A MAYOR'S SALARY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1087, 28 March 1911, Page 6

A MAYOR'S SALARY.

INCREASE PROPOSED. . BUT rETONE TOO POOR; The Petone Borough Council last evenind discussed, at somo length, and ultimately rejected, a proposal, introduced by Councillor Trueman, "That the Mayor's - honorarium be .£ls0 _ instead of the present honorarium of Xlri. Councillor Trueman ,snid he had been approached by different ratepayers, who thought" the honorarium should be raised as suggested. Personally, ho thought the proposal reasonable. A man in business could not afford to give the time ueces-, sary to look after .the business oi this | borough for .C 75 a year. Some people thought that there were men who ought to tnko the position of Mayor for the honour of the thing. Generally, these men had some big vested interest ill the affairs of tho borough, and it would not be profitable to the borough if these men took the position. , . Councillor Southgato raised a point of order, contending that the motion at present fixing the honorarium at j£7s must first, be rescinded before a motion raising the amount could bo considered. After allowing several councillors to express their views, the Mayor (Mr. J. W. M'Ewan)- ruled that tho point of order could not bo sustained. The motion before, tho council, to all intents and purposes,'contained a . rescission of the previous resolution. Councillor Brocklebank moved, as an amendment, that the Mayor's honorarium be ,£IOO. Tho office of Mayor, he contended, should not be looked upon as a salaried position. No douht a small-increase was reasonable, as the town was increasing in size, but tho speaker saw no reason for increasing the honorarium one hundred per cent. Councillor List seconded the amendment, and quoted a return from the Government Year Book in support of a contention that Pctono paid its Mayor the lowest.honorarium of any part of tho Dominion, account being-taken of population. There were many tilings in the borough, declared Councillor.Short? to which money could.be applied to better advantage than in raising the Mayor's honorarium. He did not say that the honorarium was a sufficient recompense for the work done by the Mayor, but it was as much as Petone could afford to pay. The present Mayor served them well becaua) his heart was in the work.. That no one else had come out to contest the seat was not due, as had been suggested, to the smallness of tho honorarium, but to tho fact that ratepayers were perfectly satisfied with Mr. M'Ewan's administration. Concluding, Councillor Short said he thought it only reasonable that the Mayor should be provided with a season ticket on the railway. He had to travel frequently on borough business. On a division the amendment was lost by five votes to, three, Councillors Brocklebank, List, and Young voting "Aye."' Tho motion also was defeated by five votes to three, the "ayes" on this occasion being Councillors Piper, Trueman, and .Tones. "Things Temain as they are," announced the Mayor,. Ho added that although he had put the,motion and amendment, lie had not voted on either. He concurred in the view that the borough was not in a financial position to pay a large honorarium to its Mayor. At the present time an area of 455 acres returned practically the whole of tho lxiroiigh rates. . and the productive rating area would have to be largely increased before Petone could afford to spend money m increased honorariums.' On the motion of Councillor Jones, it was agreed that the Mayor should bo supplied with a railway season ticket between Petone and AYellington.