THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, 8th NOVEMBER, 1894.

Southland Times, Issue 13061, 8 November 1894, Page 2

THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, 8th NOVEMBER, 1894.

The report of proceedings at the meeting of the Borough Council last Thursday makes a bit of curious reading, and will not tend to raise that body in the estimation of the public. The interest centres in the discussion of clause 1 in the report of the Works Committee,dealing with the application of the Hon. J. G. Ward to be allowed to erect a building of wood and iron within the inner area of the town —a region made sacred to structures of brick and stone. By its own act the Council had parted with all discretion in regard to permitting new wooden buildings to be erected inside of the prescribed limits, and had refused peremptorily more than one request for relaxation of the law. It had been severely virtuous iu the case of the Education Board’s application, although to grant that would have been a much slighter departure from the ordinance than Mr Ward requested should be made in his favour. And poor Mr Spear,whose apology seems to have been made “with bated breath and whispered humbleness,” had been handed over, without ceremony, to the tender mercies of the Inspector of Nuisances. But when a Cabinet Minister comes upon the boards, all that is changed, and the Council, with a few exceptions, assumes an attitude that irresistibly reminds u.s of a noted character in one of Sheri hn’s plays. We wander that there was not amongst the gentlemen who sit round the Council table sufficient humour, if there was not sufficient self-respec‘, to prevent their assuming the undignified position they allowed themselves to take up. '1 be Works Committee bad swal lowed its own scruples—after what gu'ps we are not informed—and had advised that the bylaws be amended “do as to exclude the block on which Mr Ward desired to build from the inner area, or make such other alteration as would bring the granting or otherwise the erection of tuob building within the discretion of the Council.” The chorus of approval of this recommendation was led by his Worship the Mayor, who evidently felt keenly the necessity of an apology for what he had to do. He had made the happy discovery that the block in question “ should never have been included in the inner area but no reason was given for this revised opinion, and none was apparent beyond the fact that a conces - sion was wanted by an influential applicant. The J. G. Ward Association was going to erect a building to cost L2OOO, and would spend in wages about LlOOO a year— ergo, the Council ought to stultify itself by abandoning a posi tion it had deliberately taken up in the general interest of the community. His Worship hoped the Council would carry the motion and thus give employment to a large number of builder?, besides permanent employment to a greater number. Councillor Goldie seconded the motion because “ he thought the law should not be so strict as to compel people to build in brick”—an opinion that might have been expressed with some effect when the bylaw was under discussion, but which came a little too late after it had been deliberately passed. Councillor Mair was not long of striking another key, and there is something refreshing in his incisive logic and in the bold words by which he swept away the new plea for concession. The grounds on which the Council had previously acted were set forth by this censor with merciless precision. The inconsistency of which the Council was invited to be guilty was clearly exhibited, and the demand was made that the same treatment that had been meted out to others should be meted out to Mr Ward. In brief terms of rigid impartiality an amendment was moved “ That the J. G. Ward Association be referred to the bylaws.” Councillor Rose seconded the amendment. Nobody knows better r than Councillor Roche how to be at once rhetorical and irrelevant, and his speech in support of the motion was an amusing illustration of this double accomplishment. What Mr Ward’s “ patriotism ” bad to do with the matter in hand the worthy councillor did not condescend to explain ; and his audience was left equally in the dark as to where the question of true or false “ economy ” came in. The declaration that “ the law was a vindictive one ” —although he himself had assisted to frame it—was the last flourish of Councillor Roche’s shilelagh. It is unnecessary to enlarge upon the special pleading that followed. Its chief characteristic was an attempt to conceal, under a show of general reasoning, the fact that the interest of a single individual was the spring that moved every supporter of the Mayor’s resolution, which was eventually carried by a majority of seven to two. Let it be understood that in these remarks we are casting no censure on Mr -Ward. We are simply criticising the spirit in which bis application was met. And we have too much faith in that gentleman as a tactician, to believe that he made the attempt to “ bounce ” the Council which the Mayot’s observations would lead the public to suppose- We do not for a moment doubt that he ppoke to some one of the alternative he had of building at Bluff or Ocean Beach, if the privilege he asked of the Council were denied him. But we are confident of this, that no thread, express or implied, will be found embodied in his formal application, and that the term?, if they were

I exhibited, as they never yet have been, would free the applicant from the imputation of bad taste under which some of his friends in the Council have done their best to lay him. And having said so much, we are free to turn to what is an entirely separate question, namely, the expediency or inexpediency of the Council’s restoring to itself the discretion of dispensing, where it might see fit, with obedience to the bylaw which enjoins building in brick or atone within the inner area of the town. This is a discretion with which the Council parted some time since for reasons that must then have appeared sound and convinc'ng. What has to be shown now is, not that this man or that man is desirous of obtaining a dispensation, but that the resolution last come to of adhering rigidly to the ordinance was unwise and uncalled for in the interests of the town. If this can be proved, then it does not matter a straw at whose instance the relaxation is asked for, and the question will have been determined on its merits alone. As a contribution to the discussion, we may mention that we believe our rules are more stringent than those in some bigger towns, where wooden buildings are going up to-day. And it is worihy of consideration that our water supply is now so abundant as to enable us to cope successfully with any fire that may break out, and confine i it to narrow limits. Still, the rule , should be to have buildings of brick or stone, and it would seem imperative that in some blocks there should be nothing else, The Council is to meet this evening for debate on the whole question, and it is to bo hoped that the spirit displayed will be an improvement up>n that which characterised the deliberation of last week. It is of the first importance that the respect of a public ' body for its own laws and its character for impartial dealing should be above suspicion.

His Woisb p the Mayor intimates where subscription lists for contributions to the Wairarapa Relief Fund may be found by those desirous of putting their “mites” upon them. Fortunately the prompt action of the Union Shipping Company and the Government, aided probably by the liberality of those near the scene of the calamity, appears to have been sufficient to meet the emergency. At all events not a line has been received by the pres?, so far, indicating a need of funds to relieve distress. Of course there can be no possible objection to the indulgence of benevolent impulses in this, or any other case, but at the present moment, and as far as information to hand enables us to form an opinion there exists no necessity for an appeal to the public, such as the Mayor, from laudable motives no doub\ has seen tit to make. Indeed, the absence of response when tho public were invited to meet and consider the question on two occasions in the Municipal Chambers, would have justified bis Worship in delaying action until something definite was known of the circumstances of the survivors and the families affected bj’ the catastrophe. Invercargill’s citizens have distinguished themselves by their liberality on numerous occasions when dire calamity has suddenly plunged a large number of their fellow creatures into distress, no matter where the distress existed, and would undoubtedly do so again on good cause being shown. In the present case there is a danger that the appeal may be ineffectual, and failure in such a matter is to be deprecated, as, besides putting the people in an invidious position in the eye of the world, tho barrenness of the result cannot fail to have a deadening effect upon the community itself, which may militate against the success of a future appeal when the need of assistant is clamant and beyond question.