The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1907. HAULING DOWN THE FLAG.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 134, 8 June 1907, Page 4

The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1907. HAULING DOWN THE FLAG.

The members of the Borough Council have decided to accept the decision of Mr Justice Cooper as final, and will at once vacate the chambers which they &nd their predecessors have occupied for a period of forty years. The course adopted may be the wisest, as, in view of the tightness of borough finance, it certainly is the one most likely to commend itself to the ratepayers ; at any rate, it is one that the Council may follow with good grace. Upon the statements of the position submitted to him by both sides, the judge has formed an opinion that we are bound to respect, and unless we were prepared to bring forward some new evidence there would be little use in pushing the question farther. Cr White believes that the Full Court would not endorse the finding of Judge Cooper, but Cr White is consciously optimistic, and he would be the last to blame his fellow members for taking views that range lower than his own. So far the Council has acted with dignity. It believed in the justice of its case, and fought it—not to the bitter end—but to a length sufficient to prove its respect for principle. With dignity, also, it is pleasing to observe, it acts under defeat. Having accepted the opinion that they have no right to the occupancy of their present rooms, Councillors have done the right and proper thing in determining to leave at once. There was ho choice consistent with the retention of selfrespect. To stay where they are and attempt to make some sort of a bargain with the Government is to court humiliation.

We may as well make up our minds at once not to expect any compensation at the hands of Ministers. Nothing in the nature of a quid pro quo was likely to be obtained at any time, even before the Council talked of going to law, and it is out of the question now. The Council, we are glad to observe, declined to ratify the Mayor's suggestion that he should be authorised to wait on the Cabinet when in Wellington this month. His Worship entertains an absurdly exaggerated idea of the sacredness of the Government, which, in his opinion, is a body that should never be discussed except in awed whispers, and with the profoundest respect, and would maintain for himself and others (if they permitted it) a perpetual attitude of submission, cap in one hand and forelock in the other. Whatever right we have it is our duty to demand, and this habit of begging from Ministers and accepting small marks of favour at their hands is deplorable. For all the public knows to the contrary there may be some quite efficient purpose behind much of the tuft-hunting observable of late, and the Mayor is no doubt serving ambitions that are not strictly his own; but the ratepayers as a body should be careful to keep clear of the practice and its inevitable consequences. Ministers are not autocrats, but the servants of the country pledged to the proper administration of its affairs, and we want no favours from

them at all. The Corporation will now have to face the question of providing new accommodation for the Council,

and the matter may well be taken in connection with that of improving the Institute. Meantime, the decision to make use of whatever room is available in the buildings under the Council's control is the proper one.