THE TRAMWAYS BILL FIGHT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 989, 2 December 1910, Page 5

THE TRAMWAYS BILL FIGHT.

. MR. WILFORD COMPLIMENTED.. ■ When the City Council was nearing the end of its order paper last evening, Councillor Fletcher asked tho Mayor to temporarily vacate the . ehair in favour of Councillor Luke. The exchange having ■ been effected, Councillor. Fletcher caid he thdught the counoil would riot be doing the right thing if it did not in some l , way. recognise the great fight put up by his Worship the Mayor, against the Tramways Bill. • Mr. Wilford had put up a splendid fight, • against heavy odds, ..in : the interests; of municipalities, and the speaker moved that the council accord him a hearty vote" of thanks for his 'efforts.. ~ Councillor Smith, .in seconding, said tho Maj-or had fought not for Wellington alone, but for.,the\ interests qf, tho Dominion generally!" : '-."" '■'!'." '■•' ~'. ,' Councillor Fitzgerald also congratulated ■the JJ1uy0r...... • .. Councillor Shirteliffe cordially agreed ! with previous speakers qs to the good work, performed by Mr. Wilford. The Bill represented an' entirely unjustifiable interference with the rights of local bodies. To tho speaker's mind municipalities had, to a large extent, lost the administrative control of their tramways, and he regretted very much that this piece of legislation had passed through tho House. .. Councillor M'Laren said the Mayor had put up a most gallant light in the interests of the city and of local bodies generally. . .■' Councillor Luke, in putting the motion, endorsed everything that had been said. about tho actions of the Mayor. Despite medical advice, Mr. Wilford had insisted on standing by tho Bill all the timo.it was before tho House. Councillor Fletcher's motion was carried by acclamation. , ; '■• : , The Mayor, 'in the. course of a. brief response, described the Bill as the worst thing. ever done by any Parliament to any local-authority. In the Speech from the Throne, they- had been told that the powers of local bodies would bo extended, and.then the first Bill the Government brought' down lifted from the council the ' powers it had in regard to local concerns.; He did not knowhow; to describe.the Bill. It was as obnoxious as one could imagine. That the Minister should bo ■ given power, at his sweet rill to issue a regulation overriding an Order-in-Council under .which the city had borrowed .£550,060 for tramways was almost unbelievable.