CHOICE OF A MAYOR.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 24 October 1924, Page 5

CHOICE OF A MAYOR.

COUNCIL OR THE PEOPLE? (by TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION. AUCKLAND, Oct. 23. A proposal that Mayors be elected by a council instead of by the electors was the subject of a brief discussion at the municipal conference. ' A remit was moved 'by Mr. Entrican (Auckland), on behalf of Foxton. He said the local bodies represented were the only ones in the Dominion without the privilege of electing their own chairman. The practice of a body electing a mayor was in use in Great Britain. Mayors would get a certain amount of training on a council. Mr. Tapley (Dunedin) said the remit would he a very retrograde step. In other countries the.results had not always been desirable. It should be the privilege of the people to select their Mayor. Mr. Gordon (Te Aroha) said that while the proposal might do for big cities it would he useless to small local bodies. The remit was defeated by a large majority. . A further remit by Taihape that if a vacancy in the office of mayor occurs after one year from the biennial election his successor may, at the option of the council, be elected either by the council or by the electors, was rejected. A further remit by Dargaville that the law he amended to make provision for a general election of mayor and councillors every three years was carried.