THE POUND QUESTION.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 276, 21 March 1889, Page 2

THE POUND QUESTION.

The Borough Council have certainly taken a right course in having the public pound placed directly under their control, and the arrangement they have come to cannot tail to give satisfaction. We are glad to see that one point has been kept prominently in view, that the first object in regard to the pound should not be to make it a source of profit, though that must not be lost sight of. What is wanted is that the streets should ba kept clear of stray stock, and that ratepayers should have no cause for complaint, either of stray horses or in regard to horses that have been impounded. As things are under tho present system it is impossible for Mr Cannon himself to have full control—he is in a great measure in the hands of the person who may be his servant for the time bring, and, whether justly or unjustly, he is subjected to the inuendoes which the actions of his servants may give rise to. There are perhaps spiteful people who take advantage of this, but the blame, though it may not take the form of a charge, is all directed to the one quarter. Mr Cannon, in the conscientiousness of his own integrity, may care nought for this, and may be prepared to refute any charge directly made, but if that does not satisfy the ratepayers they are entitled to whatever change they think desirable, and the change made, as we have said, is a very good one. Mr Cannon strongly asserts that though he lias made a small profit out of the pound the Council can only work it at a loss. He can, he says, adduce figures to prove this. We do not think Mr Cannon could have had a more economical arrangement than the present one, or if he had, and allowed commission besides, we do not wonder that complaints have been made. On the other hand there is no doubt the Council are taking over the pound at a time when there are few speculations upon which profits can be made, but the difference between the Council and an individual is that the latter could only hold it as a speculation, while it would be monstrous for the former to do so. We do not believe that the pound will pay the Council for the first twelve months, hut. there ought to be a profit after that, and in the meantime the loss can only be very little, besides which there is every reason to believe that many causes of complaint will be removed. Mr Faram is a man with regard to whose appointment satisfaction ie certain to be generally felt, both on the grounds of economy ajrd the suitability of the appointee.