THE COUNCIL'S SIDE

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 123, 26 May 1928, Page 11

THE COUNCIL'S SIDE

MR, O'SHEA'S REPLY The Mayor '(Mr. G- A. Troup) left for Christchurch last night; and authorised the City Solicitor (Mr. J. 6'Shea) to reply to Colonel M'Donald's letter. Mr. O'Shea considers that .'the reply he has given below covers ,all matters requiring any notice:— '.'Most of the statements," said Mr. O'Shea, "are deductions and inferences' which are inaccurate. The statement that all the settlements were made by the City Solicitor, and approved by the City Valuer, is termed by Mr. M'Donald as an attempt to remove responsibility from tho Mayor and councillors, and place, it on tho shoulders of the officials. ■ That statement is totally in-, accurate, and tho City Solicitor is one of tho officials prepared to take responsibility for all tho settlements. . "Mr.. M'Donald chooses to refer to one of the arguments of the Mayor -as a quibbjo. Tliis is the usual1 way for inexperienced controversialists to sidestep an unanswerable argument. "Mr. M'Donald asks why the council authorised tho Levy Estate buildingto bo erected, and ten months.al'terwiivds ■ acquired tho land at a cost of ;E33,G54, when it could have ordered tho building to bo set back to the required distance, and acquired the land at about £8G93, a dead loss of £25,091. "Tho plain answer ia that at the time tho building permit was granted the Corporation did not contemplate the widening of Taranaki street. It has already been admitted that it would have been better if it had, but it was pointed out, and may be pointed out again, with advantage, that it is idle to attempt to turn back the universe. It has also been'stated that Mr. M'Donald's valuation of £8000 is not accurate. "Mr. M'Donald speaks of the Mayor's attempt to wrigglo out of tho council's failure to obtain the advnnt-. age of the betterment provided for in. the Town Planning Act ns ludicrous. The Mayor's views are 1 liosc held by tho City Solicitor, "and were expressed by him to the City Council for transmission to the Municipal Conference, and these viows wore discussed in a 'remit from Wellington at the last Mv-

nieipal Conference in Nelson in March. Surely oven Mr. M'Donald cannot suggest that these views ,were invented in anticipation of his insinuations. , "Most of the remarks made by Mr. M'Donald .are really answered by th_q statement already made by the Mayor. The remark about the remission of rates is, to say the least, irrelevant. The oflieer who'made the main portion of the settlement was tho Town Clerk, largely assisted by the City Valuer, both of whom, in the opinion of the City Solicitor—who approved everything they did—acted with the greatest ability and conserved to the utmost the inorosts of the city. "In the actual negotiations, neither the Mayor nor any member of the council took part. This is in accordance with the principle which lias been laid down from lime to time 'a\ Compensa-' lion- Courts by the ex-Chief,Justicr, the Hon. Sir Robert Stout."