SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1885.

North Otago Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4081, 10 October 1885, Page 2

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1885.

The Local Bodies Contractors Act seems to have swooped upon the country like a hawk upon a hen-yard. At any rate, if this simile does not stand precisely on all fours with the fuels, the enactment in question has caused considerable commotion in some communities. la Oamßru a number of resignations have already* resulted from its coming into force, and possibly more may yet take place. Other comunities are likely to undergo a similar experience, and the genex-al result will probably be to cause the L cal Bodies Contractors Act to be looked upon for a time, at any rate, as a peculiarly inconveniencing if not altogether obnoxious measure. This poiut oi view has already been reached in this part of the colony by persons engaged in local government work. At Monday night's meeting of the Committee of the Benevolent Society the Rev. Dr Macgregor, referring to the provisions of the Act under notice, gave notice of motion to address the Colonial becretary to the effect that •*' in j this community the operation of the Act would limit the choice of suitable members of Committee to an extent that would be perilous to the interest of the public in the care of the destitute poor." Mr Headland and Mr Dalgleish in their letters of resignation, read at the meeting of the Borough Council on Thursday night, also referred to the law that now interdicts trade between local bodies as local governing bodies and their members as individuals, as unsuitable if not vexatious, considering the circumstances of the colony. Besides that, we are told that " "Various councillor made speeches condemnatory of the measure referred to, regretting that it should ever have become law, Who, itwasquetioned, would be found to conduct local government affairs, since business men, the best fitted to doit, were debarred from taking part ? " And more than that was Baid. Indeed, what we have quoted gives but a tame notion of the truculent indignation exhibited by some of the councillors, For example, one member is reported as saying that "it was a blackguardly Bhame that such a la«r should have ever been enacted; but what could they expect from the slippy-sloppy administration 01 the Stout- Yogel Government ? This waß the outcome of one of their adorable local government measures ! They ought all to be Bunk in Cook Strait." This is what the dealers in slang call " coming it strong " with a vengeance But what is the precise meaning of the last sentence 1 Is it that all the members of the Government, or that all the Government's local government measures! ought to be sunk in Cook Strait? Assuredly the measures woald be better there than in force throughout the country, for they are truly a peculiarly pernicious act of legislative

abortions. W« daresay, too, ife would be well for all of us if all the members of the Government were pretty low down in the depths of Cook Strait or somewhere else where they would not be able to peddle and meddle in the country's affairs, Still it would be rather hard, perhaps, to condemn even such poor creatures as the members of tbe Government to a watery grave, more especially on account, of a measure with which they have indeed had but little to do. For the Local Bodies Contractors Act only makes clearer and more general in its application a principle which has long been partially in operation in tbe colony, and which should be in the fullest possible force in every country where human nature happens to be — as it still happens to be amongst ourselves, we believe — somewhat of a medley of cv rious aud even " crooked " characteristics. The fact is that that the opposition which has been offered to the Local Bodies Contractors Act is, in our opinion, altogether oat of placp t It is no doubt true that, in small conemunities especially, many if not most of tbe members of the local governirg bodies are engaged in business, but it is surely a sheer extravagance to assume that, even in the smallest communities, it would b» serioußly difficult to find a sufficient number of men not in business to adequately administer local government affair*). It is no doubt hard, too, that irreproachable individual men who have rendered, or who might render, much valuable service aa members of local governing bodies should be made incapable of sitting on those bodies just because they might happen now and then to sell them a few things in the ordinary way of strictly legitimate trade. But lawß must be made to suit the circumstances of a country considered as a whole, and many cases might be cited from the past to show that in this and other countries many men in business have corruptly, and injuriously to the public interest, made their public positions subservient to tbeir private ends. That being the case, it is well that statutes like the Local Bodies Contractors Act should be generally in force, and in the interests of the colony as a whole it is satisfactory to see such a measure now upon our own statute-beok. As already indicated, the Act supersedes all enactments heretofore passed imposing pecuniary penalties on members of local bodies for entering into contracts wich such bodies. It applies to Borough Councils, County Councils, Road Boards, Town Boards, Harbor Boards, River Boards, Drainage Boards, Education Boards, and to District Boards and Trustees appointed under the provisions of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act, 1885. As to its principal provisions, they are that, " Any member of any local body who enters into any contract for the supply of anything, or the performance of any work, with the local body of which he is a member, or who knowingly supplies anything whatever to such local body, shall not be entitled to payment for the name, and the sum paid in respect of any such contract or supply sball be recovered, together with ten pounds in addition thereto, with full costs of suit, by_ any person who shall sue for the same in a court of competent jurisdiction ; "that, "The amount recovered as having been improperly paid saaU be handed over to the local body from whose funds it was paid, and the person suing shall be entitled to the ten pounds with the full costs of the suit 5 " and that, "Any member of any local body who knowingly gives or joins in giving authority for, or who is a party or consents to, any such payment as aforesaid shall pay the sum of twenty pounds, with full costs of suit, to any person who shall sue for the same in a court of competent jurisdiction." On the whole we think it can safely and soberly be said that the Local Bodies Contractors Act is a wholesome and not unnecessary measure. It will piobably not lead to every public man's being a patriot ; but neither, we think, is it likely to lead to any interruption ia the continuity of effective local govern* ment work, while, unless it proves to be a mere dead-letter, it should act as a bar to a species of corruption which has in the past tainted tbe administration of a good many local governing bodies.

