CRITICISED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 4, 6 January 1937, Page 3

CRITICISED.

REFORM TACTICS. i SYDNEY CITY COUNCIL. DEVIATION FROM POLICY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, December 31. Within the past two years municipal politics, as represented by the two parties into which the City Council is divided, have passed through certain interesting developments. There are two sections of the council —the Labour aldermen and the Reform aldermen, and at the moment the Reformers hold a slight prepondrance in power. The Reformers are members of the Civic Reform Association which was started some years ago with the avowed object of liberating the city from a corrupt and inefficient Labour regime. The Reform party did its work well, but since those days they appear to have degenerated sadly. This is not a reflection upon individual aldermen, but on the political methods they have adopted. The motto cf the C.R.A. was "Ko party, no politics, no creed"; but this public spirited view of things did not prevent the Reform aldermen from accepting a position of almost complete subservience to the C.R.A. and obeying its dictation in regard to municipal affairs. Two years ago the position thus created aroused so much public resent-' ment that the parent association tried to conciliate public opinion by repudiating the more conservative features of its programme and by giving the aldermen who are its members a more or less free hand, but during the past year the Reform alderm&n realising their stiengtii on the council, have adopted a line of policy which has brought down upon them much adverse criticism from the Labour aldermen, who are their natural enemies, from the majority of our citizens and from the C.R.A. itself. Last February the Reform aldermen, without- consulting the parent association and, indeed, against its will, drafted a platform in which, according to the "Sydney Morning Herald," "they agreed to become a caucus party ruled by a majority, with f.he minority bound to support the decisions of the caucus in the City Council, whether it approved of the majority decision or not." Since then the Reformers on the City Council have certainly tried hard to live up to their professions, for the "Herald" tells us that during the past year "there has been practically no debate by Reform aldermen on matters decided by the caucus behind closed doors, and in the council chamber the aldermen have been merely voting machines." Widely Deplored. This- introduction of "machine" poli-1 tics into the council in so open and flagrant a form is widely deplored, and many leading members of the Civic Reform Association have openly condemned it and demanded the restoration of the C.R.A. programme in its original shape and form. There are several minor matters to which the majority of the C.R.A., and most of the general public, take strong exception. One is the exclusion of all newspaper representatives from all the meetings of the council's standing committees. I have discussed this matter before, and it is sufficient to say now that many people here regard this carefully organised secrecy as prejudicial to the public interest and calculated to promote maladministration and corruption.! One of the most remarkable features of I the situation thus revealed is that proposals for the exclusion of the Press from the committee meetings were first' introduced by Alderman Lambert, a j Labour Lord Mayor, some years ago,! that they were vigorously criticised by | the C.R.A. and by Reform aldermen on' the council, and they were finally rejected by the Reform majority. Xearlv j all leading Reformers, including it's three presidents in succession—Sir Arthur Cocks. Sir James Murdoch and' Mr. S. S. Cohen—have protested against this present deviation from the tradi-i tional policy of the C.R.A., and have' demanded that the embargo on the pre-! sence of the Press at committee meet- j ings be removed. Another matter that has been I adversely criticised by the C.R.A. is the! decision of the Reform caucus to I increase the allowance of the Lord 1 Mayor (Alderman Howie) from £ 1.500 j to £2200 a year. During the debate, Sir Samuel Walder, M.L.C., told the I council that while Lord Mayor he had! found £1500 a year adequate "for all j legitimate civic functions chargeable to' city rates." I

Criticism Resented.

This criticism seems to have been resented by the Reformers, but their caucus carried the proposal on the casting vote of the Lord Mayor himself, and the Reform aldermen obediently "put it through." There is an unpleasant flavour about this, and the situation was not improved by the remark of Alderman Harding (who happens to be secretary of the Reform caucus) that the increase in the Lord Mayor's salarv was necessary "to prevent corruption." Considering the many sinister implications that such a statement involves, the Reform Association is naturally angry with Alderman Harding, and has decided to discover,, if possible, what he meant by it, and why he said it.

From all this, it should be plain that the methods adopted by the Reform aldermen of late have antagonised public opinion against then) and have brought them into direct conflict with the CivicReform Association, to which' thcv belong. The C.R.A. is striving valiantl'v to stein the tide of public odium which has set in against the Reform aldermen, and whether it succeeds or fails there can be 110 doubt that these recent developments have gravely discredited the Reform majority, and with them the City Council, which they now dominate. This week Mr. Jackson. M.L.A. (Lord Mayor in 1931) was asked by a number of business men to contest the Citv Council election next year, and he took advantage of the opportunity to express strong views about the present administration of our civic affairs. Alderman Jackson an ex-Minister and great fighter, popularly known as "Stonewall" resigned from the council eighteen months ago, without giving any explanation but that he was "dissatisfied" with the present methods of administration. This week he told an interviewer: "The municipal government of this city is nothing short of a tragedy, created by a few aldermen who are not allowed to have a mind of their own." Evidently Reform tactics and Reform policy are sore points with this experienced and courageous public man and many of his fellow citizens share his views."