LOCAL BODIES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4607, 9 October 1934, Page 5

LOCAL BODIES

«. CONTRACTS WITH MEMBERS. The opinion that the present monetary restrictions that debar a contractor "from service on a local body should be widened was expressed by Mr. W. J. Broadfoot, M.P. for Waitomo, in the House of Representatives when speaking on the Local Authorities (Members' Contracts) Bill. Mr. Broadfoot said that he thought the Minister was to be commended for standardising the law governing contracts between local bodies and their members. Experience had shown that the terms sets out in the Municipal Corporations Act worked very fairly in the main, but he would like to draw attention to the fact that in the smaller towns, where there were not a great many people in business, it was found that many of the most desirable citizens were debarred from entering local bodies because they traded with them. Great difficulties were often found in getting the requisite number of people to fill the posts, and he suggested that the Minister should consider the question of extending the amount from, say, £ls in the case of a single contract to £2O, and from a total of £25 to £SO. That would give the public a better opportunity of a wider selection for the boroughs and town boards in the rural areas. The Minister of Internal Affairs: If the hon. member will read clause 3 he will see that it answers his point. Mr. Broadfoot: "It reads, "In any such special case the Audit Office may authorise the payment a'nd receipt of such amount as it thinks fit, not exceeding in the aggregate £SO in any financial year." The Minister: There should be no difficulty about that. Mr. Broadfoot: No, it is already contained in the Municipal Corporations Act.

The Minister: Yes. Mr. Broadfoot: But the fact remains that in many of the smaller. towns business men will not come forward. I realise that in the past there have been abuses, but I think we could with safety extend the amount as I suggest. Mr. Broadfoot said he thought that the Bill inflicted rather a hardship on a man who had committed a technical breach. He had known a case where, in the last eighteen months, a technical breach was committed by a borough councillor who was also a director of a company which did business with the council, as a result of which he founds himself unseated. There was nothing to which exception could be taken *lh the business transacted, and in such a case it did seem hard that a man should be debarred from giving his services until the next election. "On the whole, I think it is very desirable that the multiplicity of restrictions have been standardised in this Bill" said Mr. Broadfoot, "but I do think that the amounts are too small."