AN EVENING WITH THE BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1056, 6 July 1883, Page 2

AN EVENING WITH THE BOROUGH COUNCIL.

; ♦ r-; : - TO THE EDITOR. Sir,— To those desirous of studying character, I can recommend nothing better than Dickens’ novels and an evening with our City Fathers. There we have the worthy chairman doing his best to expedite business, perhaps a little inclined to be antocratic,. but still in a brusque manner ruling the Council fairly well. Then we.have the explosive members—walking nitro-glycerine factories, ready to go off if 'touched, nay almost if looked at, and whose wrath and indiscretion aVe pretty evenly 'balanced. When these members are in eruption, compliments and plcasantics are exchanged pretty freely, such remarks as “ little rat,”, “ sec, , the honest man” being made, despite the call 7 to order from the chaiiv We have also the old tried public servant overflowing with resolutions, whose pencil is ever busy, and who commences every sentence with a “ That.’’ There ; are also a few members who only speak when they have something to say and speak concisely and to the point, and last of all the councillors, who have learnt well the maxim that speech is r. sily.ern but silence golden. . The immediate object of my visit on Monday night was..to form one of a v deputation,, to inter-: view the Council re Fire Brigade matters. The captain and myself briefly stated the position, the Brigade were in, and informed the Council that the. Brigade bad determined to disband at once if §ome assistance was not obtained. The matter was then discussed by the Council. The

ball was opened by nfy friend, Cr Falstaff, paying a -high compliment to the working management©! the Brigade, but severely censoring the business part of it, appearing to have an impression that;the affairs were conducted in a very hole-and-corner fashion/ Wasted elp:qneiice always, ~a; sorry thing, and unfortunately for the Councillor the books are all in order. A balance sheet was made up at the end of the financial year, audited by Mr E G Horner, and submitted at the annual meeting, and extracts from - same were published - in the news columns of the Patea Mail of Dec 20 last, the Brigade not having sufficient- funds to advertise the same. Now when the public know that since the re-formation of the Brigade 4 in 1881 not a penny has been received from any public body, company, or even the "mighty merchant himself, they will perhaps agree with me that such censure looked rather like a deliberate insult. This gentleman then proposed a resolution remarkable chiefly for its groat length, the gist of which was that a grant of £25 be given on sundry conditions, one being the appointment of two auditors, one to bo chosen from Insurance agents (reason unknown but not expected). Ye lovers of red tape, think of it—two auditors at a guinea or two each to scrutinise the expenditure of less than £SO annually I ! This motion only escaped the fate of lapsing for want of a seconder by the doubtful compliment of a councillor doing the needful pro forma and it was of course lost miserably. Four other resolutions were proposed and rejected, and at last in sheer desperation the Council agreed to give the Brigade the sura of £lO and a subsidy of 10s in the £ on all monies collected outside, such grant not to ex-

ceed in the agregate £25 per year. The Council having met us in such a liberal manner it only remains for the Brigade to decide whether they will con-: tinue with such poor prospects or disband Jat once. I can only add that the Council have not met the Brigade in a spirit of coroperatlon but the impression left on my mind from the interview (which the Mayor had the goodness to toll- us was uninvited ) was this; that the Council wished to get rid of us on the cheapest, terms; . Ratepayers 'will decide whether this was the point at which to commence economy.—-Yours, &0., Secretary Eire, Brigade. ; July 4 -- - - ' -