MUNICIPAL REFORM

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16227, 29 December 1926, Page 10

MUNICIPAL REFORM

THREE MEN UNDER. 30 GOVERN A UITY. CLEANER ANI) BETTER DUBLIN. ss. OFF THE RATES. DUBLIN, Oct, 22. Dublin is delighted with the success of its three young business Commissioners who have replaced the old in - effective corporation in 'the government of the'city. Ip Mr.’James Murphy, Dr. William O’Dwyer, and Mr. W. llernon, all nmn under 30, Dublin has found its municipal salvation, and the citizens point with pride to the new-found cleanliness of their city, once notorious for dirt .and disease. •' One of Mr. Cosgrave’s first administrative acts when he became President was to abolish the corporation with all its pomps, complications, and embroideries, and to hand its powers over to three Commissioners—all young men without previous municipal experience. The- experjeticc which they lacked was provided by municipal officials,* whose efforts had been thwarted by the circumlocution and the political diversions of the old regime. The permanent staff, headed by a town clerk of great experience and personal force, promptly adjusted themselves to the new conditions, and a remarkable energy and zeal w«as soon fo- be observed even in the operations- of Dublin’s crossing-sweepers. Housing and other important .schemes, which had been bandied about for several years between corporation committees, quickly began to take definite shape, with', the result that within the last three years a suburban colony of 1200 houses’has been almost completed; A new wide circular mad, built on the most modern lines, is pushing its way rapidly across the north side of the city; stone setts have been removed from miles of city streets and substituted by modern asphalt surfaces.. The eoSfc of electricity has been reduced by 25 per cent. . It. is estimated that the improvement*; already carried out have involved 1 an .expenditure of about £I,UXJ,OOQ But here is a real miracle; municipal rates, in spite of mostly imurovements, have been reduced from 21s to 16s in the £. A joint Commission. oi the Dau and Semite was get up to make recommendations as to the. unified government of ‘•Greater Dublin.” Its report is about to be published and will, it is understood. recommend a, sweeping extension,.r the city boundaries and a modified form of. “iPmnmisscbuer”. control oyer areas now administered by ten or twelve adjoining urban, councils.,-.