TAKEN TO TASK

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 36, 11 August 1933, Page 8

TAKEN TO TASK

MAYOR OF LOWER HUTT

BOROUGH FINANCES

STATEMENTS AT A MEETING

COUNCIL DISPLEASED

Statements made by the Mayor of Lower Hutt (Mr. J. W. Andrews) at a public meeting on July 21 called by him to explain the financial position of the borough, were controverted at last night's meeting of the Lower Hutt Borough Council. Eight of the nine members of the council adversely criticised the Mayor, and maintained that the ratepayers had gained an entirely false impression from that meeting. ■ ' » Councillor A. Grierson opened the discussion by charging the Mayor with having mado a statement concerning sections in Ward Street, which was unfair to councillors who had originally handled the transactions regarding the sections. Councillor Griorson agreed that the Mayor should lay all his cards on tho table, but he thought that he : had overstepped the mark on that occasion by making statements that were unfair and unfavourable to councillors, who wished to help in every possible way. The Mayor should have moutioned the benefits arising from the deal and not only tho losses. • Agreement with Councillor Griorson was expressed by Councillor J. Mitchell. The Mayor: I think I put the position quito fairly. Councillor Mitchell: Very unfairly. Councillor F. Campbell asked the Mayor why ho did not say that tho man concerned in the case" was J. N. Strand, and not have it inferred that it was W. T. Strand. The Mayor said that he had come into office to do the work to the best of his ability. Councillor Mitchell: 'You'vo done it badly. "THREATENED WITH RESIGNATION." Continuing, the Mayor said that ho had been threatened with resignation. A councillor: Who by? Councillors: None from me. The Mayor: Well, leave it at that and say there was no threat of resignation. " Councillor Grierson said that the council-would stand by tho Mayor, but it asked him to be fair. Explaining why the rates had to be increased, the Mayor said that he had the approbation of hundreds of the ratepayers, ; and no condemnation until he met his own council. he clid not think ho had erred at all. He had endeavoured to, elo his job cleanly and fairly,, and everybody had been given exactly the, same treatment. Ho ebuia have told the public moie of what he had discovered regarding the council's': accounts; and could quits easily have made the position look worse. He had made it clear, prior to his election, that, if elected, ho .would make known the position of the bor--BUgh. Eight out of tho nino councilors had been elected as opponents ef his policy, but he had to thank them for their loyalty to him. Councillor Campboll said he appreciated that; the Mayor had. done right in carrying out his election promise, but the council had proved its loyalty and he should have consulted it and invited it to attend the public meeting whore possibly councillors could have put statements beforo the public ■which. wero not "hush-hush" and yet jiot 'alarming. Tho financial ■' standing of the: borough should bo jealously guarded by the Mayor, the council, and the ratepayers, but the Mayor's speech at.tho public mooting had done a lot of harm to Lower Hntt's financial position, which, in the speaker's *pinion, was perfectly sound. He quoted figures in support of his opinion." v "ALARM AND UNCERTAINTY." ;; "You. have created alarm and uncertainty in people's minds. They think the borough is unsound," said Councillor Campbell to the Mayor. Councillor Campbell maintained that the borough was not unsound, for although it had heavy liabilities, it had assets. and outstanding moneys, which would be collected. The /borough had been too lenient, but personally he thought that if, it could extend credit in times like this it should, for when times returned to normal th» rates -would be collected.' It was easy for the Mayor to point out that properties were now worth "only one-half or one-third of what they' had been acquired for, but land values had dropped. The Mayor had not laid stress on the facilities given by_ street widening when ho was dealing with tho cost of it, said Councillor Campbell, siting Ward Street as an example. Tho Mayor had also been unfair in not giving, credit to those whoso foresight in buying properties would save the borough thousands of pounds in years to come. The impression was about that \V. T.. Strand owed a lot of rates on the Ward Street properties, and Councillor Campbell wanted it to go out that it was not W. T. Strand. The Mayor: That is so. It is J. N. Strand. . - Councillor Campbell referred to the Mayor's statement at tho public mooting which implied carelessness in the engineering of a certain subdivision. The Mayor: No,-I didn't. Councillor Campbell read from "The Post" Teport of tho meeting in which it was stated that "Mr. Andrews criticised a past engineering work where tho council had to now do drainage work which, should have been done by the person subdividing." There wero reasons for that arrangemont, said Councillor Campbell, and if thoro had been a slip he did not think it past rectifying yet The Mayor: Tho borough engineer says it is. past rectifying. Councillor Campbell said that tho Mayor had mado a present _of the arrears of interest to a certain pro-porty-o'wner. The Mayor denied this. Councillor Campboll contended that by his speech at the public meeting the Mayor had conveyed to tho ratepayers an impression of doubt as to tho borough 's financial position, and as to whether past Mayors and councillors ; had looked after their jobs. Councillor rCampbell put this down to lack of experience and too much enthusiasm on the part of the Mayor. "IMPETUOUS AND ILL-ADVISED." "When wo were elected, we gave sincerely and honestly our assistance, lint your actions the other night and tonight have knocked that loyalty to pieces," said Councillor Campbell to tho Mayor. "You ar.o to blamo and you will be the sufferer. You have lost a great deal of confidence by your impetuous and ill-advised speech tho other night." "It is wonderful how many assume authority without taking responsibility, not recognising that only he who serves is fit to bo obeyed," said Councillor A. Anderson. He contended that when the Mayor took office ho should have accepted the responsibility of tho position without demur, and without calling a public meeting at which to make reference to tho actions of Bitting councillors during their previous

