LIKE COUNTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1918, 24 August 1888, Page 17

LIKE COUNTY.

August 20. -Tha last remains of a sense of political rpctitude and public moralitj in this county appear to be concentrated at Skippers. It will be remembered that the inquiry instituted into the misdeeds of past county councils originated at this place, and now again the residents are up in arms against the questionable proceedings of the present council anent the mining lease arrears. All honour and credit to the men who sei 'themselves to k<.ep iv check those men who do not hesitate to use for undue purposes the public positions in which they are placed. The local county council cannot be said to hive reflected much credit upon the county, and indeed many of our local public institutions have only eerved for the finishing off and finessing of graduates in the crooked way of diplomacy. So ■ much has been said about the mining lease arrears that a short exposition of tbe whole wing, sketched in outline, m*y be of interest. Some time ago a] letter appeared in the Wakatip Mail calling the attention of councillors to the fact that a sum in the ■ neighbourhood of £1500 was twing as mining lease ' rants, but it was not until months after that it .dawned upon that body that this sum was county ; revenue. The next step was that the councillors ; impartuned the Government to collect the sum for ; them. After some parleying the Government) agreed to do so, and a goodly sum was collected,! leaving still a great number of delinquents.' Now.beit remarked that after the great majority of thei debtors had paid their amounts due the small! minority created an agitation to be let off, and iu-i duced the Government to make overtures with that! end in view to the council. This body has now! undertaken to say who shall pay, who shall be let| off, and who of those who have paid shall be re-! funded, and this arbitrary proceeding with county) funds is initiated by suggestions from the Govern-^ ment, and is called Local Self Government. ' !

Contract.— Messrs Bnright and Davis were the] lowest tenderers for the new section of the Skippers' dray road, the price being raid to range between' £900 to £1000,. The section to be constructed is to! be only 10ft wide, and connects at neither end with! the sections already finished. By and bye this road, will be one of the most wonderful in existence. j Gonk Wrong.— A young man -named PatrickRoche is charged with stealing a number of rabbitskins from the Auburn station, thus wrecking a young life in a most deplorable manner ' This case is an outcome of the temptations placed in the way 1 of young men iv too many up country towns by the indiscriminate extension of " tick." Young men are not only indulged in necessaries on credit, but also allowed to run up .bills for drinks and billiards at hotels, until driven to some desperate act by pressure of circumstances.