New Zealand Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4254, 7 November 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1874.

We have no desire to interfere unnecessarily in municipal questions, but it is our duty, as public journalists, to express a hope that the approaching municipal elections may result in the reform of our local governing body. We do not care who is elected, provided always that the Council manages the affairs of the city in an intelligent and economical manner. This cannot be said of the existing Municipal Council. No city in the colony, perhaps, is worse governed than Wellington, and there is no other town of any consequence, from North to South, that requires efficient management more than it does.

Somehow, the Mayor and Council of Wellington do not appear once to have realised the fact that they are at the Seat of Government; —that their civic management comes yearly under the inspection of the members of Assembly and strangers from all parts of the colony, and that any defect is soon detected, and commented upon to tho detriment of this community. It is time, however, that the municipality of Wellington elected men to civic office who understand all this, and are determined to make the most of the means at tho disposal of the Council to improve and ornament the city. There is really everything as yet to be done. So far, tho community has been content to jog along under the rule of "common sense and " experience ;" it is time, however, that intelligence and education wore added to these. There aro no plans of tho city in existence. No well-considered scheme for drainage has been devised. The foroshore of the harbor is being disposed of at ridiculously low rates by the Supertendont to speculators, without any protest by tho City Council, and also without a thought as to the probable requirements of the trade of the port. Has it ever occurred to our sapient city fathers that water-space at and between Thorndon and To Aro must, in tho nature of things, bo of immenso value in tho not distant future, and that if tho great ReOlaimant, —tho Superintendent of AVollington, —is permitted to follow the example of his brother-in-law, ,tho He-Claimant of Otago, Mr. Macandk'ew, and sail tho foreshore, tho city will bo shut out from its water frontage, and a Harbor Trust, when constituted, or the Corporation acting as such, will be compelled to buy out private owners boforo anything in the shape of docks can be constructed at the port. We have mentioned the example of tho Superintendent of Otago as one to be avoided. In explanation, wo may Btato that only a fow months ago, after it was decided to deepen the harbor, and construct a floating dock at Dunedin, the Superintendent sold the very key to tho dock-construotion at public auction, while as yet the land was under water. This land, it is generally understood, haß passed into tho hands of one or two

speculators, although not the ostensible purchasers. The Provincial Government has bound itself to reclaim the streets according to plan ; but to do so cheaply, it would certainly be necessary to reclaim the whole area. That may be a mistake, however, in the plan, and we do not hold the Provincial Government responsible for it ; but it certainly does seem surprising that after the Otago Harbor Board had been constituted, and before it had completed its financial arrangements—when, in fact, it was dependent upon the Provincial Government for the office it met in—the Provincial Government should sell the very key to the Dunedin harbor improvement works. The sale could not have been occasioned by want of money, seeing that the Provincial Treasury was overflowing from the sale of land in Southland, according to the latest published return. It could not have been to serve any public object that we can see, for if the public interest had been considered, instead of selling the land (or the water-space) in question, it should have been reserved as an endowment for the harbor and port of Otago, tying it up so as to prevent its absolute sale by the Board. However, be that as it may, (and we may have a good deal more to say regarding this and other Otago precedents before long,) we think the Superintendent should be restrained from selling the foreshore of Wellington harbor. It belongs of right to the municipality, and should be reserved as an endowment for harbor improvement. Any one who is not wilfully blind must see that very extensive harbor works must be undertaken at Wellington if this port is to retain a leading position. It is not enough to boast of what Nature has done for us. We are central : we have ample water-space ; we have deerj water and good anchorage. All very true ; but we want something more than that. We want to improve upon nature, as Auckland has done, and as Otago and Canterbury are doing. We should construct a wet and dry dock in front of the city, because however useful the patent slip at Evans' Bay may be, it will not suit the requirements of the growing commerce of this port. Now, if the Superintendent sells the foreshore, as he proposes doing, where is the money to come from to pay for these works 1 If' the foreshore, or what remains of it, is sold, the citizens of Wellington will be despoiled of their patrimony, and we fear the construction of harbor works, essential to a first-class position as a commercial city, (and without which manufacturing industries on a large scale never could be established here,) will be indefinitely postponed. There is no time to be lost in this matter, unless the public is content to allow the case to go by default. We want more "go " in our local men. We want a deal more intelligence also. The time has gone past for the " slow and sure" style of business. And what is true of private enterprise in the present high-pressure method of transacting business is equally true of public enterprise. Unless Wellington steps out a great deal faster than it has been doing, it will find its natural advantages of comparatively little value against the intelligent combination of capital and skill in other places. We write this without prejudice to any party. As we said at the outset, we do not want to interfere unnecessarily with local politics; but when we see great natural advantages unused, and splendid resources frittered away, we feel constrained to protest against the continuance of such a_s_ystom.of_ local administration, and to invite the public to take serious heed to its, ways.