MR TOBIAS GLENNON AND THE COUNTS COUNCIL.

Grey River Argus, Volume 21, Issue 3045, 20 May 1878, Page 2

MR TOBIAS GLENNON AND THE COUNTS COUNCIL.

[to the editor.] Sir,— ln your weekly of the 10th insfc. I observed a paragraph purporting that the County Council had referred to. the Attorney-General the legality of paying honorarium, or someting akin to it, to Mr Tobias Glennon, the member for Uobden Riding, who has the audacity to claim it for services done as Oonnty Councillor. This, I presume, is the second part of the County Council's comedy, "Now for the pickings.'* Without commeating on the., aptitude orabilitj displayed by the member for Cobdcn in the first part of this comedy, I will only remark that his dramatis personm pourbrayed no. other evidences of character than those of a despicable log-roller to serve his own interests.. His uselessness as a representative is admitted by all, and his pugnacious i proclivities are. evidently, highly . developed from the , frequent , passages at arms that have occurred between him and Ulysees, the member for Waipuna, which, to say the least about it, is ; most annoying to the equanimity of . the members and obstructive to the transaction' of business. 1 think it is better that he would resign and he may be assured that his constituents will be moat thankful, as by. doing so they will feel very much relieved from an unseemly burden. Still, considering the bankrupt state of the County it might be more advisable that he should : continue in his seat until the expiration of his term, as the coffers of .the County Council could not well afford to carry out an election at the present time. It is only at the second last meeting of the Council he blatantly cried out, with his^ irrepressible colleagues, to the County Choirman, "we must have moiiey, borrow it from the banks ! These bombastic ejaculations portend bad to the County. Surely these members cannot be so ignorant as not to know their financial position, and the public cannot be so blind as m»t to notice their palpable inclination of running the County into an irredeemable debt. But perhaps the member for Cbbden has magnified his honorarium to a large amount, and that it is expressly necessary to negotiate a loan to discharge it. Truly this is the age of: playing with loans. Sir, will the Counties;

Act allow payments to be made to Mr Glennon for services done at County Councillor? I think not, as there is no provisions in the Act to justify it. Then it is a sorry game for the Council to be adding to the expenditure of the County in using stamps, paper, and telegraphic messages iv corresponding with the Attorney General on the matter. I feel very much for the member for Cobden for there is no doubt about it but that he has been duped, and has log-rolled himaelf out of. his .honorarium. But there is a way that I would suggest, and by following it out, it will entitle him to large travelling expenses (but, alas, the expiration of his term of office is so near at hand), that is ; to start from Greymoufch^a week before the Council meets and travel to the extreme end of his Riding, say, Razorback ; he can take up ' his' 'quarters r in jmy castle on the 17-mile Beach .on his return the night preceding the meeting of Council, and from thence to the Council Chambers in Greymbuth on the following day. By repeating this to the end of his terra he can then demand a long cheque from the Treasurer when the County exchequer mi^ht be replenished, and he will then be able to show his devotion and patriotism to his adopted country ; and I j have every assurance to state, from the magnanimity of the people of the Grey Qqunty, that they will than vociferously exclaim as one man, " Well done, Toby ; this is genuine comedy." Trusting to be excused for trespassing so much on your valuable space, I am, &c , E.M.L. 17-mile Beach, May 15, 1878.