The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-02-15 00:00:00

BOROUGH BURVEYOBB.

Perhaps no being under the sus is more harassed,
and leads • more worried life, that a borough surveyor,
for no min has to contribute more (directly or
indirectly) to the comfort of the inhabitants than he
ha.;; and, therefore, if occasionally • road opposite
sonle "local magnate's" habitation happens to be a
trifle muddier than usual, he is subject to all the vials
of that magnate's wrath. So, • loose flag or paving
it 'no, • dusty day, a defective drain, • smoky
chimmey, or a thousand and one little ills, are the
subjects of hourly visitations on the poor surveyor's
devoted head. 'Yummy arising in a large town
frequently causes other vacancies in neighbouring
towns, because almost invariably such a vacancy le
filled by an applicant filling a borough surveyorship
elsewhere, rendering it necessary for his post to be
filled by another surveyor who is graduating upwards,
thus causing repested changes throughout the country.
Not so in a borough where the surveyor is allowed to
practise on his own account, as he gradually builds up
a business, which enables him to settle permanently
in the town, and at the same time be a stay to the
Corporation, who enjoy the benefit of his =turd
experience, often keeping the Council clear of litigation
and serving the boreitili with a large, well-seclected,
steady, and able staff of clerks. at much less cost, and
with greater efficiency and promptitude, than is often
the case with a more inexperienced man and • limited
staff. Probably there are not fifteen boroughs in the
country where tho salary is more than £4OO a year,
and the man filling • position of this kind is expected,
not only to appear like a gentleman, but he must be,
like Ciesar's wife, above suspicion, inaccessible to
corruption, and incapable of accepting commissions or
douceurs of any kind ; and, as I am proud to believe,
the great majority of borough surveyors are so, and
have the interests of their employers and the ratepayers
at heart with a singleness of purpose unsurpassed by
men in any other walk of life It necessarily follows
to my mind that the position of • man, say with a
large family to feed, clothe, and educate, on so limited
an Income, must he a very unenviable one in a financial
point of view. Far better, then, if he is a man of
energy, if you would have him to manifest any
independence at all, to allow him to practise privately,
and thereby be able to withstand, and keep at bay,
the multitude of tempters who are constantly at his
elbow, ready to accomplish and glory in his fall.—Cor
Unum, via Una, in Builder.

BRISTOL AND NORTH 80h1RRSET
RAILWAY.
We have had sent to us for publiCation the subjoined
resolutions passed at • meeting of the Shareholders'
Committee he don the second instant :-Ist. "That this
comas' ttee appeal to the trading public to aid them In
obtaining for this railway, and the public who we the
railway, the alvimtages of its geographical position as
forming the nearest route by lb miles between Bristol and
Fiume, Dorchester, Weymouth, and surrounding districts,
the Channel Is ands, North of France, ec., and, with this
object in view, that a p rional canvass of merchant;
manufacturers, and wholesale houses be made, with •
request that all goods destined for those places may be
labelled with one of this company's labels 'pie Bristol and
North Somerset Railway, and that • supply of such labels
be provided for their use." 2ad. "That this committee
recognises the importance of • periodical examivation and
•checking of the tniftic accounta kept by the Great Western
lis,lway relating to this railway as provided for by the 12
and 1.3 clauses of the supplementary agreement of 25 June,
I Mr, and resolves that immediate steps be taken for
appointing • suitable person to perform this most necessary
duty, and that • copy of this minute be forwarded to the
North Somerset board with • request for their active co-
operation." It is no doubt to be hoped that some mean*
may be devised for obtaining for the public the advaatages
which the Bristol and Notch Somerset line as affording the
shortest and best route to the districts south of Bristol was
intended to afford.