South Canterbury Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1883.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3344, 20 December 1883, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1883.

We trust the loyalty of the Wellington flunkeys will not be too effusive when the Premier and the ex-Premier return from Sydney. We are surprised to find ourselves quite unenthusiastic, and indisposed to fall down and worship these august personages. We had every sympathy with the Conference, but as we remarked before it sat, it was premature, or rather the people were imperfectly acquainted with the subjects to be discussed, and therefore the Major and his colleague could hardly be said to represent New Zealand. The popular ignorance has been made denser by the exclusion of the Press from the Conference, and there now prevails in this country ignorance most profound and lamentable upon the two most important topics ever discussed in the colonies. What the Premier and his colleage may have pledged the colony to we do not know as yet, but certainly it was their business find everyone but an autocrat would have deemed it his privilege) to consult the people and go to the Conference fortified with some expression of the general sentiment. Nothing of the sort was done. The Major, in bis usual superior style, ignored the profanum vulgus, and acted as be thought best. The question of Federation is not so immediately pressing as that of Annexation. Annexation means expense, and it is a question for ns to seriously consider—whether we are prepared to incur any additional expense while groaning under our present load of taxation.

Although a good deal has been said about waste of public money on works within the Borough, very few persons will feel disposed to grumble at what has been done in the town or at the waterworks. For not only were these works much needed; but, besides, they have been executed at a very opportune time, when labor was plentiful and there existed great need for some means of employment for our working men. A walk through the

Borough shows us that what has been done was much required, that it has been well done; and tbeOouncil’s boobs show that all the works have been executed very economically. We feel bound to put in a word on behalf of the Brown street residents who suffer from that plaguey sewer and defective drainage. They have endured periodical floods and other nuisances with patience, and they have silently submitted to become a byword in municipal mouths. The finances of the Borough are sound—may we not hope before long to see some money expended in this particular improvement ? The proportion of town improvements during the past year has been far higher than in former years, and this briskness is the direct result of the division of the Borough into Wards, by which each Councillor has been made to feel himself directly responsible to a certain section of the community.