The Tuapeka Times. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1870. "Measures, not Men."

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 144, 10 November 1870, Page 6

The Tuapeka Times. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1870. "Measures, not Men."

We would be glad to bring under the notice of the members of our Town Council that old and true saying, "if a house be^Hf '*tL against itself, that house cannot stand;" and take this opportunity of cluing so, as the line of actioa taken by some of the members during the time that the recent case the Corporation of Lawrence v. M'Nickle was pending, has pained and surprised many of those who have placed confidence in them as the steady guardians of the interests of the ratepayers. The gentlemen who compose that body have almost invariably, atgreat'loss of time, and inconvenience to themselves, acted in the discharge of their public duties in a way that convinces the community that they are well fitted for the civic honours with which they have been crowned. This being so, we feel that it will not be taken as outside our sphere as exponents of the public feeling of the district, to point out that, for the thorough fulfilment of their obligations to the ratepayers, the general weal must be kept steadily in view; and that when public action is taken by the Corporation in any matter, it is very unseemly for councillors in their private capacity to frustrate, even in the least degree, any business for which, in their public capacity, they are, jointly with the other members, re--sponsible. Nay, we will speak still more plainly, and say that a councillor who makes use of his.pqsjticm, ~ as such, to gratify any pr/vate feelings, whatever they may be, whether of petty spleen or jealous rivalry, ia unmindful of what is due to the ratepayers and unworthy the position he fills.

The Mayor— a gentleman who has always performed all the onerous duties of his office in a manner that we have watched with pleasure during the many years that he has tilled that position, and whom we hope boon to see taking- that more prominent part in our political life for which he is so pre-eminently fitted— instructed the solicitor of the Town Council to proceed against the bondsman of Lange, -the late collector of rates, whose defalcations have lately formed the subject of a trial in the Supreme Court, which resulted in his conviction and punishment. Accordingly, proceedings, were instituted to recover from Jjis. security the amount whicl^keA[j| received as rate collector^ and eaft bezzlud. This case, to the most superficial observer, is one in which the sympathies of the plaintiff must