SUBURBAN POLITICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 13891, 27 October 1905, Page 3

SUBURBAN POLITICS.

A HOMELY MEETING. There was a homely gathering of men, in addition to three or four iadies, in the social room of the Woolston library last evening, with the object of considering the local Council's proposal to borrow £20,000 to improve the borough. Ratepayers criticised the scheme in rough-and-ready manner, and naturally the meeting was amusing. The chief opponent of the scheme was a member of the Council, Mr Hewitt, one of a minority of three against a majority of seven on the Council who had favoured a borrowing policy. This councillor, opposing the loan, painted a lurid picture of the Council's sins. He alleged--, that in Wildberry Street, the Council, instead of having the road from Coronation Street graded towards the river, has made the channel fall towards Manning's Place, with the result that, after recent rains, a lake, two feet deep, had formed there. A butcher had offered to drive him through the inundation, but he had declined the invitation, as he could not swim. He proceeded to ask his hearers what ho would be paying in rates under the nroposed scheme. -A Voice: "What are you paying now?" Mr Hewitt: " I am dealing with another point." A Voice :• "Rats." The chairman, Mr J. Richardson,_ here pleaded that speakers should receive a courteous hearing. Mr Hewitt, continuing, remarked that he himself would be paying 2s 6d, while a neighbour, with a similar frontage, would be contributing £1 13s 4d in rates. " I may be bereft of my reason," added Mr Hewitt, " but I have a little sense of honour left." He explained that, though he would benefit by the proposal, his conscience would prevent him from supporting a proposition that would suit his pocket to the disadvantage of others. He ventured on a lengthy litany of the Council's alleged iniquities, until the chairman interrupted him. Mr Richardson asked the meeting to fix a time-limit, and the ratepayers, in a noisy but good-humoured fashion, gave expression to a belief that ten minutes would suit them. Mr Hewitt resumed his speech, and deolared that the recommendation that the loan should be approved was the "pure cuseedness of the'mover." Cries of "time" prevented the speaker from expanding his charge. Another ratepayer exclaimed that he had enough water in his street to flush the whole of Woolston, if it could only be got into the channels. Generally, an inhabitant of a particular street had a fault to find. One stated that his street bad as many grades as there were chains. Another announced that the Council would be placing itself in " an uniquitous position" by devoting attention to a particular stretch of street to the detriment of another. The final vote ended in genial uproar. Loud choruses of "Aye" and "No" greeted the putting of a motion that the loan proposals should be endorsed, and tho chairman declared that the motion had been carried. Mr Hewitt's voice rose above the uproar, clamouring for a division, but the request was declined.