THE MAYOR'S HONORARIUM.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5530, 5 November 1879, Page 3

THE MAYOR'S HONORARIUM.

Sir, — The motion for the Mayor's honorarium or gratuity of £200 for the current year being on the order-paper of the Council for to-morrow, you will oblige by granting me space for a few remarks. This sum does not appear, dn the first glance, excessive for the Mayor of Napier, but to guide us in forming an opinion upon the subject it is desirable to make a comparison with other towns in New ZealancL. This should refer not only to the salaries paid to the Mayors of different towns, but likewise to those of the borough officers, so as to See what proportion the salary of the Mayor bears to those of tho officials. On inquiry I find that the salaries of the Mayors of boroughs of over 4000 inhabitants range from £100 in Oamaru and Timaru, to £300 in Wellington ; those of the Town Clerks from £300 to £500, and those of the engineers from £300 to £800. These figures would give an average of £200 to Mayors, £400 to Town Clerks, and £550 to engineers. In Oamaru, which has about the same number of inhabitants as Napier, and similar aspirations on public works, the salaries for the current year are as follows : —Mayor, £100; Town Clerk, £350; and engineer, £750 ; while in Napier the Mayor is to receive £200, the Town Clerk receives £350, and the engineer £300. These figures show at a glance that the Mayor of Napier is overpaid, or the engineer very much underpaid. As the duties of the Mayor are, according to the Municipal Corporations Act, more honorary than onerous, it is evidently very much out of proportion to pay the Mayor £200, and only £300 to the engineer, whose whole time is riot only given to his duties, but who with water and drainage works, in addition to the streets, &c, on his hands, must encroach seriously on his proper leisure hours.

So much for the. amount of the honorarium, now for the propriety of paying away money to the Mayor otherwise than by way of salary. The Municipal Corporations Act, 1876, in clause 58, runs as follows : — " The Mayor may be paid such a salary out of the borough fund as the Council from time to time directs, but it shall not be lawful to reduce the salary of the Mayor for the time being in office." From this I infer that a salary must be duly voted as such (not as honorarium or gratuity) at or near the beginning of the municipal year (the election of Mayors take 3 place this month), and that this salary cannot be reduced during the year, of course to protect the Mayor, who is elected by the burgesses directly, against ungenerous opponents .in the Council. However, the terms "salary" and ~" honorarium " may be synonymous in legal phraseology, although their meaning differs much according to Webster, but as the Council contains two gentlemen of the long robe, it is not likely to go wrong in this respect. — I am, &c, The Hill. Napier, 4th November, 1879.