The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1908. THE COOK COUNTY COUNCIL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2246, 18 July 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1908. THE COOK COUNTY COUNCIL.

It would probably be to the advantage of the Cook County if Mr. W. D. Lysnar would cirry out the threat ho made yesterday , uiul resign iroin the Council with a view to appealing to the ratepayers. The present position is intolerable, and the fact that tint Chairman '.it yesterday's meeting considered it necessary to leave the chair in tho midst of the proceedings only serves to emphasise an unsatisfactory state of affairs that lias been ruling for some time past. The fact of tho matter is that Councillor Lysnar appears to be constantly at loggerheads with a majority of tho Council, and as ho is an individual of t'lio strenuous, persistent kind, most of the time of tint body is spent in a fruitless endeavor on his part to beat down tho opposition that is givon to measures ho brings forth. As often as ho is beaten, Councillor Lysnar immediately makes another assault upon what ire considers a. bar to progress, and ns often ho, gets a fresh repulse, and so the tiling goes on. It would bo unfair to allocate tho blame for this undesirable state of affairs upon one pair of shoulders. True, Councillor Lysnar completely nullifies any good there may bo in his proposals by tho crudeness with which he prepares them and his blundering method of handling them. For instance, what could b e more ludicrous than his offer to pay a portion of the rates of tho Councillors for five yea.rs if they would vote for his loan proposes? On the face of it the offer roads like nothing more nor less than an impudent bribe. Of course, wo recognise that nothing of the kind was intended, but that- the offer was ever inado shows to what lengths this Councillor will go in order to carry a point. Similarly, h:s extravagant predictions as to the benefits to result from -his loan proposals are so obviously far-fetched as to immediately discount them in the minds of all who give the matter serious consideration. A good case can certainly bo made out for the borrowing of even so large an amount as £200,000, but Councillor Lysnar, despite tho best of intentions, presents it in a very bad light. Then by liis tactless, pertinacious methods and extraordinary loquacity, ho wearies Councillors until in self-defence they frankly oppose everything he brings forward. These facts, however, do not justify the Council in continually adopting a taihoa policy. The roads of the County are in a disgraceful condition, and it is an urgent duty on the part of the Councillors to devise some practical means of remedying ■ tho existing .state of affairs. Whilst very properly rejecting the impracticable proposals of Cr. Lysnar, they should .themselves come forward with something better. The decision agreed to at last meeting to. place before tho ratepayers a proposal to borrrow £IOO,OOO, based upon next year’s valuations, can only be regarded as a measure seeking for delay. Tho valuations are not available until April, and by the time an allocation of money could bo computed according to the new valuations and a poll taken, another winter would be upon us. It is now fullly twelve months since the Council commenced t 0 discuss the question of raising a loan to improve tho roads, yet matters now are very much where they were at tho beginning. The ratepayers haro ia right to expect something more than this. It should not be an impossibility to devise a schem e for submission to tho ratepayers at an early date, so that if a loan, be sanctioned work can be commenced on the roads during next spring. If, on- the other hand, the meetings of the Council ar© to continue to constitute the occasion for ceaseless wrangling between Cr. Lysnar and other Councillors, then the sooner the ratepayers have an opportunity to ro-consider tho personnel of the Council the’better for ■all parties concerned.