THE Northern Advocate Daily WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE Northern Mail Daily. THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1914. CONTEMPTUOUS.

Northern Advocate, 9 April 1914, Page 6

THE Northern Advocate Daily WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE Northern Mail Daily.

THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1914. CONTEMPTUOUS.

KEGIHTER.ED FOR TRANSMISSION THRODO H. THE POET AS A NHWSPAP k. Ii THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1914. CONTEMPTUOUS.

ll ! wo gatige public opinion rightly, or even approximately, as being favourable to a wider passage through the Kiorcroa. bridge, should say that the attitude of a section of the Borough Council towards the question is calculated to create a feeling of disappointment akin to dismay, and probably to arouse bitter resentment.. aLike

certain notorious song-charact,er, of whom it is remarked that ."it isn't so much what he says, as the nasty way he says it," the grat.uil,-. ous and superfluous ; comments of some council members will come in for retaliatory condemnation. The request for council co-operation with a Chamber of Commerce deputation could have "been declined on ordinary grounds and in a. manner befitting the Avell-es-tablished rules of. - local-body etiquette and . courtesy,, but some of the members must ' needs go out of their way to'show *open hostility, permeated with invective and derision. The Mayor spoke truly enough when he said in effect that the populace was almost as one in clamouring .for the bridge, and that some of the chief advocates of that , day .are now ranked with the, principal objectors. That only emphasises the. fact 1 hat they sincerely regret the-' error, of .which they have more than once made candid and coura- . geous confession, and that they "are now endeavouring-xo bring forth works meet for repentance. In such an issue we rather incline to think that the better course would be to encourage reformative efforts ; than to stamp on them.. The stand taken by a, gentleman who in the same breath admits that he/ has from the • beginning strongly opposed the | bridge—and consequently the exiguous span—is all the more inexplicable, unless, we are to assume that he, too, has changed his attitude. One member advanced the argument that it would not be "good business'. 5 to block • (railway) traffic while the span was being widened, and that the blocking should be postponed until such time as 'the bridge had 1o be repaired. "When will that hypothetical period occur? Apparently it is "good business" to have blocked the bulk of shipping traffic for seven years before.'Jhhe railway came into requisition,' to have blocked that traffic since, and ' to go on blocking it to some indefinite future date. To describe the present agitation as "fractious," to dub the agitators "foolish." and to cast ridicule upon a band of reputable citizens by alluding to their action as a<"standing joke," appears to us as somewhat outside the recognised functions and scope of a local body, and well beyond ' the due limits of local body deliberations. An estimate of 90 per centum of the people as being in ■ s favour of having the spaiNwide'ned is probably within the mark, yet part of the Borough Council takes up a position of espousing the views of a ten per centum minority and damaging the'unquestionably sound cause of the great ma-

joriiy. "Whatever the personal ideas of members oir the matter, that was not the sort of thing one might reasonably iiave expected

from flieiYi. Yet despite Iho antag-

onism shown and the possibility of Jt having a mischievous influence JM L n the Premier's mind, it is to be that the incident will not act as a deterrent to the agitation, but rather supply additional incentive to the agitators and confirm them iii the line they have adopted.