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TO QUIt SUSSCIlIBEltS.

----------THE WAIIS.

THE RATE IN AID.

[No title]

CARDIFF.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

CARDIFF. THE GUARDIAN, AND THE CARDIFF STREET COMMISSIONERS. We scarcely expected, after the vrell-merited castigation bestowed upon it at the last general meeting of the Commis- sioners, by the gentlemen whom it had previously attacked, and after the seeming condemnation it then received from its own party, that the Guardian would have so soon reiterated its vile calumnies. Last week, however, The creature was at his dirty work again. ,y The mere mouth-piece of a party," as our contempo- rary has been prettily termed, should take care that it teaches not the use of a dialect which may be turned with tenfold force against, that party; it should take care that its leading articles, whencesoever they emanate, whether from brain of a lawyer by profession, or the vacant skull of an editor by hire, do not, in attacking others, expose its own camp where most vulnerable. Had the fawning sycophant the slightest dis- cretion, he would never tempt a discussion as to the real merits of those he would unduly extol, by depreciating the character of men as upright, as honourable, and as universally esteemed, to say the least, as they. What has the gentleman, described by the Guardian in a recent article as one whose name is connected with everything that is good," done more than the men who in the same article it has traduced ? Taking his means into account, wherein does lie excel others ? Connected with what good is he in which hundreds of others do not share ? But we forget, in connectedness with all good things civic, sinecures, situations, power, and patronage, to him all must yield the palm. We are more disgusted than ever with the Street Commis- sioners. The puerility and irregularity of their proceedings can have no parallel. It is time that they were cashiered. The proceedings of their last meeting, were most extraordinary. On the motion of the town clerk, they resolved to send the plans that had been sent in for draining the town, in competition for the premium of £150 to be awarded to the best, to gentlemen in London for adjudication, one of whom is, we believe, related to a partner,or a latepartner,of one of the competitors, aud to whom that same competitor refers as one who approves of the system he has propounded. We would not utter one word against the professional ability of those gentlemen, but we do say the course adopted in sending the plans to men known to be biassed in favour of one system is most preposterous, and entirely unfair to the rest of the competitors. Hut how was this vote obtained ? Why, by a quibble and a quirk, and by the agencies of men who never go to a meeting but to vote at the voice of a fugleman. At a previous meeting the Commissioners had de- termined, in opposition to a similar proposition that the committee they had appointed should decide this question. In the commit- tee, however, there was no hope that such a proposition could be carried, and therefore it was expedient to make the proposition again to the whole body of the Commissioners, who, good- natured souls, are always to be managed. It was made, and at the last meeting the .decision of the previous meeting was reversed. Thus the Commissioners were induced to stultify themselves and to insult the committee they had nominated. We know it was asserted upon the ipse dixit of the town clerk, that owing to the secession of two of its members, the commit- tee, being constituted without a quorum, was therefore defunct; -but as we are no believers in the infallibility of our town clerk, we must be forgiven if we doubt the soundness of his assertion. JVhat is the object of having a committee with a quorum ? Why simply to prevent the committee from acting with the concurrence of too few of its members on the one hand, and to prevent on the other the possibility of their business being retarded on account of their inability regularly to get a majority of the committee together. We therefore, without going into the argument, contend in contradiction to the town clerk that the secession of two members from a committee of five, although constituted without a quorum, does not in any way destroy that committee, nor invalidate its decisions. The asser- tion is a mere lawyer's quibble and pretence; a show of argu- ment in support of a manifest irregularity, without which a majority of even Cardiff Commissioners could not have been found servile enough to pass the resolution. But what are commissioners for, if not to follow the leader"—to vote "ad nutllln et ad tempus!" The Guardian has undertaken to prove the town clerk's dictum to be correct. We await his proo s. In the meantime we leave him to the tender mercies of Mr. Reece, who, in his most complete and settling answer to the Guardian inserted in that paper last week, shows that the dictum is neither correct in fact nor in law. We have said it is high time the Commissioners were cashiered. We repeat it. No other body of men would have allowed our town to be so long disgracefully mismanaged. No other set of men would have allowed their funds to be so longj squandered by an incompetent and ignorant surveyor; nor; would they submit to charges for gas so far beyond its real value, 'and so much more than what is paid by other towns. It is full time then that this state of things should be altered. On this account we rejoice that efforts are making for getting rid of the Street Commissioners, and for putting the town under the provisions of the Public Health Act. IVe do not altogether approve of that Act, but still it will be the means of emanci- pating the town from the thraldom in which it is now held. The power to do evil will, at all events, be taken from a body of irresponsible men, and given to those who in some measure will be amenable to the public. The abolition of the perpetual chairmanship, which in this as well as most other cases is a perpetual misfortune, will not be the least adv antage gained by the substitution. With respect to the misunderstanding existing between the members of the committee upon which the Guardian animad- verts, we say distinctly that the case has been grossly and intentionally unrepresented. It is not" an admitted tact that by a unanimous resolution oj the committee the plans were decided to be sent" to gentlemen in London for examination. The resolution of the committee was, not that the plans should be sent-, but that Mr. Coliin should write to see whether the gentlemen who had been named would undertake the examina- tion; and