"HERE I'LL STAY."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 58, 10 March 1933, Page 3

"HERE I'LL STAY."

CHAIRMAN UPHELD.

HAWKE'S BAY RIVERS BOARD. ONLY COURT MAY REMOVE (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) NAPIER, this day. Legal advice which has been secured on the validity of the action of the chairman of the Ilawke's Bay Rivera Board, Mr. VV. G. Jarvis, in refusing to relinquish office after a motion of want of confidence in him had been passed by a majority of the board, is to the effect that Mr. Jarvis was justified in the attitude which he adopted. The opinion of solicitors was secured after the board, by five votes to four, had passed a motion at its meeting last Tuesday expressing want of confidence in the chairman in regard to methods being used under his oontrol in the diversion of the Tutaekuri River. The motion also contained provision for the cessation of work on the diversion scheme. Although he accepted the motion on account of the latter provision, the chairman refused to vacate office. "Here I am and here I'll stay, or you'll get an Act of Parliament to shift me," he declared. Mr. Jarvis agreed, however to the taking of legal advice on the position. Holding that the matter is governed by the Rivers Board Act, 1908, the solicitors quote section 48, which provides that the chairman shall hold office until the election of his successor. Other sections quoted by the solicitors indicate that a magistrate may, upon prima facie proof that the chairman is incapable of holding office, require the chairman to show, why he should not be ousted from office. "In our opinion," the solicitors state, "the mere passing of a resolution of no confidence in the chairman or setting forth that he be no longer chairman does not suffice, and if he chooses to remain in office he cannot be removed without an order of the court."