THE Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 14, 1880. A CHRONIC CONTEST.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 107, 14 January 1880, Page 2

THE Manawatu Times.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 14, 1880. A CHRONIC CONTEST.

" Wor<J3 nro things, and a drop of ink falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions think."

Tite struggle "between Mr. Robert Ma-Ckte and the Borough Council bids fair ; to. rival the Troja^ War of old, if not m intensity, at leas.t in the length of its duration. Indeed the caßiis belli dates so far back as to precede the establishment of the Council, and almost to be anterior to. the Local Board itself. Such being the case, there are but few .of the Councillors who are perfectly cognisant of the full merits of the dispute, and consequently they are at a loss to determine whether Mr. Mackie is really the injured person he claims to be, or that the Council as a body have not been subjected to a mild species of persecution by the persistent and continuous Worrying which they have received at his hands. In peeking to arrive at the root of the dispute, one is met with almost as much difficulty as if an effort were made to discover the cause of the quarrel between Cain and Abel, or the origin o£ tho "Wars of the Roses the evidence on both sides being mostly traditionary, and requiring the services of the " oldest inhabitant." In writing, therefore, upon the, matter.; we shall endeavor- to deal fairly between the two, putting the facts plainly before our readers, that- they may be able to judge for themselves whether Mr. Mackte has been unfairly done by or not: It would appear that that gentleman carried on the business of slaughtering upon Section 945 long before tho Local Board had an existence,

but upon tli£ fonTuition of thai body, the emitter- came under its cognisance, it was dfeemod a ntii.sarice, and Mr. Mackik j-weiroil an intiination to that effect, uith a request that it should be reinovod forthwith. He promised to da so, but failing- to cany out tho request, waa again served with a notice 5 and so the struggle went on, until the Borough Council took the place of the Local Board. Matters were then so far brought to an amicable arrangement that Mr. Mackie consented to remove his slaughtering premises from Section 915, and the Borough Council consented to grant him a license for slaughtering upon i Section 389, a piece of ground out on the -Napier- real, although tlie j last section inside tho town boundar}'. He had gone to considerable ! trouble m securing the land, and it was admitted — both inside the Council and out of it — that the site was a most eligible one, and each one congratulated himself upon the very satisfactory settlement of the longstanding dispute. Unfortunately, however, Mr. Mackie's love of procrastination upset the whole proceedings, and' since then he has been, so to speak, slaUghter-house-less. He delayed his removal from sec. 915 from day to day, and consequently his new buildings on sec. 389 were not erected or m working order on the opening of 1878, when a new Bill which had passed during the preceding Session became law. That measure abrogated the power contained m the Municipal Corporations Act m the matter of granting new licenses, providing*on,ly for- renewals where slaughter-houses were already erected and m existence, aud consequently as the Borough Council found themselves unable to give Mr. Mackie liberty to occupy 389, they extended his license to the end^ of the year 187S for Section 94-5, with the distinct understanding that at its close, premises would be found outside the Borough. This explanation brings the matter up to the present. So far Mr. Mackie has ' suffered considerable loss, through not having a place to slaughter- ; but no one who reads the. foregoing can for a moment deny that ' Mr. M.vckib haa been his own enemy, that the Borough Council has done all that they could do without a breach of the Statute, and that Mr. Mackie has no one but himself to blame for his troubles. So much for the past ; now with regard to the future. T.ho resolution of the Council granting a liceuse for the land on the Napier road was carried unanimously, and the action was endorsed by the public, and it has been repeatedly stated iv the Council that tb.e only reason why the promised permission had been withdrawn was m deference to. the Slaughter-house Act of 1878 ; so. that it may m all justice be assumed that hitherto it has been the Legislature and not the Corporation which has prevented 1 Mr. Mackie occupying section 389. Under these circumstances, then, we |are pleased to see that by a recent Act of legislation any prohibitory clause which would prevent the. Council from giving the desired permission., and Mr. Mackie acting upon it, has been withdrawn. According to the preamble of. a short Act passed during the last Session, as doubts had arisen as to the power of establishing abattoirs and slaughterhouses within the limits of boroughfe, the Act m question was placed upon, the Statutes to place tho matter upon a distinct footing, and the new Bill was authorised to be incorporated and read with the Slaughterhouses' Act, 1877.. *' The Bill is a short one, being only composed of four clauses, but we will merely extract the ' third, which contains the gist of the measure^ It reads as follo\V3 : — Clause 3. — Notwithstanding anything is tho. said Act contained, no abattoirs shall bo erected or established, and no license shall bo issued m respect of any slaughterhouse situated within the limits of jurisdiction of any local governing body, \yitkoiit the consent of such body. Provided always that if tho said governing body- shall rofuse to give their consent, it shall be lawful fop the Governor, if ap- : plind to for that purpose, t*o nominate three justices of the Peace, one a resident magistrate, who after hearing the parties shall determine by a majority whether or' not such slaughterhouse shall be erected, or established, or licensed as aforesaid, and shall mako an order m conformity with such determination, which, shall b,o. final and conclusive. From the foregoing it may now "be fairly anticipated that the long-standing difficulty is at an end. The Council is empowered by the Legislature to grant the license. It is freely admitted that the site is the most eligible either m or around the borough, and Mr. Mackib has paid too dearly m the past for his procrastination to court a second experience. Section 389 is fully a quarter of a mile from, the fence of any resir dent— or at least the portion upon which the slaughter-house would be erected — it i 3 altogether, outside the sight of travellers, and above all oji the slope to the river, so. that we question very much if, under any circumstances, a more fitting piece of ground could be obtained.