COUNCIL AND ITS CRITICS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 618, 12 November 1913, Page 5

COUNCIL AND ITS CRITICS.

STRONG COMMENT BY COUNCILLORS. IMPUTATIONS BENEATH CONTEMPT. Prior to the starting of the ordinary business of the Borough Council on Monday evening Cr Somerville said Sie would like tu refer to the action of the members of the Ratepayers' Association in connection with the dam contract. There had been considerable talk in the street in the first place leadins to the imputation that the Council or councillors were intent upon doing something which should not be done. In addition the secretary of the association had demanded to see the contract. He had told the town clerk that if a certain thing was in the contract it was all right; if not, it was all wrong. The integrity of the council was challenged and the inference was that the Council was either incoinpstent or dishonest. The mean and despicable nature of the innuendo was sufficient to stamp the people who were responsible f or it, and he wished to state publicly that if the men j in question had any charge to make they should do so in a proper manner to ths Council. The councillors were appointed to look after the interests of ths ratepayers and were doing their duty to the best of their abiilty, and he resented the stigma which the Ratepayers' Association had endeavoured to cast on the Council.

Cr M. J. Jones said he agreed with Cr Somerville. If the Ratepayers' Association was insinuating that the Council was doing jomething which should not be done the association should be asked to state what wa-s meant. He considered it a piece of intolerable impertinence on tha part of certain people for them to consider it necessary to watch the Council in order to prevent abuses being perpetrated. He thought the Ratepayers' Association should be asked to state what they meant by the remark made to the Town Clerk.

Cr Walsh said his opinion of the Ratepayers' Association was too well known for him to say anything about that body. He wished to know if anything in particular was specified. The Mayor: Not so far as we know. Cr Walsh, continuing, said the association had been a nuisance since it was started, and nothing else. Cr Howarth said what the members of the Council took exception to was the imputation that the Ratepayers' Association was looking for something in the dam contract which would be there if the Council was honest. If a certain thing was not th--re it would be inferred the Council was dishonest and wa3 favouring the contractor to the detriment of the ratepayers, He knew that certain people in the town had spared no pains in cirucalafcing rumours which carried imputations concerning the Council. That was a silly and malicious method of attempting to do any public work. If people were concerned about the interests of the ratepayers they should come out into the open and make known their grievance or supposed grievance. Apart from that aspect of the case he did not think the matter merited attention. The source of the imputation was as much beneath contempt as the imputation itself. Cr Graham said he thought Cr Somerville bad taken the matter up wrongly. He evidently did not understand the Ratepayers' Association. Cr Walßh: "No nor anyone else." The Mayor ?aid the incident itself was hardly worth troubling about. He had endeavoured to treat the Ratepayers' Association with the courtesy which any body of people ware entitled and hoped to be able to continue to do so. Judging from the actions of the members of the association the body was not of much use to themselves or anybody else, but the moment they left their hitherto harmless and thoughtless course it was time to place matters on a definite footing. As far a 3 the documents of the Council were concerned any councillor had access to them at any reasonable time. As far as individual ratepayers were concerned they had access to the minute book and records of the Council at any reasonable time. As far as documents were concerned they were the property of the Council and no outsider had any right of access to them. If paltry minded people considered that because they could not have access to the documents of the Council there was something crooked they were welcome to do so. The councillors were elected to safeguard the interests of the ratepayers, and he was glad to have the opportunity of saying that as far as the efficiency and integrity of the indvidual councillors was concerned the ratepayers would never get more honest, loyal and painstaking service than they were getting from the present Council. He had been told considerable doubt had been cast on the ability of the Council to attend to th 6 Council business. That did not weigh with him. One heard that about all public bodies. As an indication of the amount of time and attention the present Council had devoted to the ratepayers' business during the six months it had been in office he would like to state there had been 54 meetings, including Council and committee meetings, held. Altogether 43 committe meetings had been held, of which 19 were meetings of the Works Committee, to say nothing of the various meetings held day by day in the streets; while the Electric Light Committee had held nearly as many meetings as the Works Committee. He wished to extend the utmost courtesy to every section of the community, but he would most emphatically resent any imputation throwing doubt on the integrity of any member of the Council.