ARROW BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Lake County Press, Issue 2789, 12 June 1919, Page 4

ARROW BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Special Meeting:.

Mr Penglase Gives Hla Reasons

Fop Resigning the Mayoralty

A special meeting of the Arrow Borough Council was held on Tuesday evening and was attended by Ora Romans (deputy Mayor), Adams, Dunlop, Johnston, McKibbin, S. Stevenson, W. Stevenson and John Reid. The meeting was hold as result of a motion passed at a previous special meeting that Mr W. Penglase should give his reasons, either personally or by letter, for resigning the position of Mayor. Mr Penglase wrote as follows :

Ballarat Hotel, Arrow town, June 9/6/19, To the Councilors, Arrowtown.

Gentlemen, —In reply to your Council's letter of the 4th inst., asking my reasons for tendering my resignation as Mayor, I am quite prepared to give these, or ak least sufficient of them to enable you to judge whether the action taken w»s justified or not. You will remember at the installation cerenmny members present stated they would give me every help and assistance to carry out the duties officially required of me as the chief citizen of the borough. I felt at the time this was very good of them, and also encouraging to me. A short time after taking office, and in conversation with Cr Romans and the Town Clerl., I explained to them that it would be one of my duties as mayor to take the chair and conduct proceedings at all public functions held in the borough. The Patriotic Committee, of which your Town Clerk and Cr Romans are the head, however, did not recognise this to be be so, for instead of conferring the honour or dignity upon me, to which I was legally entitled, they simply extendel an invitation to me to be present at their function and say a few words ; and they even dictated to me what part of the proceedings I would take and what part I wouldn't. Now, I took this as a deliberate insult, as it was practically ignoring me as far as my position as Mayor was concerned, and it was certiiuly no credit to either Cr Romans or the Clerk to treat me in this manner, even if it had been that I had no authority or standing in the council. Another matter I would like to know is why the Town Clerk should take upon himself the right of letting the hall for any function without either first consulting the council or obtaining the mayor's permission to do so, neither of which has been done, as far as L know. This is another insult or slur on the chair, and, as far as the Clerk is concerned, it is certainly overstepping and exceeding his duties as a servant of the council. lam enclosing a clipping showing the legal rights of mayors which I would respectfully ask to be read for the information of councillors, and I think you will then see that anything I have suggested or done was quite within my legal right to do so. In my opinion if Cr Romans and the Town Clerk art capable of carrying ont and running the affairs of the council on their own it seems quite unnecessary to go to the trouble of electing a mayor or even councillors. Trusting this explanation is satisfactory. Yours truly, Wm. Pwtqlasb, Ex-Mayor. (Clipping referred to.) A legal opinion has been obtained by Mr J. P. Luke, MP. (Mayor of Wellington) as to the relative position of the Prime Minister and the Mayor at meetings of citizene called in cities. The opinion was evidently soughtas the result of the reoent difference between Mr Luke and Sir James Allen with reference to the use of the Wellington Town Hall for the welcome to General Russell. The opinion reads as follows :—" By long established custom the Mayor is duel citizen and in all social matters in which the citizens are concerned as a community it is the Mayor who is the head. A member of Parliament is a representative in Parliament of a constiuency, the delimitations of whioh are fixed for the purposes of elections only. The constituency has no function whatever beyond the selection of a member of the House of Representatives. Out of the members of the House of Representatives hie Excellency the Governor selects some individuals to be his advisers, and the principal adviser is the Prime Minister. If the boundaries of his constituency happens to be co-terminous with a city a member of Parliament has no status in the. city outside that of a citizen, and he ia,a subordinate in precedence to thb Mayor, and the fact of his being selected by hisKxcellency the Governor does not alter tint status in civic affairs. The Prime Miuistor does not represent the* dominion un'ess specially appointed by his Majesty the King to do bo. The head of the people in the dominion is his Excellency the Governor -general, and to the Governorgeneral alone should the Mayor give way is his own city. 'The Government' is his Excellency tho Governor-General and his advisors. If 'the Government'promotes a social function the host must be the Gover-nor-General and no one else can take his place. At such a function people take precedence in accordance with the official table. If the Prime Minister promotes a function

in a city the only place where he act as host is in his own house (offaowl or private ) If he goes outside his house he is then bound to conform to the customary order of prece--1 cedence. The Prime Minister has no authority to convene meetings of citizens of a citv He may ask his constituents to _ hear him talk, but for any other purpose he is not one who has the right to assemble the citiThat right belongs to the Mayor. If Governor general should call a meet in<r of the people of the dominion he would lake the chair, but if he wished a meeting of citizens of a particular city he would ask the Mayor to call the meeting, and the Mayor would take the chair. Or Romans said that he, as chairman of the Reception Committee, had asked Mr Penglase to take the chair at the first reception held after be was elected Mayor; He (Or Romans) felt at the time he was doing the right thing. Mr Penglase declined to preside, but said he was willing to taka a seat on the stage and say a few words. Mr Penglase afterwards refused to take any part in the receptions. Or Dunlop: Have we the right to hold these functions without first asking the Mayor ? Or Adams said the receptions had nothing whatever to do with the Council. The people running them could choose whoever they liked to preside and present the medals. The Reception Committee was the same as the Bowling Club. The Mayor would not be expected to take charge of the latter. The Wellington ruling bad nothing whatever to do with Arrow. These receptions had been going on for three years, and there bad been no dissatisfaction before. Or Romans thought that Mr Penglase had evidently a misconception of the duties of Mayor He did not think there was any reason for Mr Penglase resigning, as the matter could have been arranged. The Clerk asked' for permission to make an explanation, which was given. He (the Clerk) considered a slur had been cast on him by Mr Penglase mentioning in the letter read that he had overstepped his duties in letting the hall. At the last ordinary meeting Mr Penglase had asked in open Council whose duty it was to let the ball, and he appeared satisfied when told that it was the duty of the Clerk. In reply to Or Dunlop, Cr Romans said that the Clerk was quite in order in letting the hall. This had been the custom for the last 40 years, he thought. , . Or McKibbin said that while he was Mayor the Clerk was responsible for letting the ball. ■ Or Dunlop thought that Mr Penglase should have stuck to his guns until he found out the position. The trouble was evidently between the Reception Committee and Mr Penglase. Or Romans did not like the imputation that himself and the Clerk were running the Council. After further discussion, the following resolution, proposed by Or Adams, seconded by Cc McKibbin, was carried unanimously—That in the opinion of this Council Or Romans and John Forbes (clerk) are completely exonerated from all blame in connection with charges brought against them by the ex-mayor (Mr Penglase). A vote of thanks to the chair closed the meeting.