. There was much bandying about on Wednesday of the amount of the overdraft, which on March 31 lae* stood at £72,959 17s • 2d, and Councillor John McDonald rushed iu with his seemingly sovereign. panacea for all municipal ills—borrow! The proper course, ho affirmed, is to ask the ratepayers for power to borrow £IOO,OOO. We -think this would he an eminently improper course,, and we feel sure that the citizens would resent any proposal of the sort. As a matter of fact, the Kantoverdraft is not anything like the amount stated. It is purely a bookkeeping entry. At the present time tke City has a credit, balance at the bank on which it is paid interest, and even when there are bo loan moneys to credit the normal actual overdraft is less than £40,000. What is wanted is a little lutriness application to City affairs. Let the Works Committee draw up a programme allocating to the four wards according to. the legitimate chume of -each a

share of the money set apart for public works, and let there be a clear understandmg that when this appropriation has been spent work most cease until tbo next year. There is, we are afriud, too much outside pressure brought to bear upon Councillors, and their desire to please outruns their judgment. In their own interests it is imperative that a deaf ear be turned to these petitions for netv works. We also trust that the proposal to accept small deposits from the ratepayers at moderate into rest has not been overlooked. Put into practice on sound lines, the idea should prove a fruitful source of supply, while it would relieve the City of its overdraft and be an immeasurably better medium of “raising the wind’’ than seeking legislative authority for another big loan.