APPOINTMENT OF THE CHAIRMAN.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume X, Issue 187, 23 July 1920, Page 5

APPOINTMENT OF THE CHAIRMAN.

AIR. EBBETT JUSTIFIES HLS ACTION. At lust night’s meeting of the Hastings Borough Council, a resolution, carried at an informal meeting of the council, called by request of Crs. Fowler, Donovan and Beamish, and held last Wednesday morning, came up for consideration. The councillors present at the meeting in question were Cm. White (in the chair), Davis, Beamish, Fowler and Donovan. The members present discussed the question of the reception to General Birdwood and passed the following resolution, and directed the town clerk to submit same to the next meeting of the council, namely: “That this meeting of the council regret that the chair J man to receive General Bi rd wood was appointed without the council being consulted, and hopes that this will not occur, on a similar occasion, again.’’ Cr. Tipping asked if there was any precedent regarding dealing with an informal meeting. The council could not deal with it and the resolution should not be entertained. He moved that no notice be taken of the. resolution and that the next business be proceeded with. Seconded by Cr. O’Neill.

Cr. Fowler proposed, as an amendment that consideration of the resolution be deferred until the next meeting. He pointed out that Cr. White, wh-> had presided at the meeting, was the senior councillor and should have taken the duty of receiving General Birdw’ood in the absence of the AlayoY and Deputy-Alayor, and Cr. White was absent. Cr. Beamish .was also absent, and there were only Cr. Davis and himself of those who formed the meeting present. It was only fair to the. chairman (Cr. White) that the matter be deferred. It was all very well for Cr. Tipping to say that the meeting was informal, and that the matter should be dropped, but the Alayor’s action was an emphatic slight on the councillors. . Five councillors had carried the resolution and fie hoped tjiat, in the absence of Cr. White, it would be deferred. If his amendment was lost he would propose a further amendment.

SOONER DROPPED THE BETTER. Cr. Donovan seconded the amendment, but said that the sooner the (whole thing was dropped the better. Cr. Hamilton: Was fir. AVhite aware ( the matter v?as to be brought on for 1 discussion at the meeting.

| The Afavor: Y r es. Cr. White has dis- | cussed the matter with me and ex- • plained his attitude quite satisfaeI torily. I Cr. Styles, Deputy-Alayor, said that (he had arranged to leave Hastings on | business on the dates in question three i weeks before General Birdwood’s re- | ception, and he could not alter his ar- ' rangements. The gentleman who con- | ducted the reception carried out his uw.i .s well, and in a manner creditable I to the town. . ■ Cr. Fowler: That’s not the point. I Cr. Styles: Who is the senior councillor? Cr. Fowler: Cr. White. / Ur. Styles: Is he? Any other councillor might say the same. Under the circumstances the matter might be dropped. • ■ FELT IT A SLIGHT. Cr. Davis: The only objection felt was that the council had not been consulted regarding ’ the appointment of Mr. Clarkson, who did not represent the citizens. If the Afayor thought that there was no one in the council fit -to represent the ratepayers on the occasion, then it was the duty of the Mayor or the Deputy-Alayor to stay in town and act. The councillors had felt the Alayor’s action and the citizens of Hastings had felt it too. If the Mayor had consulted the council it would have been better. I am, ’however, in favour of not going any in the matter. The Afayor said he had business in Wellington which could not ,be postponed.

Cr. Fowler: Did your Worship consult any councillor on the matter? The Mayor said he told Crs. ’White, Hamilton and O’Neill. He did not know until 7.30 on the Friday evening that General Birdwood would not be arriving on .Saturday, He could not remain for tho reception.