The Rev. Mr Lindsay will conduofc servicjs to-morrow in Maheno Public Hall, at 3 p.m , and Mr Duncan Wright will conduofc services In Kakarmi Church on the same day and at the same hour. MemberH and intending members of the Oamarn Cricket Club are requested ti be on the ground punctually at 2, 15, when the opeiii* # m»tch of the season will be played. The President and Vice- President will ohoo3e eidei. At the Reeident Magistrate's Court yes* terday. before Mesara M'Lean and Humphrey, J.P. , two first offendc ra were charged with being druok in Thames street on tbe previona day, and discharged with a caution. Robert Irvine was oharged with allowing two horses to wander a*; large on the Kakanui road, and fined 10a and custp, The special meeting of the Hospital Comrmttse, called for last ni fc hfc, fell through for wsnfc of a quorum, there only being present Messrs M inland (President), Allen, Altken, and Milne. The Hospitals and Charitable Aid Act was considered in a conversational way by those gentlemen present, and the meeMne adjourned till Tuesday next, at 7.30. The newly-formed Capulet Cricket Club wi 1 play a nntoh against the newly-formed St. Crispin CJub on the first Saturday of next month, and in order that the foimer m»y be able to give a good account of i. self, members are requested to meet for practice to-day, at 230 o'clock, on the Severn street Reserve. The team to play against the St. Crispin trill be oh sen, and a good attendance is requested; Thore 1b a peculiarity about the Government's retrenchment in the Civil fervioo which msy have struck some of our readers. The Government have stated that it is impossible to effect any reduction of consequence jn the Civil Servic, but on the deceaee of aiy civil servant— apparently immaterial in which department — it Is immediately announced that the place of that particular officer will cot be filled. To those then who hild that there is plenty of room for very considerable retrenchment in the Civil Sen ice, there ia tho grim consolation before them that in the course of Time's inevitable march, the civil servants must, with ordina»y mortals, cross the bourne from whence no traveller return?, aud their salaries, if not their pensions, cease with themselves. If this in the only way that retrenchment can be effected in the Civil Service, it is certainly better than no way at all, although tha preeent generation will reap bat littla advantage from it. a

