HARD WORDS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19986, 22 July 1930, Page 11

HARD WORDS.

COUNCILLORS ABUSE ONE j ANOTHER. j .. j A BITTER DEBATE. Such epithets as "hypocrite" and "twister," as well as an assertion that a Councillor "lied," were bandied at last night's mooting of the Christchurch City Council during- a debate following upon the presentation of a statement on the receipts and expenditure-for the past year by tho By-laws, Finance, and Departmental Committee. The chief offenders were Crs. H. T. J. Thacker and D. G. Sullivan, M.P., and, when called to order by the Mayor (Mr J. K. Archer) both withdrew the words. Neither was taken very seriously by other Councillors, who obtained more amusement than pain from the discussion. An allegation was made also that a Councillor had committed a breach of standing orders by divulging information regarding rates beforo a decision had been reached by the Council. The return of receipts and expendi ture for the yeai 1 ended March 31st, 1930, showed tho principal items to be:— Saving.. £ s d Finance and Departmental Committe • • 2783 2 8 Baths and Entertainments Committee • • 228 911 Land for street widening 896 4 5 Reserves Committeo, .. 504 1 4 Municipal Market .. 164 710 Works and Sanitary Committee • • 9703 17 4 Relief of unemployment .. 2549 11 3 Savings Accounted For. The report accompanying tho return stated that the saving in the Works Committee's estimate was accounted for by a transfer to the Mair Highways Account of £10,906 8s 3d from Street Maintenance Account —actually £1202 10s lid was overspent on items on tho estimates. The relief of unemployment saving of £2549 lis 3d was accounted for by several works not being started until April Ist this year. The position was that £11,049 3s was received over tho estimated receipts, and expenditure was £3856 Os Id greater than estimated, tho credit balance at April Ist was £16,488 13s Id, being £7193 2s lid greater than tho previous year. Cr. D. G. Sullivan, after congratulating the chairman of thf committee (Cr. E. H. Androws) on the surplus shown by the statement, went on to complain of the action of Cr. Androws in giving out information concerning rates to the public before it came before the Council, as ho had done at a by-elec-tion mooting on Saturday evening. It was obvious, continued Cr. Gullivan, that certain substantial departmental savings had been made during tho year. Or. Thacker Checked. Cr. H. T. J. Thacker characterised Cf. Andrewß as a hypocrite and was checked by the Mayor. "He held me up to ridicule at a previous meeting, and I want to hold nim up to ridicule now," said Cr. Thacker. The Mayor expressed the hope that Cr. Thacker would withdraw liis remark. Cr. Thacker; I would soonar leave this Council than withdraw it.

The Mayor; As a former Mayor, you should comply with the Mayor's request. It is not Cr. Andrews's request, it is my request. As a matter of courtesy to me you should withdraw it. ¥ou know the standing orders. t In response to the Mayor's request to withdraw his remark, Cr. Thacker said he would do so, but at the same time would substitute the word "twister." (Laughter.) Standing Orders Involved.

The Mayor said that undoubtedly Cr. Andrews had violated Standing Order 111. which stated: No member of any committee, officer, or other person shall. divulge to any person other than a councillor, (a) the evidence taken by any committee; oi (b) the documents other than statistical reports presented to any committed; Or (c) the discussions and deliberations at any committee; or the recommendations of any committee thtit have not been reported to the Council. The Mayor did not th'nk that Cr. Andrews had been quite conscious of vio'ating the order, Tn the past there had been complaints of leakages of information oi City Council business, but the present case was unfortunate and should'never have happened. Gr. Thacker: I said something inadvertently at the M.E.D. and later it was stated that I had infringed my rights by mentioning a matter before it had come before the Council. Surely it is not right for a man to take advantage of his position to aid the man he is supporting. That is a low-down thing. I hope he will never be put up in St. Andrew's square as a model Saint! I will be satisfied with the publicity my opinion has now received In this City.

