REPORTS OF MEETINGS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29766, 8 March 1962, Page 9

REPORTS OF MEETINGS

Harbour Board Move

A move to have the press admitted to meetings of the works committee of the Lyttelton Harbour Board was taken a step further by Mr L. G. Amos when the board met yesterday.

When the board met in February. Mr Amos gave verbal notice of motion that he would move that the newspapers be admitted to meetings of the committee, which the board had agreed should be comprised of all members of the board. Yesterday he was told by the chairman (Mr A. A. Macferlane) that his notice of motion must be in writing and delivered three days before the meeting. “Well, FU do it that way,” Mr Amos said. Mr A. L. Burk, the secre-tary-manager, said he would draft the appropriate motion, but Mr Arnos replied: “No, I’ll do it myself.” Mr Amos found a supporter in Mr W. B. Laing, who said that while he would object to the admission of the newspapers to an ordinary committee meeting, he could see no objection when the whole board comprised a committee. The committee could decide on some action and it would then be only a matter of form for the board to agree, he said. In those circumstances, the public was entitled to know what was happening. Under the standing orders, the works committee was not properly constituted, Mr F T. Sutton said. A bill introduced in the last session of Parliament on the admission of the press to local body and committee meetings would have a considerable effect, Mr Macfarlane said. Mr W S. Mac Gibbon’s motion that the secretarymanager report on the position to the next meeting was supported by Mr Amos and carried.