the understanding was, as it has been proved by a majority of the committee, that if upon the receipt of an answer from Loudon it was still auvisable to lorwaid the plans then they should be sent, together with a statement drawn up by the committee, but written by the clerk, for the purpose of guiding the judgment of the examiners. And it was because one of the committee, arrogating to himself a power never entrusted to him, took upon himself to order the plans to London without acquainting the other members of the committee with the terms upon which they were to be examined, and without the written statement it was understood should accompany them, that a majority of the committee stepped forward to prevent the plan being so sent until another meeting of the committee had been held; thus, too mildly, we think, resenting "so direct an insult to the other members of the committee behind whose backs that proceeding was taken. In conclusion we would ask, why was the time for sending in plans extended from the 25tli of January to the 1 lith of February on the authority of the chairman alone ? Was it not improper, irregular, and most unjustifiable:" Surely "for such unusual and extraordinary conduct, some motives, doubt- less, existed." What were they ? The Gvanlian, who is so apt to construe motives, will perhaps be able to tell us. By way of making him do so truly we would suggest another query, whether it is not a fact that the time for sending in the plahs was extended for the coiivuiiieiice of one only of the- com- petitors, that one whose plan the chairman had from the begin- uin"' expressed his preference for, and that one to whose friend the"Commissioners, with an obeisance and self-immolation worth v of their renown, have determined to send the plans for adjudication. ■-■We are pleased to hear that the petition for extending the operation of the Health of Towns Act to Cardiff, has received upwards of three hundred signatures of most respectable men. Aniono-st th'un are the names of at least twenty Street Com- missioners and every medical man in town but one. The fate of the Street Commissioners is therefore ended. We are trIad of it, because there will he some hope that for the future we shall have fewer exhibitions of puerility and folly in the conduct of public affairs, and loss inclination in men ciected to offices of public trust, to follow the leader" who is so often lost in the mazes of his own tautology, and bewildered by his passion. CARDIFF UNIOX.—We understand that Mr. John Bat- ehelor has been appointed one of the guardians for the town of Cardiff, without opposition, in the room of Mr. B- Mat- thews resigned. THE TAI-T VALr; RAILWAY.—We have GREAT pleasure in subjoining all extract from a leader in the Jlai/irai/ Gazette, upon the present position and prospee s of this excellent line. We concur in the main with the whole of that article. There is not, we believe, a line of railway in the kingdom that at present stands more solidly, and whose prospects are more flourishing. It must ever be a paying line, notwith- standing the large outlay that has been made. Its con- nexion with the Bute Docks, and the almost impossibility of its having any competing line, insures this. The facilities its shipping appai at us and builust cranes OIl the East branch give to trade are not excelled anywhere. With a steady hand to manage, there is no fear of the shareholders having a six per cent dividend at least in perpetuity. Our contem- porary says:— "We hav(-, for a considerable time past, had a very good opinion of the Taff Vale line. It has always appeared to us, that the undertaking must command a very large comparative traffic ex- clusively, and that many circumstances were telling strongiy in favour of a future considerable increase to that traffic. The last half-yearly report appears to us fully to bear out our views. The traffic has suffered from general causes in one direction—but to counterbalance this, it has expanded in another direction. The traffic dependent OIl the foreign trade has, of course, fallen off, but the coasting trade traffic has increased. It may, therefore, be pred;cated of this line, that should cotitiiietilii disturbances again arise, the traffic will not be seriously diminished. The net receipts, from 1 he revenue would have affoided a dividend of nearly 7 per ii", hot it was considered advisable, in place of distributing the whole of the surplus among the shareholders, to carry a bum of nearly £ 750 to the depreciation fund. Altogether the affairs of this company wear a healthy and bustling aspect, which must be very satisfactory to the shareholders. Another peculiarity of this company and worthy of especial notice, now so much attention is directed to the auditing of railway accounts, is, that the accounts have always been audited by a professional public accountant paid for his services, a great improvement on the common mode. We think the shares of this company offer a fair return to the investor, and this is our main reason at this moment for refening to the position of the company, and for calling attention to the few ob- servations which we have thought it right to make." THE QUEEN has been pleased to grant unto Francis Ed- wardes Leach, of Torquay, in the county of Devon, and of Kilybebyll Place, in the county of Glamorgan, Esquire, in the Commission of the Peace for the last-named county., her royal license and authority, that he and his issue may, in compliance with a proviso contained in the last will and testament of Jane Bassett, late of Haverfordwest, in the county of Pembroke, widow, deceased, take, and henceforth use, the surname of Lloyd, instead of that of Leach. And also to command that the said royal concession and declara- tion be recorded in her Majesty's College of Arms, otherwise to be void and of none effect. CARDIFF ATHENAEUM.—Professor Whewell has presented this institution with his "Elements of Morality," splendidly got up, in two volumes. Also, the edition of the English Hexameter translations from Sehilier, Goethe, Homer, Cal- linus, and Meleager, in one volume. AN inquest was held, on the 31st ultimo, at the Dawlais Inn, on the Bute Docks, before 11. Lewis Reece, Esq., on the body of John Mintorn, aged 17, belonging to the Roebuck, of Weston-super-Mare, who was accidentally drowned while taking a rope to make fast to another vessel, in the Bute Dock, on Friday night last. His father, who is a hand on board, missed his son, and in about twenty minutes found him in the water quite dead. The jury re.urnecl a verdict of "Accidentally drowned."

NEWPORT.

SWANSEA- .

CWMAVON.

>----------.--GLAMORGANSHIRE…