term of office. Personally lie failed to see that each councillor should now bo I celled upon to justify himself. He took it that the vote given by the electors to the old members was a proof of their continued confidence in them, and irrespectivo of what his Worship might (hmk,,ho felt confident that his council would'bring' him safely over the trail ho set out on .with such a limited knowlodgo of the difficulties confronting him, and also entirely without knowledge of what stand members had taken in the past. Had the Mayor possessed 'that knowledge* Councillor Anderson felt sure lie would not have expressed himself as he did at a public meeting. A MISSING PAGE. Councillor Anderson said that the matter of the book from which a page was missing had not been before the council. He asked what book it was, to what did the missing page refer, and how did the Mayor propose to deal with the matter. .The Mayor replied that it was a book which went from the borough oinee to tho solicitors' oi'iicc, and concerned prosecutions for moneys owing. Tho missing page referred, in committee, to \V. T. Strand. Councillor Anderson: Nothing in committee here. : Councillor Mitchell: J. N. Strand. Councillor Mitchell asked why the council was not notified when the page was first torn out. The Mayor replied that ho was not in office then. Tho matter was now in the hands of the borough solicitors. i Councillor -Anderson said that the purchases of land, buildings, etc., had all been made before he was a member of tho'-council,.and. ho assured his Worship that he did not approve of somo of the purchases and had expressed his views on moro than one occasion. In regard to tenders being much lower today for most of the council's requirements, he pointed out that this was not duo to the Mayor's efforts but to the general drop, in price of all commodities and the insistence of the late council on having tenders called for all requirements over the sum of £20. In regard to the collection of rates, tho council had the same staff, and it was th© same council with the excoption of two, and if the rates were coming in better it was due to the'i'aet of the 5 per cent, discount which was suggested before his Worship held office. "Firially," said Councillor'Anderson, "I would say that if we are to succeed in keeping the borough in a sound position we must all pull together. I think'it should be a case of an advertisement in the agony column of 'Come home, all wiU be forgiven.' " "Getting the borough into a sound position, not keeping it in a sound position," commented the Mayor. "You must feel in your own mind that you have made a grievous mistake," said Councillor Anderson to the Mayor. "Unwittingly, you made a jolly mess of the public meeting." The Mayor- said that a street-widen-ing loan which tho previous Mayor had said would cost tho ratepayers nothing, was costing nearly £1000 per annum. Consternation at, and disapproval of the Mayor's speech at the public meeting was voiced by Councillor B. Ginger. The Mayor could not get a more loyal council, but it expected to be taken a little more into his confidence, he said. Tho Mayor explained that he had told all tho councillors except Councillor Campbell, who was absent, of his intention to hold the public meeting, WRONG IMPRESSION ABKOAD. "But1 you did not tell us tho lines on which you weio going to speak," replied Councillor Ginger. A wrong impression had gone abroad from the meeting. The Mayor had enlarged on a number of tho borough activities which, owing to no fault of anyone or any organisation, had not been satisfactory. Would it not have been moro judicious to niak"e~more reference to the successful negotiations of previous councils? Tho Mayor had given the bad and not tho good. Councillor Campbell (to tho Mayor): You weren't lo.yal to the council. Councillor .Ginger (to tho Mayor): You did incalculable damage to the integrity and financial standing of this borough. ... From your meeting the impression lias gone forth that the whole borough is toppling—badly managed—staff no good—council no good. ' In reply, the Mayor said that nearly all the criticism had been directed _ by people who were not at the meeting, and by anonymous newspaper correspondents. Councillor Ginger: We don't want anything covered, but there are two ways of placing this before the public, and if you are going to do it again, let us know about it. Tho'Mayor: I may have to do it again. Councillor J. B. Napier said that he was still to be convinced that ho had been disloyal to the Mayor, but the •Mayor'had not boon quite fair to him and to other councillors in his explanation of the- rate question at the pul>]ic mooting. ■ • Thero followed an animated and involved discussion of what took place at the council mooting when the rates were struck. ' , : "MOST UNFORTUNATE." Councillor Meldrum: I think, Mr. Mayor, you have been vci-y indiscreet in your remarks about -councillors, and should have been moro guarded. What has happened has been most unfortunate. Councillor Campbell: It w;ta simply pandering to tho gods. The Mayor: Hundreds of peoplo have, thanked me for what I did. At the meeting an accountant whom I did not know thanked me for the position I placed before the meeting. Councillor Griorson: He thanked you because he. did not hoar the other side. Councillor Ganger: You have said the criticism has come from councillors who were not at tho meeting, but even councillors who were there are not. satisfied that you put the position fairly.. Surely you now realise that all tho eight councillors ■cannot be making mistakes when they say you were unfair. The Mayor: Not one figure of what I said has been disproved. Councillor Wilson: No, but it is the inferences that you allowed to bo drawn from what you said that were wrong. Tho Mayor: I am not responsible for tho inferences. * Councillor Anderson: Wo could not all bo wrong in tho impression wo took away from tho meeting. It was all what you hod done tho whole time, leaving the inference that -others had dono nothing. Now, I want to say that I think it was necessary for us to say what has boon said tonight in order to clear the atmosphere. It was quito right you should know what we thought, but personally I sun prepared, and I think other councillors aro also, to put it all away, and to get into our job again and work with you for the good of the borough. "I DON'T RETRACT ONE WORD." The Mayor: I don't retract one word of what I said at tlic meeting. Councillor Campbell: That's surely not a light attitude to take up. The mooting then broke up.