Dating tne rentring of the Hack Race at Duntroon yesterday, when the horsea had gone about half a mile, Warrior'a saddle slipped ronnd under hU girthe, and the jockey (Evans) was thrown on to the horse's neck. Recovering himself, ho grasped the girth with his right hand, and rode the remainder of.the distance bareback. On passing the winning post first in this fashion, the horse ran into the crowd, and to save himself from injury Evana threw himself off, lnokily escaping with only a slighfc sprain. Warrior bolted off down the road, bat the clerk of the courae soon afterwards succeeded in catohing the animal and brought him back to the courEe, where his j >ckey was weighed in all right. In recognition of the Ivery Jplucky jjmanner in which Evans stuck fco his horse, a subscription was got up and presented to him on the ground. An entertainment wao given at the Public Hall last night by the t-achers and pupils of tha District High School. The programme consisted of instrumental and vocal music, recitations, aud of manoeuvres by the cadets. To Bay that, however, givea but a bald idea of the entertainment. To give a fair notion of it to those who were not present ii ought to be mentioned that Mr Peattie, the head-master, read spiritedly, from Professor Aytoun'a Lays of the Cavaliers, tho well-known stirriog description of Edinburgh after the battle of Fiodden ; that Miss Brownlee saag very nicely a couple of fine song3— namely, "Till the breaking of the day," and ' The blind girl to her harp ;" that Mr J. Flemiog sang "The tar's farewell," and that Mr J. Macdonald recited in a way to bring out the fine pathos of the first and the splendid pith of the second, Whlttier's "Barbara Frletchie" and Gordon's " How we beat the favorite." But honorable mention would have to be made of other things, too. Some recitations were excellently given by some of the pupilß — pupils of Mr Macdonald'd, wo Bhould say, as regards elocution at any rate. "Light the firo on Graig-Gowan Height " was recited, with first-rate expression and with telling dramatic gestures, by Master C. Ferens, and Mlsb M. Ogilvie, with the costume, enuaoiation, and notion suited to the piece won the approbetion of the audience witb Cowper's evergreen "Boadioea." A class cf girls recited " What shall 1 give ?" and dii so with VBry good effect", though it was an effect far inferior to that produced by the "Charge of the Light Brigade," as reoited by twenty oadets in uniform ; the boys, under the leadenhip of Mr Macdonald, speaking and. gesticulating most appropriately in unison. It may ba mentioned here, too, that the cadets acquitted themselves cleverly in the manoeuvres whioh they went through on the stage, under the direotion of their captain, Mr Peattie. A number of songs were sung by the Bchool girls in classes, the most pretti'y rendered being, in our opinion, "Cold the blast may blow," "The Kowan tree," and "Where Gadie rina." But it may safely be said, we think, that no part of the programme was ao generally relished by the audience as the deliciougly funny performances of the infant classes in the recitation, " Three mice," and the action Fongs, " Now we littje children," and " Hold the right hand up," Ib was, in a pre eminently pleasing sense, "ssgood as a" play" to loox at and listen to the performances of these jolly little people. Towards the close of the entertainment Misa Florenoe King, quite a little girl, played a bolo very nicely on the piano. The accompaniments during the evenIng were played by Miss SaDgster and Mssb King, Miaa Sangster playing, besides, the overture to the first, and Mi«a King that to the second, part of tho programme. Altogether, the large audience at the Public Hall last night had reason to be well pleased with the matt r and the manner of the District High School enterfcalament, The Dunedin Herald atates that the Rev. Dr Roseby has received a call by cable to the pastorshipjof the Congregational Church, Ballarat. As yet Dr Koseby has not dscided to acoept to call. Afe a " saved drunkard's meeting" In the Salvation Army Barracks, Melbourne, one man named Billy Aberdeen said that he had spent L 250.000 in drink, and had been fined L2BOO for knocking down policemen, What the people are saying : That yon can now buy the balance of a bankrupt stook of political pledges, and a large assortment of pa^ty promises slightly damaged. That all are invitel to oall at Cojrmack's, Tees street, and compare the quality and prices before going to other shopß to purchase ; that Cormack is the Cheapest Tailor in O^m^ru ; th>t you can get a suit fiom him at any price you like. O r 6 Skinny Men. — Well's Health Keiewer restores health and vigor, cures dyspepsia, impotence, debility, At druggists. Kempthorne, Proeser, and Co., agents, Cbristchurch.