A FAITHFUL WORKER

Evening Star, Issue 16988, 10 March 1919, Page 6

A FAITHFUL WORKER

FOB OIVIO ADVANCEMENT. ■On Maxell 3, 1919, Councillor .Tames Small, one of the most unassuming, unostentatious, and most capable of city councillors, crossed over to the other side of Jordan at the ago of 76 years. It is a rip© age, and few would have had him linger on much, if any, longer. A faithful worker, <a conscientious citizen., a. itum who devoted himself without foe or thought of reward to make the city in which ho had lived and wrought so many veara a better placa than he found it, and yofc, particularly during the hist four or iivo years, a man with not oue-haix the public reputation that some with little of hia unselfishness and still less of hi 6 ability, hold in the public mind. The reason is not far to seek. Mr Small ™>t only did not attempt to advertise hinised but ho disliked being advertised. Although ho more than once headed the poll in the old Drainage Board elections and as a councillor for Leith Ward in the City Council, I think I am right m eaymg that beyond the customary words ot thanks ho never addressed a public meeting in his life. True, he read papers occasionally, when there was a need tor them, at the Ratepayers’ Association (now defunct, pro tom.), but his efforts in educating public opinion were almost entirely confined to the correspondence and nowa columns of the daily press, where, thanks to the editors, his contributions wore always acceptable, and that for the simple reason that he never wrote anything unless he had something to say on anything about what it was desirable the public should know. Mr Small was over 60 years of age when he first took an active personal interest in public questions. Hq was greatly concerned over the new drainage scheme which Dunedin hud then enteml upon at an estimated cost of (I think) He was convinced that a drainage scheme could not be carried through for anything like that sum before the citizens saw the end of it. His opinions and criticisms, duly set forth in a series of some dozen or more articles published in the evening paper, and enlightened by figures (!) and ioko&, and quotations, and. arguments, wero widely read. They brought an angry engineer and an irascible chairman (the late Dr Goughtrey) into the field, hut without provoking either counter-anger or loss of temper. “J. .Small,” as ho used to sign bis letters, kept straight on. ihe elections were to take place in a few days, and “J. Small” had been nominated to stand with others against Dr Goughtrey and the party then in possession. _ I recall his telling me how, being particularly anxious to have a letter answering his” opponents’ criticism published on tho morning of t-be election, be took, himself in a cab at 10 o’clock at night to the private residence of the managing director of the ‘ -Otago Daily Times to secure his consent. In the public interests this was given, and the letter du,y appeared. It was generally regarded as a capital letter alike for its style ana matter, and, whether as » result thereof or not I do not know, I was not greatly surprised to hoar the name “James Small” ca.lcd out as hood of the lot by the returning officer late in the evening to a largo, crowd in Dowling street. ”It was that letter did it.” remarked a well-known citizen to mo.' “Think so?” I said. “-Sure of it,” was the answer. “Between you and me.” he went on, “ old Jimmy dot?sn t write them.” “Doesn't he?” I interjected, “who does? ” \\ ell. I cant dve it away,” was his reply, “ but some say it’s F- (the Crown Prosecutor), and others S (now a Justice of the Supreme Court), but my opinion is that there is more than one in it. The letter was a, masterpiece.” Thus it was that Mr James Small entered public jifo. While a member of tho Drainage Board his counsel throughout was eminently practical and eminently sane. Officials'objected and fumed, but tho quiet, patient, non-contentions, unmoved member almost invariably won through. One reason was that ho never tackled a question unless he knew all the facte of the case. Nor did he rely upon others for his information. Ho oxa-minatod and estimated and concluded for himself. Meantime he had interested himself in municipal politics, signalising his entry into the arena in his favorite manner —contributing a series of articles on city finance to tha daily press. He made out his case, and ho had no difficulty in topping the poll for his own ward —Leith—and once again this inoffensive man blosonicd forth as a sort of stormy petrel of civic muddledom. Ho discussed” tho Waipori purchase and he questioned, in the citizens’ interests, tho proposed final settlement with tho builders” of the City electric tramway system. And. again, the opposition was strong, if not bitter; but whatever its form and however questionable its taste, ho stuck to his guns. I remember that he wrote letters to the morning paper in which ho set out with commendable clearness his interpretation of tho facts, and I also recall that his letters on these occasions never _ appeared unless accompanied by an editorial article in which their effect was sought to bo discounted. It was of no use; the cud was the same. Tho dispute was settled along Cr -Small's lino of argument, and the Citv saved something in tho neighborhood uf £2.000 (1 write from memory). I once asked him, “And how much could tho Citv have saved on its most amazing arrangement had you come earlier on the scone than yon did?” As I have said, he was a singuiarly modest and unassuming man. Ho never indulged in boasts nor courted popularity. So his answer may bo accepted Acs an under not an over estimate. It was ; “ Oh, anything about ten thousand pounds." Only once, to my knowledge, did he sink hi tee public estimation die might easily have been Mayor had ho had ony inclination in that direction), and then not because he, was guilty of the meanness alleged against him by bis fellow-council-lors'(some of them), hut simply because he was no “fighter With his mouth,” and could not stand on his feet and .answer bade fa save his life. It was about tho onlv time I was really vexed with him. “Why did you sit still?” I snapped. “Why didn’t you answer them?” His answer was characteristic. T won’t say what it was: but my vexation immediately vanished. And this is what had hanpened. He had prepared .an important report on some phase of, I think, ihe Waipori investment which the Press were anxious to get. TTe hnd promised me. an earlv copy immediately the report had been received hy tho committee.. I never got it., because it did not come before tho committee when we expected it would. But the report appeared in tho Press that same evening. Query: How did if- get there? “Oh. Cr Small, of course,” said the Mayor and council. Tho Mayor practically charged Cr Small in open council with 'Jun-W’ handed a c.onv of his report to the Press, end nil Cr/Small could <h, by way of reply was to sit nncc.mmriaoly and to mumble forth a btblo protest. Hence my indignation. Or Small kept his word, ns I know ho wc.uld : lie had nothing to do either with the giving or the 'publishing of the report ; both the one rind (he other emanated from another quarter altogether. But for a time, if not until the incident was forgotten, the question most frequently asked was: “Well, that’s a pretty sort of councillor to have, isn’t it? A man who gives sway private reports and then,denies it?” There may he other councillors a? aide, as unselfish, as consistently loyal as Cr James Small was, but I have dropped out; of knowing them these last, low years. It will be "well for tho City if there are several such. My one regret since T beard the last new;; is’ that I had put off, until it was too late, going to see him to crack one last joke and to exchange one last quotation (he read and appreciated the best English literature) with him before his entry into the eternal silence.—Dunedin correspondent of the ‘ Tuapeka Times.’