LOCAL BODIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 43, 20 February 1945, Page 3

LOCAL BODIES

PETONE COUNCIL ADVERSE TO AMALGAMATION

"No one was'more surprised than I was to learn that the Municipal Association might not be giving evidence before the Parliamentary Local Bodies Committee," said Mr. H. Firth, town clerk, at the Petone Borough Council meeting last evening. A letter stated that the association was further discussing the question on March 7. Councillor A. G. Steffensen said that the question of the amalgamation of local bodies was bound to be discussed, and if the association was not giving evidence, Petone should send its own delegates to the committee. They should be instructed to stand definitely for the preservation of the identity of Petone.

Councillor J. T. Carr said he was astonished that the association might not be giving evidence. It was one of the few occasions in which the association could justify its existence. Th« council should assume that the association was not going to give evidence and should be prepared to protect its own interests by giving its verpjwn on the question of amalgamatioii. In this matter, possibiy, Petone was more interested than any other local body in New Zealand, and the councE ought to take the opportunity to look after those interests.

Councillor A. M. Macfarlane said that if Petone did not wake up and give evidence against amalgamation they might find themselves "in the cart."

. It was decided, on the motion of Councillor V. Jacobson, that the town clerk should ascertain the attitude of the association and that the matter of the council giving evidence should.be deferred till the next meeting.