RETIRING AGE

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31656, 17 April 1968, Page 5

RETIRING AGE

70 Urged For Councils (N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, April 15. The retiring age for councillors sitting on local authorities should be 70, says Sir Francis Hill, president of the International Union of Local Authorities. Sir Francis Hill is a member of the Royal Commission which is examining the reorganisation of local government in England and Wales. He is in New Zealand to address the annual conference of the Municipal Association which will begin in Rotorua on April 30. Sir Francis Hill has a wide experience of local authorities in Britain, having been Mayor of Lincoln and a councillor on the Lincoln City Council since 1932. He is a vice-president and also past president of the general pur poses committee of the Association of Municipal Corpora tions in Britain. “The retiring age for councillors should definitely be 70,” said Sir Francis Hill, when he arrived in Auckland from Sydney. “So many councillors want to bang on. If there was some sort of compulsory retirement, perhaps by legislation, It would not hurt so much.” Sir Francis Hill feels that after a councillor reaches 70 he is likely to be out of touch with modem methods and the requirements of his area. “I will go at 70,” said Sir Francis, now 68. Sir Francis Hill said there were many capable people retiring from business at 65 who should be attracted to councils where they could give several years of good work.