THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 1903.

Grey River Argus, Volume 57, Issue 10520, 26 January 1903, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 1903.

The ratepayers of Greymouth have always shown themselves to be a patient, easy-going lot of people. If they had not been so their rauuicipal affairs might have been managed to a little better advantage than they have been. To some exient, therefore, the people of the town are responsible for the existing unsatisfactory state of our municipal affairs. However, they were led to place implicit confidence in the persons they elected. But there can no longer be any mistake that this confidence has been misplaced. Any one doubting this has only to read the report of the lasC meeting of the Borough Council to appreciate the truth of what we have written. The report, condensed as it is, throws a light on the misman<. agement of our borough affairs that must give a shock to every seriousminded citizen, and cause him to ask whether the council can do anything without muddling it. The report of the council's proceedings on Thursday evening is positively painful reading. It is enough to take one's breath away to read about the Town Hall and Easson's Hill. Bad as the Town Hall affair is, the ratepayers will be puzzled to find any excuse for the Mayor over that wretched business of Easson's Hill. It should be remembered that the cutting was a pet work of his, on the merits of which he was prepared to stand or fall. It would be interesting to kuow how he feels about it now. But to take one thing at a time. The Borough Council has available some L 7,500 for the building of a Town Hall. This, we should explain, means merely the cost of the naked building. The furnishing is to be superadded, and that must amount to a considerable sum. That, we believe, is about all that is left of the LGS,GOO (allowing for the water liabilities) that the Mayor spoke so proudly of at the feanquet to the Premier, a statement that caused tbelatter to look up with either awe or astonishment. Yet in the face of the financial position of the Council the engineer is al owed to submit the plan of a building to be tendered for, the estimated cost of which is L9OOO, though one experienced contractor puts in a tender for LI 6,640, and would nob build it in wood for L9OOO. No wonder that Cr Petrie said "the price simply staggered him"— and he is seldom "staggered" on the score of expense. Yet he felt called upon to tell the Council to "remember that the finances would ] nob stand a very great strain." It appears that they have already passed straining point and stand in need rather of further strengthening. The public were led to suppose, originally, that the Town Hall would not cost more than five or six thousand pounds; vet in the face of this, and the reduced state of the loan fund, it is inconceivable liow the Council allowed so costly a plan ta be prepared. Appavently it must be of a rather elaborate nature, for the servioea of another architect were called in, and he is to be paidLso for his valuable assistance no doubt little enough. This is a slovenly way of doing business ; but we begin to fear that it is of a piece with our borough management generally. We have no sort of assurance that the Engineer's estimate is nob quite as much under the real value of the work to be done as Donald McLean's tender may be above it. In the case of the bridge across Sawyer's Creek the original plan and the way in which it has been carried out are very widely different. Instead of the approaches being of broken metal and asphalted, they are made of river shingle ; and we ask why should this be so? Bad and unbusiness like as all this is, we confess to a feeling of unbounded astonishment at Mr Lord's coql suggestion thajb before refusing all tenders ! the lowest tenderer be asked to confer ! with a committee of the Council so as j to make alterations to bring the price down to LBOOO, his excuse being that in a large work like that; it was impossible to arrive at a correct estimate. There may l.c something in this contention, for when we find him L4OO out in a small bridge, he might easily be out L4OOO in the cost of a Town Hall. Monstrous as the suggestion was, His Worship the Mayor thought it should receive some consideration. But there have been so many muddles perpetrated of late that we begin to doubt the efficacy of the Mayor's guidance in our municipal affairs. Even in the small matter of the L 15,000, that could not be arranged without a bungle, and Mr M Hannin, the solicitor, m now at Wellington endeavoring to rectify the matter. To so great a financier as the Mayor, and who was so desperately anxious to supervise the expenditure of our loan money, this may soena the merest trifle; but it means more expense, whiclyt is difficult) to excuse, though if it stood alone the ratepayers i might perhaps look over it ; but there I are other bungles.

Easson's Hill, for instance, which we thought we had heard tbe last of five months ago, and that ought to have been disposed of long since, has cropped up again, and in a more daugerous leoking guise than ever. We are at a loss to imagine what the Council have been thinking about all this time not to haveclosed theEasaon's Hill affair long before. Now ye have Mr J W Easson asking the Council to come to some arrangement as regards the "payment for his property on Easson's' Hill!" What next? The Borough Solicitor in formed the Council that the question would be gazetted on Thursday, and after that date Mr Eaßson could make his claim. The amount of that claim we have yet to learn. So far we have only speculation. The Mayor gently sighed that he supposed "the matter would have to be settled by arbitration." But why was it not settled months ago 1 Another instance of how affairs are postponed that ought to be settled at once without loss of time, is the land •f the old Coey couple seized for the purposes of the water service of the borough. Why should the Couucil go to sleep over such matters ? There is no reason why this small matter should not have been disposed of long ago, and no doubt would have been if only some one had apersonal interest in the affair If this is a sample of how things are allowed to drift the ratepayers ought to know the reason why. We venture to say that no other reporb of Borough Council proceedings ever threw so strong and disagreeable a light on the management of borough affairs. If we are not mistaken, it will make the ratepayers "sit up" as they never sat up before.