Councillors Keep Self- Imposed Smoking Ban

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28249, 10 April 1957, Page 15

Councillors Keep SelfImposed Smoking Ban

Describing himself as a light smoker, Cr. J. Mathison, M.P.. moved unsuccessfully to rescind the City Council’s resolution prohibiting councillors from smoking before 9 p.m. No other local body he knew of placed a restriction on smoking, he said. It was ridiculous to suggest that in a room the size of the council chambers the air was polluted. A self-imposed, antiquated restriction should be removed, he said.

Up to 8 p.m. councillors could smoke, but from the moment the mayor entered they were prohibited from smoking for one hour, said Cr. N. R. Forbes. He knew of only one councillor on his side of the table who did not smoke, and his advice to her was “to try one.” “We owe at least a token tribute to the dignity which ought to attend your office and this council,” said Cr. H. P. Smith, who said he was a smoker, and “lit up at 9 p.m.” The Mayor (Mr R. M. Macfarlane, M.P.) said he did not smoke until after an adjournment when he removed his chain of office. There was some logic in a restriction. Parliament did not permit smoking. “Cr. Mathison wants all the tolerance on his side,” said Cr. M. B. Howard, M.P. “Sometimes I wonder whether I am sitting in a sewage farm,” she said, turning first to one of her neighbours, Cr. G. Manning, and then to the other, Cr. L. Christie, both of whom were smoking pipes. “These heavy smokers should learn to discipline themselves for one hour at least in the interests of the minority.” “If we can do anything to retain the dignity of the council

then I am behind it,” said Cr. Manning. If an individual could not do without a smoke for an hour he was in a pretty bad way, said Cr. W. P. Glue. It might be a good idea to be like a tramcar, and have smokers at one end of the table, he added jocularly. “We are the only body with decorum, but we only keep it for an hour —what a reflection on other local bodies,” said Cr. Mathison, who said the arguments against his proposal had not impressed him. An emphatic “no” when the vote was taken decided the issue.