WARM DEBATE AT PETONE

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 12, 9 October 1928, Page 6

WARM DEBATE AT PETONE

CONDUCT OF COUNCIL MEETING “Councillor Scholefield, you can get all the legal opinion in New Zealand, but it will make no difference, because the Audit Department, which controls this matter, hasTuled it out by saying we have no power,” said the Mayor (Mr. D. McKenzie), at a special meeting of the Petone Borough Council last night. The meeting was held for the purpose of considering the schedule of plant prepared by the officers and submitted in connection with a notice of motion on the subject by Councillor Scholefield, which was as follows: (a) That the existing direct current motors throughout the sewerage system be replaced by alternating current machines, as recommended • in Messrs. Vickerman and Lancaster’s sewerage report; (b) that the direct current motor-driven water pump be replaced by an alternating current motor-driven pump; (c) that the above be financed out of gas debenture money; (d) that the-generating plant at the power house, together with all directcurrent machinery, be disposed of to the best advantage; (e) that the whole of the plant assets be revalued separately, and that the losses in value be written off; (t) that an opinion be obtained from the borough solicitor whether the Municipal Corporations Act gives power to . provide in each financial year (after making provison for the payment of interest and sinking fund in respect of any loans in connection with sewerage and. water undertakings, and for maintenance and repairs), for full and proper, depreciation of the borough’s plant by making a charge against the revenue ,of the borough to provide full and proper depreciation of the'plant assets, and by the establishment of a'separate account to function similar to a depreciation fund, when the' amount of any charge for depreciation shall be credited to such account, the basis of such charges to be on the estimated useful life of the assets.” “Out of Order.” At the outset the Mayor said that the motion of Councillor Scholefield could be ruled out of order for the following rear sons: If taken separately Clause A was a matter for the engineer to confei with the experts and report to the Works Committee. The same thing applied to ClausO B. With regard to. Clause C it was a question whether the small reserve fund, could be used for better purposes or not. As to Clause D the question was whether it cOuld be disposed of at all these days. In any case it was a matter for the engineer to report. Concerning Clause L the plant had been separately revalued in 1926 by the engineer and written off m the stock books on each article separately. “Dealing with Clause F, said Mr. McKenzie, “there is no occasion to. spend money on legal opinions as the audits ruling is final. Evep if . there are. legal powers it is a, matter of opinion whether the present generation should be taxed twice to renew an article which in twenty years’ time may be obsolete in- view of changing conditions, particularly as the council is not liable for income tax. and therefore has not any profits to hide by way'of a depreciation fund. ’ Entitled to Speak. Councillor Scholefield said that the' motion was in order because the meeting had been called to deal with ■. the schedule of the plant. - Until he moved his motion, he was in order. : ’ The Mayor: You will have■ to start with the resolution immediately then. Councillor . Scholefield: Was not. this meeting called for the schedule of plant. The Mayor: The purport of your work for this evening is the resolution. ' ; Councillor Scholefield: I have come to deal with the schedule of plant. When I-come to. the resolution you can rule mo out of order.. : i ■ Councillor Scholefield went on to say, •that the Standing Orders entitled, him;., to speak if he intended to conclude -Insremarks with a motion. . . , ■ 1 Councillor Cumming was of the opinion that the notice of motion was quite, in order as the meeting had been called to consider the schedule of. plant. - . . The Mayor said he would leave it to the council to see if Councillor Scholefield’s motion was out of order or not. ; Councillor Jacobson moved that Coun-, cillor Scholefield be allowed to discuss the matter at the same "time bearing, in mind what the Mayor- had said to him. This was agreed upon and Councillor Scholefield commenced to speak,. . "A Point of Order.” When, however, Councillor Scholefield had been talking for about 20 minutes Councillor ‘ Jacobson said he was very , sorry to have to rise to a point of order and interrupt the speaker. “Coun-: cillor "Scholefield' is only wasting our time. Aren’t we under the rules 0f... Parliamentary procedure? If that is so then Councillor Scholefield is out of order because he is reading every word he speaks. This is not the spirit of the , meeting at all. He hasn’t given us one;’ thing to go on with. We will be sit-; ting here all night for nothing. It’s absurd, absolutely absurd. Councillor Scholefield: ,1 am sorry, Your Worship, if I did not get the same education as Councillor ■ Jacobson., I, had to start working at 10 year's of age. I had to— ■— ■ ■ : . The Mayor (tersely): Please, stop, Councillor Scholefield. : We have had quite enough bf this wasting time. You are completely out of order. Councillor Jacobson was not saying anything against your education at all. He would not do such a thing. You are just wasting the time of the council and we would like you to get to your point without de *Tm getting to it now!” replied Councillor Scholefield. , x . Councillor Jacobson: It’s about time, then 1 . „ „ Councillor Scholefield: Your Worship, Councillor Jacobson said I was reading every word. He spoke about roe having to stick to Parliamentary procedure. When do we ever stick to Parliamentary procedure here? Never! . ~ -. The Mayor: You need not go into all that. Can’t you give it to. us briefly and not take all this time to get nowhere? ... Fifteen Minutes Later. A quarter of an hour later Councillor Longman said: “Please get on and discuss the schedule of the plant. We don’t want ancient history, with all due respect to you.”. Councillor Scholefield: When the last council The Mayor (angrily): What has the past business of other councils to do with this council? . Councillor Jacobson a moment later said he was not going to waste his evening by listening to talk that had really nothiijg to do with the matter. “Absolutely Disgraceful.” At this stage Councillor Cumming rose in his seat, and sided with Councillor Scholefield. . . “I think what has happened in this chamber to-night is absolutely disgraceful ” he said. “If Councillor Scholefield is ’permitted to discuss the matter, let him do so in his own way. It’s a disgrace, and as for Councillor Jacobson, talking about wasting time, he’s been on his-feet as much as Councillor Scholefield has. , ' Councillor Jacobson: Councillor Cumming is out of order for not addressing his remarks to the chair, Your Worship. Councillor Cumming: lam speaking to Your Worship, but I do not have to say “Sir” and "Your Worship every time Jacobson said_ that he did not think the money should be spent as suggested in the motion of Councillor Scholefield. There were more urgent things for Petone than a new plant. Hie one in present use served its purpose quite well, but it would bring .nothing if S °The Mayor agreed, as did also Councillor Longman. . After discussion it was decided that <i committee consisting of Mr. Jackson (the Borough Engineer), and Mr. Bickerstaff (Engineer of the Hutt Valley Electric Power Board) go into clauses A, B C, and D of the motion : and report to the Council. Clause E was agreed to, but when

Councillor Scholefield went to. put clause F the Mayor ruled it out of order. Councillor Scholefield: I would like to read it, Your Worship. Mr. McKenzie: It is out of order. As the business lias concluded, gentlemen, the meeting is declared