"VACANT SEATS."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 140, 15 June 1936, Page 9

"VACANT SEATS."

ON BOROUGH COUNCIL. DISQUALIFICATIONS INVALID. LEGAL RULING UPSET. (Bj Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) RAETIHI, this day. A curious position has arisen at Raetihi, where there aire 10 councillors filling nine seats on the borough council. Some time ago Mr. A. Webb, of Raetihi, received notice of his disqualification as a councillor owing to his having committed a breach of the Municipal Corporations Act by accepting work from the council, which together with his deposit exceeded £10. Another councillor, Mr. Sandford, also received notification of liio disqualification owing to a similar alleged breach of the Act. Just prior to the council's monthly meeting Mr. Fretchling, the town clerk, who received his instructions from the Audit Department, obtained advice from the Crown Law Office, which ruled that both councillors were at fault. Xot satisfied with this ruling one of the disqualified councillors, Mr. Sandford, proceeded to Wellington where he obtained an interview with Mr. J. O'Shea, Solicitor-General, when the full facts were placed before him. Mr. O'Shea said the disqualifications were wrong and could not be upheld. Interviews With Ministers. When Mr. Sandford was making his representations an election was being held at Raetihi to fill the "vacancy" on the council in respect of Mr. Webb's disqualification. Immediate steps were taken to obtain interviews with the responsible Minister, and the Hon. W. E. Parry, Minister of Internal Affairs, and tlie Hon. F. Langstone, Minister of Lands and member for the district, together with the Hon. H. G. R. Mason, AttorneyGeneral, conferred on the matter. Mr. Mason considered it ridiculous to interpret the Act as it had been interpreted, and Mr. Sandford received an assurance of the Ministers that he was justified in taking his seat as a councillor, and that arrangements would be made to have the clause in the Act clarified, also that it would be pushed through in the "Washing Up" Bill. He was told that it was perfectly clear that as the Act stood, the disqualified councillors had been wrongfully penalised. Any alteration to the Act would be made retrospective to the 1034 Act. Challenged at Meeting. At the usual monthly meeting, of the Raetihi Borough Council, Mr. Sandford's l ight to sit on the council was challenged by the town clerk, who advised him that lie was liable to a penalty of £50. Mr. Sandford then rose and told the council that lie intended to act on the council evpn in the face of the town clerk's warning, and went on to explain to that body the result of the representations he had made to the Ministers in Wellington. As neither Mr. Sandford nor Mr. Webb has preferred his resignation, it is now considered that the recent byelection was invalid, and should Mr. Webb desire to upset it an application to a magistrate will be required. It is authoritatively stated that Mr. Webb intends tendering his resignation, and this will have the effect of partially easing what is at present a very complicated position.