The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Thursday, May 14, 1891. A REBOUND.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 607, 14 May 1891, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning.

Thursday, May 14, 1891. A REBOUND.

Be Juel and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy aountry’g, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

The altered attitude taken by the Borough Council in regard to the amalgamation of local offices will come as a surprise to those who supposed that at least one phase of the question had been set at rest. The original scheme was not treated with much consideration : it was hustled out with very scant courtesy, only two or three voices declaring in its favor. One of the Committee even got up and denounced the scheme, and its death-knell was loudly sounded. All in vain the Mayor protested that the scheme was merely in a crude form, that the details could subsequently be arranged, that it was only

a trial—it was no use ; overboard went the whole concern, as if one look of it was enough for the Council. The only glimmer of hope left was that the Borough Council would not press to have its office divorced from that of the Harbor Board.

Where the odds were so overwhelming the fact was patent that no good could cotne of amalgamating with the County Council. If such a scheme were tried it could never succeed while Councillors took it up in a peevish way and regarded every County Councillor as an antagonist who must in self-defence be shot (metaphorically speaking) ere he had time to raise his own gun to his shoulder. In the circumstances one naturally looks for some substantial reason for redeeming the amalgamation scheme from the ashes to which it was supposed to have been condemned. But there is no other reason than that a greater saving is shown—by the simple plan of screwing down the salaries to be given the officers, and by reducing the number. That was not a great master stroke—it was only an arrangement of detail —but it was effective, for it secured a majority in what appeared to be a hostile camp 1 The way the motion was put was a riding roughshod through the usual order of business, but as it only amounts to an expression of opinion it matters little. Cr Whinray’s notice to rescind the previous resolution cannot affect the motion approving of the report; it will only leave the way open for the scheme to be legally adopted at a later stage. As to the scheme itself we repeat that the principle is one of which we thoroughly approve, and every argument raised against it only strengthens that conviction. The miserable bogey that has been trumped up about the Taruheru footbridge is about the sickliest thing that could be imagined. If it were a grievance of any great importance it would still be bumbledom carried to its extremity if that sort of thing were permitted to influence the proper carrying out of the official duties. The next thing there would be a quarrel about would be whether the chief clerk should or should not wear gloves—if so, what color ?—and use a cane, and bow when he met Councillors in the street. If the footbridge is any argument then the Borough should straightway be parcelled out into small sections with little Governments of their own, for many burgesses are strongly opposed to the Borough spending any money on the bridge. Then there is a sad picture painted in imagination of what would occur if one body ever sued the other the poor chief clerk would have to act Judy as well as Punch, and the long suffering ratepayers would probably howl that they were not getting a good enough show for their money. The vivid imagination of some sapient Councillor might have gone further and portrayed the result in case there was a . triangular fight between the three bodies. It is not an everyday occurrence for local bodies to be rushing into litigation with each other, but it is urged that as the County once did take legal proceedings to prevent the Borough ruining a certain road, therefore the chief clerk would always be in danger of being sacrificed to whet the litigous appetites of Councillors I To deal with this point seriously for a moment, which it hardly deserves, we may say that the fact that such a thing did once occur is the best guarantee that it will not occur again. The experience then gained proved a wholesome lesson. Men who are placed in public positions, whether in Borough or County, should rise superior to petty prejudices that smack of old-country parochialism. Under the present system of doing things there is a lot of work made that could be avoided by a system that would be created by amalgamation. As Cr Dunlops says, separate books would still have to be kept, but even then it is a very much simpler matter for one man to be able to devote the whole of his time to the books than for him to try and keep one set when he has to continually leave them to attend to other work. However, might fairly be added to the salaries, or an alteration be made. The argument that the new arrangement proposed will be useful as a check upon fraud, may be dismissed as illusory. Bank managers under the eye of directors and with subordinates always at hand have frequently shown how easy it is for them to embezzle funds. The ratepayers would be easily satisfied if they regarded the proposed system as any real check against fraud. There can be no question that by amalgamation the work would be greatlj’ lessened, because it could be done more systematically. The only thing, then, that can be urged against it is that the different representatives of the ratepayers will be mean enough to place obstacles in each other’s road. The ratepayers can easily remedy that sort of thing. Their interests are entitled to rank above personal foibles of members. The decision of the Council will not be appreciated by the numerous intending, and sanguine, applicants for the position of Town Clerk, but it should be by ratepayers. Instead of the Borough trying to estrange itself from the County the Borough ratepayers ought to be grateful to the County Council for letting the County Clerk step in to prevent greater confusion than there has been in the Borough and Harbor affairs.