(£i-i s<>ta}, Oroda ft Kiwitea Counties (jazbtti I'ubliatied Daily. MONDAY, APRIL 29, 1901. BOROUGH AFFAIRS. •

Feilding Star, Volume XXII, Issue 250, 29 April 1901, Page 2

(£i-i s<>ta}, Oroda ft Kiwitea Counties (jazbtti I'ubliatied Daily. MONDAY, APRIL 29, 1901. BOROUGH AFFAIRS. •

In accordance with the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act now in force, the Mayor elect will come into office on Wednesday, May Bth, and at the first meeting of the Council the date of the annual and other stated and al&o ordinary meetings will be prescribed. In this connection we believe that we give expression to the opinion of a large majority of the ratepayers when we state that the time has now arrived for the Council to take into consideration tire question of recouping the.Mayor for at least a proportion of the expenditure necessarily imposed upon him by the honorable position he has been selected by his fellow-burgesses to hold. Clause 39 of the Municipal Corporations Act reads as follows : " The Mayor may be paid such annual allowance, not exceeding four hundred pounds, out of the District Fund as the Council shall from time to time fix, but no alteration in the amount of such allowance shall take effect during the term of office of any Mayor. For the purposes of this section (of the Act) a person re-elected as Mayor shall be considered a new Mayor." During the infancy, so to speak, of the Borough, when the revenue was small and the duties to be performed by the Mayor were neither onerous nor very expensive to the gentleman who for the time being held the position, it was not necessary that the provisions of the dause now quoted should be considered r(we may mention inter alia that under the Act of 1886, clause 83, " The Mayor may be paid such salary out of the Borough Fund as the Council from time to time directs"), but with the increased responsibilities, consequent on the development of settlement in not only the town, but in the surrounding districts, there is not only more to be done by the Mayor involving the expenditure of much time -which is valuable especially to a business man, but more personal expense entailed by the position is involved. Writing as ratepayers,' recognising our own independence, and at the same time respecting that of others, we hold that we have no right to expect that Any fellow-burgess should be put to any expense of which we do not bear our proportion of the burden. The position of Mayor is an honourable one, and carries with it a dignity that is not even aspired to by a large

majority of the electors, but the mere honour is not sufficient to compensate for the demands we have indicated on the holder of the office for the time being. We recommend therefore the newly-elected Council to give this matter their serious consideration at the proper time, and should they adopt the course we suggest, they will be cordially supported by the public as represented I by the electors- of Feilding.