Paparua debate confused

Press, 3 July 1986, Page 9

Paparua debate confused

Paparua County Council debate on a smaller council was confused in a report on page nine of "The Press” yesterday because the paragraphs of the report became jumbled.

A Sockbum District Community councillor, Mr Donal Mcßae, was reported as saying that the county’s four district community councils should go. The report should then have quoted Cr Mcßae as saying that cost was something he dealt with in his job as an assistant supply officer to the Canterbury Hospital Board. Cr Mcßae said he had been bringing the subject up at Sockburn Council meetings for the last five or six years. It should then have read as follows: “Any business . can be run by a small executive,” he said. Cr Mcßae also criticised the ratio of representatives to district populations. "Representation is not by people, it is by land mass. The rural district with 12,000 people has eight members on full council, while the main (urban) districts have only seven members. “The council is working on the old rotten borough system of England where land mass or value is in disproportion to population," he said. This was denied by the chairman of the Paparua County Council, Mr Jack Pethig. “Fifty-two per cent of the total rates come from the rural district and the urban areas, even if they have a greater population, pay 48 per cent, but I must admit there is a fine sort of balance,” Cr Pethig said.