"DISQUALIFIED!"

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1110, 25 April 1911, Page 7

"DISQUALIFIED!"

AFTER FIFTEEN YEARS' SERVICE. After fifteen years' active service on the Newtown District - High - School Committee,-, its ex-chairman, Mr. J. Martin, has been compelled reluctantly to retire, in consequence of the following memorandum which, was addressed to him by 'the Wellington Education Board, under the hand of its secretary (Mr. G. L. Stewart):— ■ "I regret to have to draw'your attention to the fact that : the work you have done for the committee during the past year disqualifies you under Section 109, Sub-Section 2, for a seat on the committee. This appears to have escaped your notice. As you are aware, ithe general principle 'underlying.i. : .tho holding of offico'nrcall 'public bodies now is that the members shall not have business relations with tho ■ body : of which they are members." ■•' . This, Of course, is the same restriction which has led to the retirement of certain business men from other public bodies. Tho peculiarity of this particular case, however, lies in the fact that a number of other committeemen who also have "business relations" with these institutions were re-elected last evening. A representative of < The Dominion, gathered that this point is rather a sore one with the committees, as many of the committeemen perform small services for their schools at a remuneration far below what : they would charge were they outsiders.