"Tor Party Purposes." Cr. M. E. Lyons; For Party purposes It has been decided to traduce Cr. Andrews for something he has not done. In reply to the Mayor, Cr. Lyons stated that the Finance Committee had not came to any decision regarding rates. It was unfortunate, continued Cr. Lyons, that the Labour Party was not conversant with all the facts of the ease. The Mayor should have remained at the meeting in question until the end.

The Mayor asserted that he hdd done so and that he had been told by Cr. Andrews when tfii? meeting was finished. Cr. E. H. Aridrftws: Quite right, but you were not there all the time, Cr. Lyons claimed that the Mayor was endeavouring to blame Cr. Andrews for something which he had not done. All Cr. Andrews had done was to suggest something which might be carried out. This was surely fair comment. Cr. Andrews had not given & report of any decision to the meeting. The position was that the Finance Committee had not put forward.any rate at all. It could only be assumed, therefore, that the Labour Party had brought up the matter for purely political purposes. "An Old Trick." '•lt is an old trick to blame the reporter," said the Mayor. "A reporter blaming a reporter," commented Cr. Sullivan. When she had read the remarks madt at the meeting, said Cr.'E. R. McCombs, she stated that Cr. Andrews had given information to a Party meeting that had not come before the Council, and she resented such an attitude. It was common enough for public men to blame reporters for their statements,

but it was a weak thing to do. She was resentfui of Cr. Jones for having stated that the Labour Council was glad to hand over its responsibilities to the Citizens' Association Councillors knowing that a difficult timo lay ahead. Cr. Jones was aware that such a statement wad not correct. Cr. C. E. Jones said that on Saturday night he accompanied the other Councillors to Mr McLaohldn's meeting. Cr. Andrews did not even mention tno word "recommendation." Cr. Andrews said that it was "hoped that there would be a reduction of the rates." Or. Sullivan's DenlW, Or. Sullivcn denied emphatically that he had ever said that they were giving up the chairmanships because it was going to be a difficult year. In reply, Cr. Andrews said that he had found himself assailed very dreadfully. To tell the truth, he had never seen such electioneering! Cr. Sullivan: Why impute motives f Cr. Andrews: You do. You have been doing it all night. Cr. Sullivan: You lie!

The Mayor: Cr. Sullivanj you are a member of Parliament, and should know that' that is not a Parliamentary expression. Cr. Sullivan: Very Well, I will withdraw it, and call it a gross falsehood. (Laughter.) Cr. Andrews: I said that Cr. Sullivan had charged me with being very lucky, and I admitted it. I said, further, that Cr. Sullivan had also been a lucky chairman. As to my alleged breach of the Standing Orders, I did not give away, any Council business. Dr. Sullivan himself has foreshadowed a decrease in rates. At times he has had to fight his own party as well as others to keep the rates down. I went Otit of my way to give Cr. Sullivan and his committee all the credit possible. I said that the Citizens' Association party was out to reduce the rates, and would be assisted by the Labour Party. A reduction was foreshadowed in the newspapers, and I was speaking quite definitely as a representative of the Citizens' Association. For the life of me I cannot see any breach in that. "Cr. Sullivan has used some strong language to-night, but he often gets very heated," said Cr. Andrews. "As for Cr. Thacker, he is the last man to use the word 'hypocrite.' " The Mayor: That word was withdrawn. Cr. Andrews: But he boasted of the publicity he got out of it. Cr. Thacker: You were very glad to have me as chairman for your political meetings. ' Cr. Andrews: Yes, and 1 have regretted it ever since. I do not take much notice of Cr. Thacker, and when he talks like that I treat him with contempt. . . . Newspaper reports are condensed because there is not space available. In fact, when a report is condensed the speech looks very different. It is much better, and is "dollpd up." At this stage the Mayor interjected that Cr. Andrews was exceeding his time limit. Cr. Andrews: Very well, I have said all I wanted to say. Here the discussion ended.