The Board of Guardians
Non-admisson of the Press. Said the St. Leonard Gazette of March 26th There is, confessedly, a dignified utility attached to the duties of those gentlemen who gratuitously undertake the management of public matters, and it is with no disposition to undervalue those duties that we sometimes call in question the particular manner in which some such duties are performed. It is admitted that public bodies are the servants of the public, and, such being the case, every individual has a desire and equally a right - to have an account of their stewardship. We are at a loss then, to understand how it is that the ratepayers of this important borough tolerate what we may call the "hole and corner" meetings of our Board of Guardians. The refusal of the Board to admit the press to their meetings and consequently, to allow their proceedings to be made known to the public through the medium of the newspapers, is of far more importance than at first sight may, appear. We have now nearly surmounted the prejudices against the publication of matters affecting public interest, and in all large communities the right of the Fourth Estate to attend, and comment upon such meetings is never disputed. But there are still out of the way districts where this rule does not hold good. Boards of Guardians are to be found refusing to concede a right founded upon the strictest rule of justice and one which affords the only safe ward that the business of the public is not neglected nor wrongly conducted. The journalist is the watchman of society, holding up wrongs and aiding the cause of right. Any attempt to deprive him of these functions must be looked to with a jealous eye, as tending to destroy a power which exists for so important a purpose. The Guardians of the Hastings union however appear to think differently; hence it that for a long time past the Press has been excluded from their weekly meetings, and no thorough report of their doings has appeared. We are aware that a minority of the Board fully share our views; but unfortunately that minority is lost in a majority, who, from fear or some other weak minded cause, refuse a privilege - nay, a right - which as servants of the public, they have no grounds for withholding. We do not know on what point this majority argues the publication of the evils which would result from the publication of the business of the Board; but we would remind them in the words of Dante -
....."Be not over exquisite
to shape the fashion of uncertain evils"
and would counsel them not to continue a great public wrong that a fanciful bugbear may be avoided. Really there is no justifiable reason why this Board should not report itself to its constituents in the same convenient manner as do other public bodies, and there is a very strong reason why the heavily taxed ratepayers should be in possession of every information affecting their interests. We have done what we conceive to be our duty in thus bringing the matter once more before the public, -