Cr. Fowler’s amendment was lost and the motion to proceed with the next business was carried. Cr. Fowler was about to move a further amendment, but he was ruled out of order. MAYOR’S STATEMENT. The Mayor read the following statement: — , “I notice that at an informal meeting of the council, convened by Crs. Donovan, Fowler and Beamish, the following resolution was passed, and you have been requested to submit same to the nqxt meeting:— “That this meeting of the council regrets that fjie chairman to receive General Birdrtood was appointed without the council being consulted and hopes that this will not occur, on a similar occasion, again.” “Before commenting on it, I wish to make two things clear. The one is that within reason I have not the slightest objection to consulting the council about anything. “The second is that I know that what 1 have to say does not. apply equally to all councillors. This protest was organised by sonic councillors, others unthinkingly allowed themselves to be drawn into it,’and some refused to be identified with it at all. “I wish to say at once that while I don’t want to establish it as a precedent, and I don’t want to take advantage of it. in order to avoid consulting councillors under reasonable conditions about anything, I deny flatly that in this case I was obliged in any sense to consult the council. (

“In the first place, I am aware that by the Municipal Corporations Act I have certain powers ’and authorities, and I preside at all meetings. You have the right to appoint a DeputyMayor, but, gentlemen, it is clearly laid down that, should I see fit, I can pws over even your Deputy-Mayor, 'and he can’t ‘assume my authority | without my consent, and I am not (bound to give yon any reason for rei fusing it. “At council committee meetings, if the chairman is not present, a chairman is elected, but beyond the meeting.- of the council and committee meetings, there is no provision, and I would like those who question my action to produce one scrap of authority to justify their attitude. “In the second place, gentlemen, I should not have consulted you in any case, because by a resolution dated the 10th June, 1920, you gave an un- ; qualified authority’ to a committee to •arrange everything in connection with this function.

“By law again, the council may delegate its powers to a committee of members and non-members, and ‘every committee to whom any powers as aforesaid are so delegated, may, without confirmation by the council, exercise and perform the same in like m'anner and with the same effect as the council could itself have exercised or performed them,’ and until you cancelled their appointment that committee, could exercise its powers in any w r ay it liked. “The committee met. Father Mahoney, president of the Hastings ; Football Sub-union, was present at my invitation, and Dr. Boxer represented

wiwßmw confer with anyone in any of these matters I confess I would have gone to the committee and not to tho council, and I think it’s apparent to even a a child that I’d have been doing the right thing. ‘‘ It is quite evident that those who have organised this disturbance about nothing don’t, know even the of the procedure of a council and its committees. “There is a third and perhaps the strongest reason of all for my action* Immediately 1 knew it was possitHew 1 that I could not present this function 1 wrote to the Deputy-Alayor and told him so, and that. 1 desired him to take my place that 1 would complete all the arrangements and would see hirni and give h’im an explicit knowledge of them. “It was not until Afonday morning that T know he would also be absent. I was leaving on Tuesday morning and while 1 do nor. suppose anyone will realise the struggle I have to get away at any time, it is a. fact, that even if it had been necessary it wqj utterly impossible for mo to convene and get a meeting together and attend it on that day. It is not that. I would not. I simply could not. It was likewise necessary that I should see the chairman because it. was essential that he should have a full knowledge of all tho arrangements. To do otherwise would be to court disaster. ‘‘ I discussed the matter with the Deputy-Mayor, and with his cognizance and his full approval I asked the president of Ahe Chamber of Commerce to preside. “I think, gentlemen, it would have been fairer ami, it would certainly have been more manly, seeing that the position could not be altered, to have left the matter until you met me face to face instead of passing resolutions behind my back. It would certainly have shown a lot more wisdom if you had waited (and nothing whatever could have been lost by the delay) until you had at least heard both sides. “I wish to emphasise again’'that as in the, past I shall not omit, under ordinary circumstances, to consult the council about everything of any importance, but I notice that in this resolution this is not to occur again. “I don’t usually leave these things in doubt and I want to say that, under the same, circumstances, and I wish to . stress that, under exactly the same circumstances I shall do exactly the same thing, unless it can be shown to me that such an attitude is unreasonable. 1 have never insisted strictly on my rights and I do not wish to do so, but between meetings there, • are certain things which I must decide. In these cases I shall do the. right thing according to my lights. If councillors wish to convene meetings at any time even to discuss trifling matters, and I have the time aiid the opportunity, I am quite willing to meet them and discuss anything, but if any councillor or any two or three councillors think they can coerce me by calling meetings in my absence I think they will find they are under a misapprehension. “If a majority of you think that in this ease my attitude was unreasonable considering the burden I have, then you know what to do and you’ll find me cooperating. ’ ’